Facilitator Corner: Lucy Deng
FIUTS Facilitators are student leaders from all over the world who welcome new international visitors, help to organize events, and lead activities for hundreds of students each quarter. Read on to find out more about the FIUTS facilitator experience from Lucy!
Name: Lucy (Xijia) Deng
Country: China
Major: Pre-Civil Engineering
Class: Freshman
FIUTS Facilitator Since: 2014
Brief Introduction
Most people know me as Lucy Deng, which has been my English name for over 10 years. I grew up in Guilin, a small but famous resort city in China. The greatest thing that I value is the gratitude to life and people around me. So in my free time, I love writing poems and photography and I blog. Art also plays a big part of my life. I like to do Chinese Calligraphy if I am seeking tranquility. I like to doodle if I am just bored. I like to play the piano if I get a bit stressed out. My favorite thing to do with friends is trying out different dining options (Yes, I am a big foodie). To be honest, I am not big in sports. But I do enjoy swimming, playing badminton and biking. By the way, every friend of mine knows my favorite fruit: watermelon (it is a part of my life).
What does it mean to be a FIUTS facilitator?
I am a facilitator mostly because my personal passion and motivation. I came to United Stated two years ago. Every time when I look back to my high school experience as an international student, I always feel regretful that I couldn’t finish what I started. There were small group of Chinese students staying in their own circle and speaking Chinese all the time. It wasn’t something that we pursued at the beginning and I know a lot of them want to change the situation. After getting close to some American friends, I started to get invitations to different events. And I tried a lot of things other than studying. Mock Trial, Math team, Bollywood night, etc. I was very involved. But I didn’t just ignore all my Chinese friends. Unfortunately, nobody else would stand out with me. I felt helpless. On the one hand, I want to help them. On the other hand, I feel they looked at me strangely like an outsider. I wasn’t ashamed of being outgoing with American students. But I was in some degree left out by people from my own country.
It is when I thought about all my other Chinese friends who were sill struggling with adapting to American culture. So in my senior year in high school, I decided to establish an organization to help them after my success. We created an International Student Mentorship program in which helps new incoming international student to succeed in both academic and extracurricular activities. And I tried my best to connect them to other American students. In the end, I graduated but the problem hadn’t been solved. So in my mind, I always have this goal of helping other students.
Coming to UW, I attended the International Student Orientation last fall. I didn’t find myself a stranger to Seattle. Through all the events, such as Seattle Challenge, Camping, Insider Tour and Boat Cruise, I became familiar to Seattle within a week. It is incredible that FIUTS provided such detailed and beneficial information folder with events timeline and resources. Besides, I made some life-long friends from all around the world. This experience really amazed me and FIUTS amazed me. I decided to join as FIUTS facilitator right after the school started, to continue my personal task as helping other international students adapt to life in Seattle. Moreover, in the FIUTS family, I learnt so much about cultural differences and improved my international awareness.
Talking about the role as a facilitator, I see myself trying to build a better international community within the University of Washington. I hope to bring my communication and corporation skills as a leader. I have the benefit of collecting different resources from other powerful leaders on campus. For me, I want to perfect my self-worth. For the community, I want to perfect the perspective of being a big “family”. I hope to become a successful facilitator that has strong ability to lead others and make everyone in the world closer to each other. Helen Keller said, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much”. It is my responsibility to link individuals together to bring unity with diversity.
Favorite FIUTS anecdote as a facilitator
My favorite thing about facilitating a FIUTS event is that you actually get to know each individual beyond the surface and bond with them. FIUTS events always have a casual setting so that I get to interact with everyone and hear their story. There are friends who are new to United States and are having language barrier. I felt more compulsive to talk to them because I understand them from my personal experience. Hearing their stories just fascinates me and intrigues me to hear even more. I learnt so much from them. My perspective of the world has been changed. The smiling faces and the laughter during the events are the greatest encouragement for me, and I am grateful of bringing happiness.
Tips for peer facilitators
When facilitating an event, we should definitely include everyone and make sure that everyone’s voice is heard. And with the privilege to take on this role, having access to many more resources, facilitators should connect and bond with individuals in the community during the event and more importantly after the event. We should always support and include our friends within the FIUTS community and don’t forget to send them invitations to different events on campus since they might not be familiar with what are happening in school.
Being a facilitator is meaningful and grateful. So why not smile and be excited for every event?
Donate to FIUTS programs that train and support students like Lucy during GiveBIG on May 5! Click here to give.
Learn more about the FIUTS Facilitator program here.
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Nhung Le, Abigail Lim, Ferris Maghi, Kevin Sander, Joey Liao, Anya Raj, Minhtu Nguyen, Jianyang (Jane) Zhang, Jialu Sun, Fleur Xuanlin Li, Saleh Alwabel, Clara Jiayao Lu, Le (Juliet) Huang, David Veth, Yili (Jacky) Chen, Jonathan Cheng, Fah Thamsuwan, Charlie Warner, Katherine Li, Nabil Sutjipto, Jeremy Sculley, Ani Antonyan, Jaisang Sun