New Jersey Alpha Audrey Ou is from Hong Kong, so I had to ask what brought her halfway across the globe to Princeton University. Very simple: her older brother. Her brother attended Princeton and always tried to convince Audrey it was the best option. He did not have to try too hard because when she visited two years ago, she fell in love with the school and immediately could see herself there.

Audrey’s family is very close and it is due to the core values instilled in them by her parents. Though the family has similar values, Audrey sees how her parents’ personalities are opposite of each other. Audrey believes she is a perfect balance of her mom and dad.

Her mother is an indoor type and spends her time enjoying contemporary art; this is where Audrey gets her interest in art. Audrey spent the summer at the Contemporary Art Museum in Shanghai, China. She was the youngest tour guide working for the sales and marketing departing.

Audrey’s father helps with the China Nature Conservancy. At 10 years old, Audrey joined her father in a scuba diving trip in Komodo, Indonesia. The trip was focused on assisting scientists by helping to count coral per square inch.

Her mom believes college is for reading, academics, studying hard and visiting museums. Her dad wants her to have fun and enjoy herself. She takes advice from both.

Being at an academically rigorous institution, it is easy to focus primarily on how academia shapes the individual. But it is the people at Princeton who helped change Audrey’s perspective of the world. Princeton has allowed her to gain an understanding of people from different backgrounds and see a view of the world she had not previously known. “My peers believe in themselves, whether it is in classroom discussions or during a coffee chat,” says Audrey. “That confidence is a huge part of what Princeton means to me.”