Growing quickly and becoming a leader

In high school, Shiqi Zhu ’26 often heard Mount Holyoke College mentioned as a great option for Chinese students wanting to study in America. “It’s called the ‘magical fairies’ castle’ in online forums because it’s a beautiful place and its social environment is very attractive,” she said. Back then, the name sounded like hyperbole. But now, “I now know the magic is real.”

Zhu’s family encouraged her to set high goals and pursue education. Her grandmother sang lullabies with lyrics like, “Grow up quickly, my child, and be a leader when you’re grown.” “I was incredibly privileged to grow up in a family that thought women should be educated and ambitious,” she said, adding that as a result, “I’ve always seen my life as having endless possibilities.” Her time at Mount Holyoke has bolstered this belief.

In middle and high school, Zhu avoided politics classes because the inherent conflict in political discussions made her uncomfortable. “I had a general humanities education credit to fulfill, so I thought, ‘Okay, I’ll take one international relations course.’” She ended up loving it — classroom debates and all — and she decided to declare an international relations major. “I realized a lot of things are worth discussing, and now I’m not scared to have these kinds of disagreements because they help us learn from one another,” she said. She hopes to attend law school to pursue a career built on professional arguing.

Since embracing debate, Zhu has pursued leadership opportunities that specifically require her to navigate conflict. In 2024, she served as a coalition leader at a Model United Nations conference, bringing together multiple countries to negotiate climate change mitigation strategies. She was also selected to serve as a judge in several Supreme Court mock trials because of her willingness to weigh both sides of an argument.

For the past two years, Zhu worked with a Chinese feminist content creator to build content for Chinese and American audiences. She drafts ideas, writes talking points and translates the messaging into Chinese. “I am very interested in how we overturn the generational thinking that women should be subservient to men, and I am very curious [about] how people who grow up with this kind of thinking awaken from it,” she said, and added, “I love doing translation work because I love helping people understand one another.”

Her love of helping people led her to work as an on-campus Chinese tutor. “What I loved about tutoring, besides seeing my student improve, is that when I’d explain a concept that doesn’t totally match from Chinese to English, it would open up a conversation about how English is different. So, we’d both learn something,” she said. Zhu also found a deeper appreciation for Chinese. She explained how simple words often have complicated — but poetic — meanings. Her name is a perfect example: “‘Shiqi’ means to adjust to wherever you go, then you will become very content with your life, and that will be very lovely,” she said. While adjusting to life at Mount Holyoke, she has certainly experienced many lovely moments.

Another aspect of Zhu’s Mount Holyoke experience had nothing to do with academics. In high school, she loved musical theater. “I loved being in the … spotlight,” she said. However, Mount Holyoke offers more group singing opportunities than musical theater performances, so Zhu adjusted. She joined the Glee Club — and loved it more than she ever expected. “I enjoy the process of everyone forming a piece of music together and the blending and bonding that goes with it,” she said, adding, “One thing Mount Holyoke has taught me is that, while I’m grateful my parents encouraged me to be ambitious, not everything has to be a competition.”