“Say Yes to What Scares You”: Jenny Lan’s Journey From Exchange to Co-Op

Did you know that as a Beedie Luminaries student, your funding stays with you while you’re abroad at eligible partner institutions or pursuing co-op opportunities?

Over the last couple of years, Jenny Lan from Cohort 2022 has taken advantage of both exchange and co-ops to help accelerate her work and life experience.

Right now, Jenny is spending her summer interning at Wondershare Technology, diving into the world of social media and content creation. She’s busy crafting campaign strategies, writing creative briefs, and bringing ideas to life across multiple channels, all while learning what it really takes to make content stop a scroll and resonate with audiences. It’s fast-paced, but it’s the kind of challenge she’s learned to embrace.

This particular mindset started last summer, when Jenny took her Beedie Luminaries funding abroad, first to Beijing and Shaanxi for a global seminar course as an elective on exchange, then to HKUST in Hong Kong for a research abroad placement. Living on campus, navigating unfamilar streets in new cities, and building friendships from scratch taught her to be adaptable in ways no classroom could, alongside cultural discoveries and memories that will last a lifetime.

The Beedie Luminaries community has always been there to support her, adapting to her dynamic courses and flexible degree planning to make it possible to balance both academics and career pursuits like her internship.

Whether she’s bringing a campaign to life or navigating a foreign country, Jenny carries the same curiosity and willingness to start from zero. Jenny’s advice for someone thinking about exchange or co-op? “Say yes to the opportunities that scare you a little. The support from the community follows, and so does the growth.”

Great work, Jenny! We’re so proud of you.