Lisa Fu, 20, grew up in Alpharetta, Georgia. She is currently a junior at the University of Georgia majoring in journalism and economics.
Because Alpharetta is so close to the University of Georgia, Lisa said that a lot of her classmates are or have been Bulldawgs. She also said that the city’s high growth rate during her childhood meant that the increasing number of occupants drove Alpharetta to experience more cultural diversity and an appreciation for the arts. Alpharetta’s main attractions included a stellar education system, upper middle-class lifestyle, lots of books on hand, and cultural richness. Despite being a second-generation American, Lisa said her Asian-American parents were not the stereotypical “tiger parents” who control their children’s activities and push them to excel. Nonetheless, Lisa made wise decisions with her life and has found her own success by pushing herself internally. “You drive yourself” to succeed, Lisa said.
In the fourth grade, Lisa encountered the worst class she’s ever experienced. The teacher, Mrs. Waller was a “micromanager who couldn’t organize”, assigning intensive monthly book reports only to loose a good portion of them due to an ineffective filing system.
Attending Alpharetta High School, where going to University of Georgia was the norm, made Lisa initially hesitant to attend the in-state college. Lisa originally didn’t want to attend UGA. She knew she couldn’t afford to go out of state and needed to take advantage of the HOPE scholarship. She ultimately decided on the University of Georgia because of the Grady College of Journalism’s reputation. Still, she was reluctant.
“I was originally like, I guess I’ll go there [to UGA]. But it really grew on me during my freshman year.” Lisa started to appreciate how down to earth everyone was and how much individual attention her professors paid to her. She feels as though she has been offered opportunities at UGA that she never would’ve experienced elsewhere.
“I actually didn’t have too many career goals when I came here,” Lisa says. She knew that UGA had a good journalism program and knew that she enjoyed writing, so she applied to Grady. “I wanted to make a difference in someone’s life and I thought that the best way to do that was through being a journalist.” Since, she has taken up an economics degree and has discovered that she thoroughly enjoys writing about numbers and that she more enjoys solely economics. Fu is now considering working for a central bank or being an analyst. Fu believes that she has opened more doors for herself since she began at UGA. “I never thought that I would do [it] but I’m actually thinking about doing [corporate] analysis,” she says.
With just 2 years left, Lisa said she will miss its lively social atmosphere, ease in making connections, and the support of professors. She expects to graduate in May 2018.
Lisa’s favorite and best written work is an article that she wrote about a homeless woman in Athens and her constant struggle to remain afloat against seemingly uncontrollable circumstances. This is her favorite piece because it allowed her to connect with her community and make a real difference in the life of someone else. These stories are the real reason Lisa decided to pursue journalism.
After a bit of experience writing with the Red&Black, Lisa learned that she prefers using a recorder while interviewing. She feels that in addition to maintaining accuracy and allowing her to avoid paraphrasing, using a recorder allows her to capture nuances of people’s voices that she could not capture using a notebook.
Sherman Alexie, a Native American writer, is Lisa’s favorite author. He is a minority and he talks a lot about being a minority in his own land. He talks about tough issues like poverty, parenting and alcoholism. He makes them comical so that when you’re reading you want to laugh and cry. He talks a lot about irony, in one of his books the main character plays basketball for a team called “The Indians,” and he is Indian so it was written with a lot of irony.
Lisa’s favorite book is actually a literary collection of poems by Sarah Kay. Titled No Matter the Wreckage, this collection is a beautiful series of inspirational poems about life and love. Lisa loves this work because of the author’s voice; her childlike curiosity about the world touched and inspired Lisa on an emotional level.
The most meaningful advice Lisa has gotten is “pursue your passions, don’t worry about the end goal. ” She got this from her father when she was 16. Her father encouraged her to try hard to do what she really love and don’t worry about whether the job can make money or not. “Most people are lazy, so if you work hard, you will get something. ” Her father said.