International alumna, Rebecca Lu puts Mary Ward values into action
It is always a great joy to have news of, and visits from, our international alumnae; we are humbled that they find time in their busy lives to share their achievements beyond St Mary’s with us.
Rebecca Lu, who started her undergraduate degree in Accounting and Finance at the University of Edinburgh in September 2019, is a shining example of how St Mary’s girls live out Mary Ward values in the wider world through their contributions to eliminating injustice, supporting communities, celebrating diversity and encouraging hard work and excellence.
Rebecca turned the pandemic’s disruption of her education into a positive for others; she has completed a year of volunteer online teaching with an educational NGO based in Beijing, working with junior school children struggling to keep up in the rural Northwest of China. She continues to support her community as a University of Edinburgh BizNetwork volunteer and coaching leader for the Business School, and was rewarded last month with the Edinburgh Award in Effective and Responsible Leadership.
Rebecca has clearly thrived in Edinburgh’s multicultural student community. She recently wrote:
“I had such a good Chinese New Year's Eve. I also invited several friends who are from Poland, Dubai and France! We made dumplings and were surprised to find out that Poland also has its dumplings called Pierogi, which look very similar to Chinese dumplings! China and Poland, they are so far from each other, but we have similar food! I can only call this the common intelligence of human beings! I have really enjoyed the diversity in the city!”
In her studies, Rebecca has characteristically striven to do her best, taking every opportunity to challenge herself, with stellar results. She won the IBM prize for Best Team Development in September 2021. In the Citi Bank Treasury and Trade Solutions Case Competition of November 2021, spanning 14 countries and involving several thousand competitors, she was APAC Finalist, winning first prize for the Hong Kong region.
In May this year, Rebecca led a student team in the last round of the Bank of Lithuania’s Center for Excellence in Finance and Economic Research (CEFER) Challenge, aimed at encouraging undergraduates to learn and think creatively about the issues related to the euro area macroeconomy, the financial system, and the implementation of monetary policy.
Rebecca and her team presented on the importance of sustainability and climate change issues and proposed monetary policy solutions. They were placed first, winning mentor session opportunities with Nasdaq and a €3000 prize.
Never one to rest on her laurels, Rebecca started applying for internships for summer 2022 last December and such was the strength of her applications, that she has secured two internships for 2022 - with the Cambridge University Endowment Fund and NatWest Group – and one deferred internship with Deloitte for 2023. She was thrilled to discover when signing the contract with CUEF that their Cambridge office is in Bateman House, just a stone’s throw away, and we very much look forward to welcoming Rebecca back to St Mary’s for a visit in September.
Image: Rebecca at Buckingham Palace on 22 May 2022 for her Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award presentation.
Patricia Brooks, Joint Head of English as an Additional Language Department
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