BIOGRAPHY

My parents gave me the name Manwen Guo, and I came up with my English name Ivy, which to me, represents the strong vitality to keep climbing upward. I am currently a sophomore at University of Illinois studying Psychology and Economics as majors and Business as minor. I have a two-year-old brother and I love him so much! My hobbies are reading books and drawing. I also like to lie on the green grass to look at the sapphire sky while enjoying the warm sunshine and soft wind. My hometown is Beijing, China where I spent over 18 years of my life. Though life was hard when I came to a new environment alone without knowing anybody here, it is never a problem to me. I’m friendly and out-going and the most important is that I always hold a positive attitude to life and to my belief! Enjoying thinking questions, I started questioning the meaning of life from 10th grade. Until now, over three years passed, I keep updating my answers to the meaning of my life. This question is very important to me because it lights up the direction of my life. Now, I think it consists of Love (family), Work (the work I enjoy) and Belief. My belief is that wherever I am, I should make efforts to help more people to enjoy a happier life. This is always a good deal, because I pay one effort and then can double the happiness! I am looking forward to bike with the Illini 4000 this summer!

PERSONAL STATEMENT

Cancer is a horrible disease that will destroy a person and ruin a family. At the moment a person is diagnosed with cancer, the sky seems to fall down and hope is burned out. The children may lose their parents; the friends may lose their best buddy; the couples may lose their beloved. Because of cancer, tragedy happens all over the world to millions of people. Scientifically, getting cancer is like a probability game; genes, environment factors and other factors all influence the result. Though we cannot completely avoid cancer happening, we can make efforts to reduce the probability of getting it. That is why we have to fight against cancer to abate tragedies. Therefore, we need to make more people be aware of the cancer issues, pay attention to their health and join us. While we are biking over 4000 miles across the country, I hope more people can join the team of fighting against cancer and see the fortitude of life!