My Story
This section shares a big picture of my background in Malaysia.
Why did I decide to write this story?
I knew I was a late-bloomer in Education Achievement. Even though I didn't excel in elementary school and high school, I was able to grow into my own academic abilities in college, thrive by majoring in Mathematics and graduating with the honor of Cum Laude. My friends from school in Malaysia would be impressed with my accomplishments in college such as becoming President and Secretary of CAE Student Committee and making the Dean's Lists.
The thoughts of sharing my story hit me as I found out about the ArcGIS StoryMaps (this storytelling tool that I am currently using!) when I volunteered as a Student Assistant for the 2019 ESRI User Conference in San Diego, California. Personally, I am hoping my story will encourage those who are still trying to figure out what they want to do in life since I too was late in finding my passion. Meanwhile, I am hoping that my story can help people become more aware of the powerful GIS tool (such as this ArcGIS StoryMaps!) that could greatly improve decision making and idea sharing in any working industry.
Abbreviation: Geographic Information System (GIS)
My Life in Malaysia
Feel free to browse through the map on the left (zoom in/out). If you click on each point location or place your mouse locator over the top of it, you will be able to read a short description written for each location.
The First 20 Years of My Life
Honestly, I don't remember accomplishing anything great or special during my teenage years. As a fun fact, I have struggled to achieve good grades for all subjects taught in school except for mathematics. But I know I am not a math genius, maybe just above average. I have always preferred playing with numbers rather than reading in my younger age. This is what led me to pursue a bachelor degree in Mathematics.
"late readers do as well in the end as early readers"
While I was not able to recognize the basic ABC's even at the age of 6, I am now doing so much better, and I have learned to love reading. If you are wondering about how well I can read, no worries! I aced all my English classes in college and also started enjoying classes such as history, classical mythology, physiology, etc!
Hard work does pay off :)
Fun Fact:
I have three siblings and all of them were better academic achievers than I was. But I was able to turn this around and eventually caught up with them. In fact, because I am pursuing a career in GIS, something I genuinely love, I might even be performing better 😉
My mother joked about this and said because I worried her the most, she needed to spend more money on my education and allow me study abroad to make sure I wouldn't be jobless and starve myself to death!
My college life in Sunway University, Malaysia
Leadership Involvements
I have always been grateful for the two years I spent at Sunway University. I don't think it is exaggerating to say that I started my transformation there. When I entered my freshman year, I was an introvert. Then I was given many leadership opportunities by chance, slowly grew into a more confident and outspoken person. I considered myself an introvert because I only had one friend throughout my first semester; what's worse, she initiated our friendship!
After I joined my university's Center for American Education (CAE) Student Committee, my life changed as I made many great friends there. I started off as an active member, then took on the secretary position, and followed this by serving as the president for a year. The picture below was taken when I joined the 2015 Asia Leadership Trek as one of the student leaders involved, applying what I learned in CAE.
One of my best experiences as a student leader at Sunway University.
Flew from Malaysia to India for Fundraising Trip.
Fundraising Trips to India
This fundraising project was initiated by my friend, Jayashini Vasanthan. In early 2014, when I just started my position as the President of CAE Student Committee, she approached me and shared the idea of organizing a nonprofit student-based fundraising project, with all funds raised directly by a small group of students visiting rural areas of South India.
(Left) First India Trip, picture taken on March 19, 2014. (Right) Second India Trip, back to Malaysia on August 8, 2014.
With the efforts of all members, two fundraising projects were successfully executed in the rural areas of South India in the year 2014. On both trips, we maintained a small number of students being involved because we had to consider safety as well as the need for transportation in India. Our founder, Jayashini was great at arranging everything we need in India. With help from her family, she took good care of our accommodations, planned all our travel routes, and even managed us with important respective roles in order to have things go smoothly.
Goodbye Malaysia, and Hello United States!
To be honest, at this point in life I was more excited about leaving Malaysia than feeling sad, because I was curious about what awaited me and the unknown future. After 2 years in the U.S., I started missing home, and also the good food in Malaysia, even while I thoroughly enjoying all that I was learning!
On May 2015, I flew from Malaysia to United States to complete my bachelor degree, B.S. in Mathematics.
A Quick Glimpse into My Life in the United States
Picture taken with Professor Wesley Calvert, Director of Undergraduate Studies of Mathematics Department
Throughout my entire junior year of college, I spent more time juggling my studies and my countless on-campus jobs, I didn't even take a break during summer time. I wanted to finish my bachelor degree as soon as possible to lessen my family's financial burden (of course, tuition is expensive, especially after the conversion rate!). In short, it wasn't easy maintaining at least 15 credit hours each semester and also keep up with 20 hours of work each week.
My current best record is taking 18 credit hours while still working 20 hours weekly as a math tutor during my last semester, and still achieving the Dean's List on top of that!
There were countless nights with sweat and tears, but I am glad I completed my bachelor degree's in Mathematics successfully!
Current Progress
Now, I am a Master graduate candidate in GIS and hope to become a GIS Specialist and GIS Educator.
Mathematics Teaching Assistant
For the past two years, I have been working as the main instructor for a college course, MATH 101 Introduction to Contemporary Mathematics. My class size is small, usually capped in the range of 15 to 25 students. Nevertheless, this is the only class section approved by the Mathematics Department and specially designated for students with various learning disabilities at Achieve Program. I single-handedly designed a Study Guide Book (available upon request) as our class material, and the book focuses on explaining all complex concepts in understandable terms.
Picture taken with the 2019 GPSC President, Clay Awsumb.
Research Award
In year 2019, I have been named one of the five recipients of the 2019 GPSC Research Award!
Each year, the SIU Graduate and Professional Student Council (GPSC) awards up to $1,000 to graduate and professional students who have submitted exceptional research proposals for review by the GPSC Fee Allocation Board and the GPSC Research Award Committee.
My abstract is available upon request. The title of my proposal is "Using Social Network Analysis and Geographic Information Systems to Understand the Social Support of the Coal Industry in the United States".
The End.
I hope you enjoyed reading my story!
You can connect with me via:
► Email: jessicaliewjieshi@siu.edu
► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicaliewjieshi/
► My first video - "GIS in Daily Life": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBG40WaI9EM
