September 18, 2018 | Jay Cox

In China, Syracuse is affectionately known as “Snow City.” When a friend introduced Yaqi Kang ’18 to the idea of attending Syracuse University, she was intrigued because she wanted to experience snow. “I had never, ever seen any snow before,” says Kang, who was accustomed to the tropical climate of Quanzhou, her hometown in southeast China.

While Kang trudged through her share of the white stuff—and admittedly didn’t anticipate how frigid Snow City could sometimes be—Syracuse became much more to her than an exercise in weather acclimation. More than anything, she embraced her role as an active representative of the Chinese student community at Syracuse. “In China, there is an old phrase, ‘Everyone is responsible for the community,’” says Kang, a graduate of the Maxwell School and the College of Arts and Sciences who majored in international relations and economics with a minor in psychology. “Every student is a part of the community, and we all have the responsibility to make our community better.”

Read more about Yaqi and watch her "Be Orange" video on the Syracuse University website.