For Chen Shile, entering SPEIT was a coincidence when filling out her college application form. As a freshman, the language barrier of all-French courses, a packed timetable, and the unique French engineering education model made her and many other students truly feel unprecedented challenges in their first semester. The brightly lit study rooms late at night, the abstruse math and physics problems that still seemed difficult after repeated deduction, the weekly Colle tutorials... these composed the main theme of her early undergraduate life. Yet amidst the challenges, SPEIT quietly opened countless windows for her to explore the outside world. The flowing cross-cultural atmosphere in the institute, the global vision integrated into the curriculum system, and the development philosophy that encourages students to explore diversely, gradually permeated her growth path. She began to realize that the coordinate system of life value might be far more complex than imagined—it is not only about the numbers and rankings on the transcript, but more about how a person can find their unique position on this broad platform.

Shortly after enrollment, a notice for the on-campus selection of volunteers for the China International Import Expo (CIIE) caught her eye. With an unpolished sincerity and enthusiasm, she moved the judges and became a rare new force among the "Little Leaves" volunteers of the CIIE that year. In the seemingly trivial services at the "Clover" exhibition hall, Chen Shile truly understood for the first time what it means to undertake the responsibilities and role of young university students on the international stage. This experience was like encountering the first "green hill" on a long journey—through the window of volunteer service, she caught a preliminary glimpse of the possibility of connecting personal actions with the broad social landscape, and experienced the substantial gains brought by cross-border exchanges.

▲ Volunteering at the 2nd China International Import Expo

Since then, volunteer service has become an important way for her to explore the world. From handing out cups of water on the track of the Shanghai Marathon, to gazing at the desert starry sky with the Inner Mongolia "Green Grid" Public Welfare Desertification Control Team; from the busy figure coordinating on the scene of large-scale events, to the patient voice explaining in the corners of communities, her footprints have extended with every act of dedication. More importantly, she met like-minded partners on this road, and also completed a role transformation through side-by-side collaboration—from a practitioner in the spotlight to an organizer and supporter behind the scenes. She joined the University Youth Volunteer Service Team, grew from a core member to a minister, and in two years, took the lead in the preparation and implementation of a number of large-scale volunteer activities and international exchange programs. When each event came to a successful end, and when her partners cast trusting glances at her, the title of "Excellent Student Leader" meant more to her than just an honor—it was more a recognition of the sense of responsibility of being a cornerstone and giving silently.

As time passed, in her first year of postgraduate study, Chen Shile flew across the ocean with her classmates to start a five-month exchange trip in Paris. This city, with its profound historical heritage and surging artistic vitality, became another starting point for her to explore the world. Beyond the academic halls, she was deeply immersed in the unique local cultural atmosphere: she participated in the time-honored "Catacombs Exploration" traditional activity of Mines Paris, ran with her partners through the profound underground labyrinths in the silent midnight, and completed a meaningful "baptism" in the challenge of crossing narrow alleys and slippery mud.

This overseas experience was an ongoing internal and external dialogue. In cross-cultural classrooms, she dared to speak up, responded to the one-sided interpretations of China by Western media with fluent arguments, and made the youth voice a unique and firm force in international dialogue. During travels and daily life, thinking never stopped: a Chinese young person she met on the way to Morocco, who resolutely embarked on a solo trip to Africa after her 30th birthday, made her ponder the proposition of life rhythm and self-pursuit; in daily conversations with her French roommate, she observed a certain homogeneity in the backgrounds of students from top local universities, which prompted her to reflect more deeply on the meaning of education, opportunity and diversity. Outwardly, she continuously expanded the boundaries of her cognition through personal experience and practice; inwardly, she constantly calibrated her self-awareness in diverse collisions. A clearer and more solid life path was slowly unfolding as time went by.

▲ Travel Notes in Santorini

In her senior year of undergraduate study, an idea quietly became clear: return to the frontline and devote herself to the construction of her hometown. The familiar local accent, an innate affable communication style, and the inextricable emotional connection to her hometown deep in her heart, prompted her to decide to explore this path. She took the initiative to make an appointment for consultation with the university’s grassroots employment guidance teacher, and a long talk benefited her a lot and made her clearer about her inner direction. For her third and fourth internships, she resolutely chose to return to the Party and government organs of her hometown for training. It was in these two internships deep in the frontline that she felt the most real warmth of policy implementation, personally experienced the complexity and challenges of grassroots work that "a thousand threads at the top, one needle at the bottom", and also deeply tasted the simple and solid sense of accomplishment brought by solving practical difficulties for neighbors and villagers. The pragmatic, warm, and down-to-earth working atmosphere made her finally firm in her career choice: root her professional knowledge and aspirations in the vast grassroots soil of China.