Senior Spotlight: Jamie Weiner

Hello, I’m Jamie Wen Weiner and happy to say that I’m finally graduating UD with a Bachelor of Science degree in Apparel Design and minor in Fashion Management. Life plans after college, TBD, but I’m working towards my goal of becoming an apparel designer. 

Starting this organization back in 2019 took grit, passion, personal experience, and teamwork. As an Asian American and adoptee from China formerly from Brooklyn and profoundly interested in pursuing journalism on the side of sewing, I knew I wanted the Asian community at Delaware to be heard. Delaware was and is comparably undiverse next to NYC and it was definitely a culture shock for me as a freshman. During my various experiences with the different Asian organizations on campus, I’d come to know many interesting, diverse students from so many unique backgrounds that were divided from the rest of the UD student body. Sophomore year me wanted to showcase the Asian community to the rest of the university, initially via published journals every month. It took the insights and feedback of my startup team to learn that an online blog would serve this same purpose but also be more accessible to a wider range of students, near and far, and others. Although the founder and initial president, I passed the baton to the very hard working, Grace Zhang to make these new visions come true and I myself became a writing editor for our organization, AAPC. 

My time as a UD student was… interesting. Yet, I want to look back on my college experiences, both the good times, the hard times, and failures, as propelling me towards becoming an even stronger and wiser individual. When I gave my high school graduation speech four years ago, my goal then was to weather the storms that came my way, embrace them, and conquer them, not run away from them. Throughout my time at UD, I’ve accomplished just that- braving storms that seemed unlikely to pass, but eventually did. I managed them because of the valuable connections I had made with students, professors, family, and friends. Thus, my last piece of advice to other students who might listen, and to myself is- don’t burn bridges with those around you because you never know when you will need them and when they will need you. Every person you meet does or can have significance upon your life. Especially at UD, a big school where oftentimes, you still run into the same people time and time again. Keep good people around, leave a great impression, and always handle any situation with grace. That is what I believe to be your true college legacy and what you will be remembered for- weathering life in the past, present, and future not alone, but together.