Scholarship Recipient, Yung-Ju Chen

"I am Yung-Ju Chen, a PhD student specializing in physical education. I would like to express my sincere gratitude as a recipient of the Alumni Club of Taiwan Scholarship for the 2016-17 academic school year. This scholarship will support my studies at The Ohio State University by reducing my financial worries and stress.

After graduating from Taipei First Girls' High School, I went back to my hometown and studied physical education at National Kaohsuing Normal University. Since both of my parents were secondary school teachers, I was fostered in an educational environment and fascinated by the beauty of teaching. In order to take full advantage of the insight of education my parents gave to me, I decided to do something more than a secondary physical education teacher.

In realizing that working as a professor may allow me to be more influential in making significant changes in policy and curriculum than as a secondary school teacher at the practical level, I began the journey of pursuing a PhD. As the first step, I started my master's degree at National Taiwan Normal University to prepare myself for studying abroad. During the three years of my master's degree study, in addition to achieving the requirements of the degree, I spent plenty of time on understanding the status of education and sport pedagogy in Asia, because I believe that rather than mimicking education in the Western countries, promoting the academic collaboration of Asian countries, who share very similar culture and values, is more imperative. Hence, I went to several regional and international conferences and spent a semester as an exchange student in Korea.

I was admitted to the physical education program at Ohio State last year. I am proud to be a part of one of the most prestigious physical education programs in the world. It is also a great honor to work with the fabulous faculty, who are all distinguished scholars in the field. I believe that, at the completion of the doctoral training, I will become a qualified educator, who is able to teach effectively and conduct quality research. Without the support of scholarships, pursuing my dreams would be tough due to the financial pressure generated in the self-funded year. This scholarship plays an important role in accomplishing my dreams. Thank you once again for making the award possible."

If you would like to make an impact and support scholarships for students, contact Tiffany Worthington at worthington.72@osu.edu or 614-292-8158