Graduates | 李晖泓：从高考失利到藤校录取
2024年，广东以色列理工学院迎来第四届本科毕业生。尽管入学时正值新冠疫情爆发、中外合作办学遇冷，但意志坚定的少年们用理想指引前路，以行动践行初心，他们秉承“实干圆梦”（dream it, do it）的广以校训，在科学的道路上砥砺前行，成就了一个个“低调高光”的动人故事。自本期起，广以2024届本科毕业生系列专访将与大家共同分享学子们耕耘梦想的成长故事，见证他们向阳而生的奋斗历程。
毕业高中：黄冈中学惠州学校
本科专业：生物技术与食品工程
获得奖项：
广以Dean's List、学业优秀奖、朋辈助教嘉奖（2020-2021）
广以Vice Chancellor's List、学生代表嘉奖（2021-2022）
国家奖学金（2023-2024）
录取院校：
耶鲁大学 计算生物学与生物信息学硕士项目
“挺意外的，没想到最先拿到的是耶鲁大学的录取通知。”晖泓看着录取邮件上醒目的“Congratulations”，感慨万千。经过一次次改变命运般的“拼尽全力”，当初那个“后进少年”逆风翻盘，离自己“成为科学家”的目标更近一步。
晖泓毫不避讳地说，中学阶段，他一直是班里成绩不好的一员。“我不知道学习有什么意义，工作是为了什么，沉迷在网络游戏中逃避现实，甚至在一款游戏角色中登上全省榜首。还好我的父亲从未放弃开导我，他耐心地启发我树立一个值得为之奋斗的目标。”
“我想成为一名科学家，能为全人类而工作的职业必然是意义非凡的。”
通过学长了解到以色列理工学院诞生过四位诺奖得主，其中一位甚至就在广以校园内。晖泓坚信这是一个做科研的好地方，下定决心要在广以实现自己的人生目标。
然而，他这时的模考成绩甚至离本科线相差甚远，考上广以似乎是一个不可能的梦。但他下定决心，以广以为目标奋斗。
他当时的英语只有60分左右，当他知道广以的英语要求是120分时，他没有害怕。他不再沉迷迷茫，而是专心于提升英语，并且决心通过第二年复读综合提升自己的成绩。
为了考上广以，他每天5点便起床学习，规划好一天的学习安排，甚至学校中午安排休息的时间也被晖泓用去整理笔记，晚上，他是最晚离开班级的学生。他一步步稳扎稳打，每次模考的成绩也在不断提升。他在高考前最后一次的模考年级位列50，达到了一本线，考上广以对他似乎已经不再是一个不可能的梦。尽管最终高考没有考到理想的水平并位列广东省10万名，晖泓还是将英语和数学提高到了广以的录取要求，如愿考上广以。
从高考省排10万名到大学专业成绩全系前三、连续四年GPA90+、斩获国奖、被耶鲁大学录取······晖泓的“逆袭之路”并非一帆风顺。在预备学期，他保持了“高四”的学习状态，每天从早上6点学到晚上11点，用0.5倍速一遍遍听录播课程直到听懂为止，即使面对预备学期物理和数学挂科的打击也毫不气馁。“我知道我正在学着我真正想学的东西，能帮助我实现我的梦想，因此也感到幸福，不会放弃。”
他坚持按部就班地学习，“我花了很多时间去整理笔记，做了物理化学各大体系不同题型的‘答题秘籍’，我也会分享给同学们。我喜欢和同学们交流问题，因为这也是加深理解知识的方法，是学习的一部分。”大一上学期结束后，他惊喜地发现自己全身心投入和真正的热爱让成绩有了明显的起色。
晖泓整理的笔记
晖泓说，自己能拿到耶鲁的offer离不开广以课程设置的“背书”。“这个计算生物学项目要求学生具备非常广泛扎实的科学基础，包括化学物理生物等基础学科知识。这恰恰也是广以的大一大二专业课程非常重视的内容。我把基础打得很好，后面的学习会更加得心应手。”
他表示，广以的老师们非常亲切，很乐意跟学生交流，平等地和学生相处。“正是通过和老师们的交流，我很快知道了自己在广以应当追寻什么。好的成绩只是基本，最宝贵的是在广以获得的科研训练。”
晖泓在本科期间就参与梁嘉言教授的多项课题研究，并获得了产出成果的机会，“可以说，我在广以的故事都和课题组息息相关。”
晖泓与梁教授实验室成员合影
“记得当我刚进入学校的时候，我就在幻想着科研楼内是什么样子。” 大一暑假，晖泓受到了学校生涯发展中心的鼓舞，进入了向往已久的科研楼，成为梁嘉言教授分子微生物实验室团队的一员。
△ 晖泓写于大一暑假
“广以的科研平台是非常好的，我在梁教授的实验室收获到非常全面的科研训练。” 更重要的是，在这个过程中，晖泓找到了他具体的研究兴趣，他想追寻的是什么。
大二大三的时候，他在梁教授实验室接触到了计算生物学/生物信息学这个概念，看到了这个领域解决复杂生物问题的能力。“我想做最有益于人类的工作，促进人类社会的进步。我当时接触到神经科学和计算生物学这两个概念，以及它们的交叉点计算神经学的时候，我被痴迷住了，似乎这是一个可以加深我们人类自我理解并最终促进人类进步的领域。这就是我想实现自己人生价值的领域。”
于是晖泓在大三迈出独立科研的第一步，希望加强自己在生物信息领域的训练。依托于梁教授的科研主题以及广以的高性能处理服务器平台，他自己选定了一个研究方向，从公共数据库挖掘全球洞穴的测序数据并分析，旨在揭示这种古老自然环境下抗生素耐药基因的组装。这些知识对于理解抗生素耐药基因的传播和逆转其传播有帮助，相关的结果也在国际会议上展出了项目海报。“这个经历锤炼了我的计算生物学技能，相关的成果是让我在申请耶鲁的过程中突出的重要因素。”
他表示，被耶鲁录取的项目有很大的自由度，其中的三门必修课有两门涉及计算神经学，其余的课程他可以自由选择。“这个项目可以很好地拓展我的神经科学和计算机背景，我很高兴我能被这个项目录取。”
“未来能让我一直做科研就行，我就很开心了。”
晖泓说自己很看中“意义感”，这也是他的人生触底反弹的关键。只要是自己觉得有意义的事情，他都乐在其中——加入学生会，在服务中学习团队合作；当朋辈助教，与同学们分享学习经验；做学生代表，为学校发展出谋献策。
晖泓与学生会成员合影
在他眼中，人与人发展的潜力是一样的，只是有人还没有找到自己真正热爱、愿意为之奋斗一生的东西。“我想用我的故事告诉大家，永远不要放弃追寻自己的热爱，每个人都有获得成功的可能。”
This summer, the Class of 2024 will graduate from Guangdong Technion – Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT). Despite the COVID-19 Pandemic and the running difficulty of Sino-foreign university co-operation in the year they entered GTIIT, the determined students keep moving forward with the motto of "Dream it, do it". They write one and another encouraging stories upon the path of scientific dreams. Let's follow the interview series of 2024 graduates to uncover more in their pursuit of future.
High School:
Huanggang Middle School Huizhou Campus
Program:
Biotechnology and Food Engineering
Awards:
GTIIT Dean's List, Academic Excellence Scholarship, Outstanding Peer Tutor (2020/2021)
GTIIT Vice Chancellor's List, Outstanding Student Representative (2021/2022)
China National Scholarship (2023/2024)
Offer:
Yale University, M.S. in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
"It's unexpected that the first offer I got was from Yale University." Huihong looked at the eye-catching "Congratulations" on the acceptance email, overwhelmed by emotions. He rewrote his life track with hard work, getting closer to the goal of becoming a scientist.
Huihong said that when he was in high school, he was always the underachiever in the class. "I have no idea why we have to learn and work. I was addicted to online games, a good way to escape from reality. Fortunately, my father never gave up on enlightening me and he inspired me to set a goal worth fighting for."
"I want to be a scientist; a career where I can work for all mankind is bound to be meaningful."
After learning that there were four Nobel Prize winners in the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, and that one of them was at GTIIT, Huihong was convinced this place would be fantastic to conduct scientific research and was determined to realize his life goal at GTIIT.
However, his model-exam score was far away from the undergraduate cut-off points at that time, and it seemed impossible for him to be accepted by GTIIT. Even so, he made up his mind to fight for this goal.
His English score was only about 60 points (out of 150 points), while the English requirement of GTIIT was 120 points. Instead of being discouraged, he concentrated on improving English, aiming to improve his grades and join GTIIT when attending Gaokao again.
Targeting this goal, he woke up at 5 am every day to study, and even the lunch break was used to arrange his notes. He was also the last student to leave the classroom every evening. With hard work, his performance in each model test improved step by step. In the last model test before Gaokao, he ranked 50th in his grade and reached the admission score of the first batch of universities. It seemed GTIIT was no longer an impossible dream. Although he didn't get the desired score in the second Gaokao, his English and math scores met the requirements of GTIIT. Finally, he was accepted by the university as he wished.
Move forward with perseverance
GRADUATE INTERVIEWFrom being ranked 100,000th in Gaokao of Guangdong province, to being one of the top 3 in BFE Program, gaining GPA 90+ for 4 consecutive years, achieving China National Scholarship, and making his way to Yale University... Huihong's road to success was never smooth. In the preparatory semester, he maintained his learning enthusiasm as high school. He learned from 6 am to 11 pm every day and listened to the recorded lessons at 0.5 times speed until they were understood. Despite physics and math failures during the preparatory semester, he kept his chin up. "I know I'm learning what I want to learn. That will help me realize my dream, so I won't give up."
He insisted on studying step-by-step. "I spend a lot of time arranging my notes for different types of questions in the major systems of physics and chemistry, which I also share with my classmates. I like communicating with them because it's a good way to deepen my understanding and it's a part of learning." At the end of the first semester of his first year, he was surprised to find that he had made a noticeable improvement in his grades.
Huihong's notes
Huihong said GTIIT's curriculum irreplaceably contributed to his offer from Yale University. "The Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Program needs students with a highly broad and solid scientific foundation, including knowledge of chemistry, physics, biology and other basic subjects. This is exactly what GTIIT attaches great importance to in freshman and sophomore years. I've built up a solid foundation, which makes it easier for me to handle the following courses."
He mentioned teachers at GTIIT were willing to exchange ideas with students. "It was through interaction with the teachers that I found what I should pursue here. Achieving good grades is the basis, yet the research training I gained at GTIIT is what I value the most."
During his undergraduate, Huihong was involved in multiple research projects in Prof. Ka Yin Leung's team and was given the opportunity to produce outputs, "It's fair to say that all my stories at GTIIT are related to the research team."
Huihong with lab members
"I still remember when I first entered the university, I was curious about what it would be like inside the research building." In the summer holiday of his freshman year, inspired by the GTIIT Career and Learning Center, Huihong applied to join the research team. He became a member of Prof. Ka Yin Leung's team in Molecular Microbiology Laboratory.
△ Huihong wrote in his freshman year
"GTIIT's research platform is excellent, and I gained very comprehensive research training in Prof. Leung's lab." More importantly, Huihong found a specific research interest there.
During his sophomore and junior years, he was introduced to the concepts of computational biology and bioinformatics, as well as their intersection, computational neuroscience. Their abilities to solve complex biological problems appealed to him. "I hope to do what would work best for humanity and contribute to our society. I was obsessed with the concepts of neuroscience and computational biology at that moment. It seemed like a field that would deepen our self-understanding and ultimately contribute to human progress, which is exactly what I want."
Driven by the objective, Huihong took his first step towards independent research in his junior year, hoping to strengthen training in the field of bioinformatics. Relying on Prof. Leung's research project and the high-performance processing server platform at GTIIT, he chose a research theme of his own, mining public databases for global cave sequencing data and analyzing it with the aim of revealing the assembly of antibiotic resistance genes in ancient natural environment. It is useful for understanding and reversing the spread of antibiotic resistance genes. Besides, the related poster was presented at an international conference. "The experience cultivated my computational biology skills, and the result was significant to my application to Yale University."
He said the Yale program he was accepted into has a wide range of freedom. Two of the three required courses involved computational neurology, and he was free to choose the rest courses. "This project will greatly expand my neuroscience and computer background, and I'm glad to get into the program."
"I'll be happy if I can just keep doing research in the future."
Huihong said he valued "the sense of meaning", which was key to his life rebounding after hitting rock bottom. As long as it was something he found meaningful, he enjoyed it - joining the GTIIT Student Association to learn teamwork in service; serving as a peer tutor to share his learning experience; and being a student representative for the development of the university.
Huihong with the members of Student Association
In his eyes, everyone has potential for growth, yet some people have not found what they truly love and are willing to devote to for a life time. "I want to take myself as an example to tell everyone that never give up pursuing your passion. Success is possible for everyone."
文/图：李晖泓、GTIIT传媒与公共事务部
Text/Photos: Li Huihong, GTIIT News & Public Affairs
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