My journey at the School of Future Technology has been more than just a pursuit of knowledge; it has been a long experiment in self-reinvention. In this experiment, there were no standard answers, only a clearer sense of self born from countless setbacks and restarts.
——Chen Jiabin
Basic Background
Chen Jiabin, a 2022 undergraduate from the School of Future Technology, was selected for Heilongjiang Province’s first undergraduate projects funded by the Natural Science Foundation. He has applied for three patents, submitted a conference paper, and won multiple awards, including recognition from national innovation competitions. He has been honored with the National Scholarship and more than ten university-level accolades, such as Outstanding Communist Party Member of HIT, Outstanding Student Leader, and Outstanding Student. As the president of HIT’s Student Green Association, Chen organized over 50 campus activities, leading the association to be named one of the “Top Ten Clubs of HIT.”
From Feeling Overwhelmed to Standing on My Own: The Resilience I Built
If I were to fold my four years of university into one collection of memories, my experiences in student work would stand out as the most intense and the most “chaotic.” I feel lucky to have witnessed the warmth of nearly 10,000 second-hand books being passed among students and teachers on campus. I’ll also never forget planting 1,500 poplar trees alongside over 500 people one spring in Shuangcheng District. Looking back, these seem like calm and graceful moments, but the reality of those days was me constantly stumbling and struggling to find direction amidst chaos.
True growth doesn’t come from innate talent but from not giving up after making mistakes over and over again. At the Green Association, from being a staff member to eventually becoming the president, my beginnings were filled with clumsiness.
I still clearly remember my first experience organizing a campus-wide book donation event. Due to my poor planning in estimating classifications, thousands of books ended up piled chaotically at the venue. Feeling incredibly guilty as the deadline approached, I worked overtime with my teammates to sort them book by book manually. During a tree-planting event, I was overwhelmed by tasks like team grouping, vehicle dispatch, and managing unexpected situations—resolving conflicts one moment and rushing to coordinate supplies the next. Things were no different during my role in the Wentian Student Party Member Studio, often causing trouble for teachers and classmates due to my oversight and negligence. The frustration of “getting everything wrong” once made me seriously doubt my own abilities.
But I was fortunate to meet teachers and peers at HIT who were willing to tolerate my imperfections. When my plans didn’t work out, I listened to criticism attentively and returned to revise every detail. When coordination during events fell apart, I stood up in reflection meetings to accept blame and prepared even more detailed plans for the next time.
Through this recurring process of making mistakes, reflecting, and starting over, I gradually overcame my tendency to panic in challenging situations. I learned to find clarity amid chaos and maintain composure under pressure. I came to realize that being “independent” means shouldering responsibility through trial and error, keeping my anxiety internal, and delivering the best results to everyone in the end.
Building Confidence Through Reevaluating and Restarting
During my first research presentation after joining the team, I was so nervous that I stammered, unable to even explain the logical flow of my PPT. When facing questions from my mentor, all I could offer was silence. At that time, I felt far removed from being a true researcher. The transformation occurred during the hardware testing phase of a National Natural Science Foundation project with the research team. During that time, I mostly played a supporting role, making rookie mistakes such as connecting wires incorrectly or inputting incorrect parameters that ruined test results, until I gradually became familiar with the quirks of each device. Through repeated trial and error, I swallowed my frustration and gradually accumulated real expertise.
Therefore, when I later encountered comprehensive designs and independently managed projects, I was no longer clueless like before. Instead, I learned from my senior peers, breaking down complex engineering problems step by step. While late nights and glaring error messages from programs became the norm during project implementation, the sense of fulfillment from obtaining experimental results after countless revisions was unparalleled. Scientific research has never taught me how to conduct a perfect experiment, but rather how to find the courage to start over amidst chaos and endless error messages. The rookie who once feared being questioned and making mistakes has finally gained the confidence to face the unknown through countless trials and errors.
Growing Through Setbacks, Moving Forward with Determination
Reflecting on these four years, I realize that growth isn’t achieved overnight but through encountering obstacles time and time again. From the initially overwhelmed and clumsy team member to a student leader who learned to coordinate and organize; From a novice making constant mistakes during exploration to a researcher who can now calmly focus on data analysis. The reflections documented during review and the late-night dialogues with challenges made me feel more grounded than any praise ever could. All the exhaustion, laughter, setbacks, and reinvention over these four years have collectively forged who I am today.
The timidity I had four years ago when I first arrived has quietly faded away through these hands-on experiences. I am grateful to HIT for allowing me to make mistakes, helping me recognize my shortcomings, and giving me the patience to carve out my path step by step. In the future, I will carry the confidence built on HIT’s motto of “Stringent Standards and Professional Proficiency” and continue exploring in a broader world.
