High-school student Chen Chien-ying (陳芊穎) said she hopes to help others after so many helped her overcome the limitations of cerebral palsy, once she obtains a psychology degree from National Taiwan University (NTU).
On Thursday last week, Chen became the first student from Changhua County’s National Lukang Senior High School to be accepted into the prestigious university through its program to help disadvantaged students.
Born with cerebral palsy, Chen said that she has always found movement difficult.
Photo: Liu Hsiao-hsin, Taipei Times
When she was an infant, her parents thought that she was just developing slowly, but after she was diagnosed at one year old, her parents took her to different specialists in the hopes of taking advantage of an early intervention.
Her mother took her to rehabilitation and acupuncture clinics for treatment, which Chen said helped, but was painful to endure.
Due to her condition, she must wear foot braces and has difficulty performing small movements, she said.
Writing notes during class is challenging to her, so she often takes photographs of the blackboard with her phone and uploads them for her classmates — in addition to preparing in advance to ensure she does not fall behind, Chen said.
For essays, her teachers let her type on a laptop, she said, but added that math class is challenging, as she has to use a pencil to write out calculations and proofs.
Fortunately, she is given more time to take tests, enabling her to advance in her studies, Chen said.
Chen, who has never attended a cram school, received good-enough grades in her high-school entrance exam to attend National Changhua Girls’ Senior High School, but decided to stay closer to home.
She said that she has encountered many kind teachers and students during her time at Lukang Senior High, who are happy to help her move around the school.
“The teachers are all sympathetic and have been very kind to me,” she said.
Chen said that she was inspired to choose NTU’s Department of Psychology after becoming fascinated with her brother’s book about Sigmund Freud’s dream interpretations.
Since so many people have helped her throughout her life, she said that she hopes to help even more people by becoming a psychologist.
Chen’s counselor, Yu Chih-ting (余志挺), said that the choice of a study program suits her well, as Chen has a very sharp mind.
Chen is not deterred by limitations, but works hard to realize her dreams, Lukang Senior High principal Lin Yi-hsien (林宜賢) said.
NTU provides an additional admissions track for students from disadvantaged backgrounds that employs a holistic approach.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
RSS