“I think a lot of my fondest memories go back to the PEOPLE Program honestly because the community is just so amazing, where I have had everything,” Lily said. “I remember celebrating finals week by staying at the PEOPLE office and having a little karaoke with some of the people at the office. It was just a last minute thing where everyone was just there singing along. It was kind of wholesome. I’ve had a lot of advisors switch out during my time with PEOPLE Program. But they were always so nice and reassuring. They always bring me fond memories as well. My last advisor, Anysa, I baked a cake for her and we threw her a little party. That was a really fond memory for me. Everything goes back to PEOPLE Program.”

But while PEOPLE was her base, Lily also got engaged in student life at UW-Madison.

“I was in CHASA for a bit,” Lily said. “It’s the Chinese American Student Association. I was also in SEASA, the Southeast Asian Student Association. I was a passing member. And then, I was also in PSYCHS, the psychology honor society, Phi Beta Kappa, the L&S honor society.”

Perhaps to get the full student experience since she entered as a junior, Jenny explored a lot of community life.

“I became involved with Multicultural Greek community,” Jenny said. “I became involved with a sorority within the Multicultural Greek Council. Sigma Phi Beta Sorority. And then I became a resource and development director for a student-led organization called Help Entrepreneurs and Leaders. It was actually founded by another PEOPLE Scholar. I was involved with UW Health as well. High school students in the Madison school district had the opportunity to attend a Saturday morning seminar at UW Health. Before, it was called HOPE. Now it’s called Career Pathways. I became a speaker within that program because I was an intern for two summers. I was very involved with giving presentations about my experience within the program and my internship and my current role within the hospital. Like Lily, I was also involved in CHASA as well. I was also attending different multicultural student-led organizations such as the Vietnamese Student Association and attending their events and also the Filipino American Student Association as well, going to their events and learning about Asian cultures and their communities and what they stand for.”

Jenny also continued to search for community because, in some cases, she was the last one in.

“Because I was a transfer student, a lot of people already found their communities and a lot of people already found their cliques and people they have already grown with in the last 2-3 years that I had missed out before transferring,” Jenny said. “It was hard to get myself out there and be more social and put myself outside of my comfort zone and speak to people whom I would not have initially spoken to.”

What was challenging for Lily were the competing demands placed on her.

“There were so many hats to wear,” Lilly said. “You’re a student here, then you’re a part-time worker and then you’re a volunteer for a cause or on your own time just to get the hours and experiences. And then you are also a daughter and a sister. There are just so many overwhelming things that are happening all at the same time. That was my biggest challenge, just having to juggle everything and making sure that you are on top of your school work, making sure that you have your courses picked up for the next semester. There are obviously personal challenges. But I feel the overarching one is just to keeping track of everything.”

While at UW-Madison, Jenny switched majors from nursing to  human development and family studies, which she felt was a better fit for her. And now that she has graduated, Jenny is taking a gap year before starting the next stage of her academic career.

“I will apply to different programs to become a physicians assistant because I have always had a large passion for working in the healthcare field and helping others,” Jenny emphasized. “I believe in middle school I did have to be hospitalized at a hospital. So that took a turn within my educational where I had to take a month out of school to stay at a hospital, and get surgeries done. I have always felt that I wanted to give back and the people who were there at the hospital when I was a child. They helped me so much in that situation and helped me feel much more comfortable. I want to do the same for other patients who are currently in hospitals.”

Lily, on the other hand, will move directly into graduate school.

“I applied to the UW-Madison School of Social Work’s master’s program,” Lilly said. “I will be attending this fall. I will be in the accelerated program because I have my BSW this spring, so I will only have one year left. I hope to be in the specialized track of school social work. I want to be a school social worker one day. I loved my social workers growing up in elementary, middle and high school, especially middle school. I had Joey Rosas. He was my school social worker. He was such an inspiration to me, getting to see him dealing first hand with students in a healing way and restoratively bringing justice and community in students and not just say, ‘Oh, you get a detention.’ He was my inspiration to go into social work.”

The advice that Jenny would give incoming students is to believe in who you are.

“I feel usually when I am asked that question, I kind of think about what advice I would give to my younger self,” Jenny said. “I would definitely tell my younger self going into the college experience and college community that you shouldn’t stress about what others think about you. And only understand yourself  and not care what others think about you. You are the only thing that matters in your own point of view. I would say whatever rejection you are given, don’t take that to heart. Take it as an opportunity to improve and build yourself up.”

Lily would advise freshmen to make the most of their collegiate experience.

“I would tell myself to just go for it,” Lily emphasized. “I feel that there are so many things that I should have done or I wish I got to do, but I didn’t because I always had this internal pressure of like, ‘Oh, I have to be home by a certain time. I have my parents and family waiting for me,” Lily said. This is another factor of living at home still and not at the dorms. There was a time when the dorm life could have been an option for me. I would have had to take just a little more scholarship. Just go for it, whatever it is. Look at your options and do whatever you think is right for you. Don’t go with the status quo. I say that just because everyone is on their own time. And I feel because of that, people can be judgmental if you aren’t going a certain way at the right time. But there really is no right time.”

Lily and Jenny Li took separate routes to achieve a quality education at UW-Madison. And attain it they did.