New Tartans Unite in Taiwan
By Heidi Opdyke
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While the United States works to contain COVID-19, Steffi Chern has been hitting the links mostly solo near Hsinchu City in Taiwan. A member of Carnegie Mellon University's women's golf team, she's excited for the day when she'll be able to travel to the United States to practice with teammates in Pittsburgh.
"Even though the fall season was canceled due to safety reasons, we still manage to communicate and catch up with each other via Zoom once every two to three weeks," said Chern, a business administration student. "Hopefully we'll get to compete as a team ASAP!"
Zoom is not the only way Chern has been engaging with other CMU students. She and Aaron Chen, who is studying statistics and machine learning, created a Facebook Messenger group for the CMU Taiwan Class of 2024. Members of the group met in Taipei during Labor Day weekend for a hot pot dinner and in Taichung in September to play darts.
"I'm glad that I get to know this amazing group of friends," Chern said.
First-year students living in Taiwan have gotten together since classes began this fall to feel more connected to CMU and each other. They include back row: Joshua Yu, Henry Wiese, Aaron Chen; front row: Claire Su, Joanne Tsai, Jessica Lee, Steffi Chern and Jasmine Wiese. Because Taiwan has had less than 530 confirmed COVID-19 cases and just seven deaths, facial coverings are only required when entering public transportation stations and there are few restrictions on gatherings. Image courtesy of Jasmine Wiese