Hello CBA students and faculty, Lord Bless You! My name is Austin Wang, and I graduated from CBA in 2014. God has continuously blessed me with many opportunities to grow and succeed, and I would like to share an update with you. Since the last time I have written to you in August 2018, I have graduated from UCLA with a Masters degree in Structural Engineering and have started designing bridges at a structural design firm. I thank God for giving me the Christ-confidence to pursue a bright path to a brighter future, and I have trusted and acted on God’s plan for my life to achieve the place where I am today.
I have joined a company that designs many of the roads and bridges that serve the people of Southern California. At my office, I use computer modeling programs to analyze how the weight of cars and trucks affects the performance of several proposed bridge designs, ultimately choosing the best design in terms of cost and safety. Aside from the technical aspect of my job, I also need to clearly communicate with coworkers in a collaborative effort to complete large-scale projects that consist of checking calculations with other project engineers, talking with clients, and getting the project approved by the California Department of Transportation.
In my previous CBA letter to you, I emphasized to “improve your oral communication skills”, because it is how you talk and form meaningful relationships with other people that creates strong bonds to cultivate effective teamwork at school, at home, and in the workplace. Clear oral communication is an effective skill needed for all aspects of life, and I thank God for giving me the confidence and opportunities to develop this skill.
I have arrived at the end and the peak of my academic journey (for now), and I would like to share my perspective with all of you, especially to the high school students who are preparing for their next step in college and beyond.
My journey in Christ truly began at CBA and will always consist of Service and having a humble heart to serve. Being able to allow God to lead me to serve others has given me so many opportunities to develop as a person. I served on the CBA basketball team, the Choir group, and the Yearbook club, and serving has allowed God to bless others through me, and it is amazing how impactful you can be to those around you through God’s inspiration and guidance. I encourage all of you to stay involved and help out whenever you can, even those Fridays when all of you are cleaning the school because it truly helps you develop strong character and a caring heart to serve. Being humble and having a heart of service is the first step to becoming a good leader, as you learn what it takes to be responsible and put others before yourself.
God and CBA gave me additional and more fruitful opportunities to serve as I also was among the students who raised money for kids with Leukemia and the students in our sister school in the Congo. I also joined on the yearly trips to Tijuana, Mexico to help build orphanages there. These experiences that God gave me, through CBA, helped me learn that “it’s not all about me, me, me” and that my actions could truly help someone else’s life. Just as CBA was helping me to grow in academics and as a person, I have been given the ability to spread God’s love and help other people. It is a blessing to be able to serve, and these opportunities helped me become an effective leader during my college years.
In college, all my training at CBA paid off as I was able to be Christ-confidant and hopeful even when school got tough. Even though my grades one quarter or another were not ideal, I prayed and kept hope that God does have a plan for me, and I kept moving forward. I stayed rooted in Christ by joining an on-campus ministry, called “In Christ Alone”, and they were my spiritual community and friend group I could reach out to if I needed help with academics or life in general. I also actively pursued academic clubs and organizations with a Heart to Serve, helping put in the extra hours needed to push our projects through their last stages, and I eventually became the captain of the “Concrete Canoe” Team, one of the more prestigious engineering teams associated with the “American Society of Civil Engineers”.
I remembered my time at CBA, and at college, I always helped new members learn the skills needed to get integrated with our Concrete Canoe team, as it raised the whole engineering team to new heights. I always was the first person to go up and talk with the new person that wanted to join our engineering organization. I knew God valued them personally and I wanted to show them that they could be an integral part of our community. All of these college experiences that God gave me has helped me develop more as a person, and I hold these lessons close to my heart to this day.
As a person who has gone through my experiences through high school, college, and the workplace so far, here is what I encourage you to try: Please step outside of your little friend groups and talk to new people around you, to get a wider perspective of who others are as persons and to gain new friends. I have a personal rule of “Try to meet 1 new person every day”. You are training yourselves to be Christ-confidant leaders and God will set you on a path to succeed and achieve in life. Thank you for your time, and God bless you!
– Austin Wang (CBA Class of 2014)
