• Junior majoring in East Asian Languages and Cultures, with a concentration in Chinese
• From Chicago, Illinois
• Student manager and guard on the Miami RedHawks Men's Basketball Team
• Received an Evans Scholarship from the Western Golf Association
• Studied abroad in Peru as a high school student; hopes to work in China after graduation

"Just stay true to yourself as you continue to develop and work on yourself. Use Miami’s academic environment to develop meaningful relationships and connections. Practicing a lot of self-care and self-love is also really important, because you cannot give to friendships and other relationships if you aren't focusing on yourself and taking care of yourself. "

Why Miami?

"To start off with, I had a lot of friends that went to Miami. I’m an Evan’s Scholar, which is a scholarship awarded to golf caddies. A bunch of my older friends from my caddie camp and golf club attended Miami, so I decided to take a look. I went to a boarding school in Massachusetts, so I definitely wanted to get closer to home in Chicago. Miami’s location was good, and I could see myself fitting into the campus atmosphere.

"I did not know what I wanted to study, so I came in as undecided. I applied to the Farmer School of Business as a business major for a little but eventually dropped it and picked up my major in East Asian Languages and Cultures (EALC) to study Chinese. I’m still a little unclear of where I want to go when I graduate, but I’m thinking about pursuing graduate school with business."

Best Miami Experiences

Wil Stevens' official Miami Basketball team portrait.

"When I was in high school going into my junior year, I studied abroad in Peru for five weeks and lived with a host family. I took Spanish lessons and went to popular cities throughout Peru. It was a crazy experience! I still keep in touch with my host family and friends I made there.. It was such an unbelievable experience that it made me even more interested in learning languages and different cultures. It was funny too because I speak Chinese, and so being out there I knew no Spanish.

"That experience, along with attending a boarding school, helped to prepare me for my first year at Miami. It was still eye-opening just being in this environment. I was used to being away from home, but being at college was different -- a little faster tempo, more responsibility, and things of that nature. It was pretty cool! I became more responsible and matured more quickly.

"My favorite memory so far would have to be my involvement on the men’s basketball team as a student manager my freshman year. We beat Buffalo to advance to the MAC tournament and knocked them out of the tournament. I remember rushing into the locker room, and we all started celebrating and threw some water on the coach. It felt really good. It felt like I was part of the team. As a student manager for two seasons, although I was working with the team I had sometimes felt apart from the team. So just those little moments made me feel closer to my teammates. And now I play as a guard and am an official member of the roster!"

Miami and the Liberal Arts

"Something that I like most about my EALC major is the language component, specifically Chinese in my case. I really enjoy the idea of being able to master and learn another language so I'll be able to communicate with a whole different world of people. Oftentimes language barriers stop us from being able to connect and communicate with other people, so that’s one of the main things I like about it.

"That’s the biggest skill I’ve learned here at Miami -- communication. I’ve been in a lot of different situations where communication was key. Just since my freshman year, and even since high school, I've seen how my communication skills have evolved. Being on the basketball team takes a lot of communication, so I've developed into a stronger communicator, which in turn helps me with my future endeavors. As someone who wants to do international work, we have to be able to communicate effectively.

"My major can be a little bit complicated at times, but once you learn the basics and the foundations of it, it’s pretty much smooth sailing from there. It’s just up to you and the work you put in to maintain the language and communications skills that you learn from my major.

"I really enjoyed my 300 & 400 level Chinese grammar classes. Specifically, former Chinese instructor Longsheng Jin’s classes were very engaging, full of energy, and made me fall in love with learning the Chinese Mandarin."

A Passion for Cross-Cultural Communication

Wil Stevens admiring the view of Machu Picchu in Peru.

"Studying abroad in Peru had a really big impact on me. It helped me see a totally different side of life, coming from the south side of Chicago. The friendships and bonds that I made really still stick with me. It just makes me want to continue learning Chinese to know how to communicate with more people.

"I think that experience definitely helped me with my EALC major. I’m now more open from being able to learn about a different culture and get those experiences. In the future, if I'm ever working overseas, I could be a little more comfortable in that element, with the different language barriers that come with immersing yourself in a totally different place and culture. I'd say it definitely did, especially at that young of an age.

"I would like to work in business in China. Recently I have been considering adding my business and Chinese backgrounds together and perhaps attending graduate school in business. I definitely want to get in the basketball scene over in China, such as basketball management for a Chinese team or helping to open up basketball academies.

"I definitely want to study abroad again, and I was actually planning to do so in the summer of 2020 before the pandemic happened. It would also be tough right now with basketball. I'm just trying to balance my schedule! Going abroad again, probably after graduation, would really help my language skills."

Advice to Students

"Just stay true to yourself as you continue to develop and work on yourself. Use Miami’s academic environment to develop meaningful relationships and connections. Practicing a lot of self-care and self-love is also really important, because you cannot give to friendships and other relationships if you aren't focusing on yourself and taking care of yourself.

That’s one of the main things a new student should know -- especially coming in to college and trying to make friends."

[November 2020]