During his first semester at Yale, freshman Peter Huh has been taking classes in Chinese and Microeconomics. He is also participating in a seminar on how to write the modern essay, where students must think creatively about the world around them and write about it in a captivating way that appeals to a general audience. Peter explains, “We read the works of modern essayists and dissect certain elements of their pieces, using their example for inspiration for our own essays. While this class doesn’t sound particularly unique on paper, it helped me improve my writing more than any other class I’ve taken. My professor holds all of her students to the same standard of the essayists that we read, and the rigorous environment definitely wills us to improve. Chinese class meets 6 times a week!”
Peter has been growing both personally and academically in the intellectually stimulating environment at Yale, plus connecting with many talented individuals. He describes his experience, “Learning Chinese from lectures can only get you so far; you have to supplement the material with conversations with your Chinese suite mates. Reading your classmates’ essays helps you realize your stylistic weaknesses and ways you can improve. Listening to your friends’ life stories can reshape your perspective on education and privilege. There are so many different things that I’m soaking in my first semester here, and I can say that I’m really learning.”
When he is not in class, Peter continues to be involved with Taekwondo and recently took first place out of 20 schools in a tournament at MIT.
