MESSAY 高中 中国女孩 获得剑桥大学全奖

MESSAY 高中中国女孩获得剑桥大学全奖（全加共4人）
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Yining Nie, shown here Jan. 6, 2011, in her Windsor, ON. home is one of four students in Canada to get a full four year scholarship to Cambridge University. It's worth $150,000. Photograph by: Dan Janisse, Remote
Massey high school's Yining Nie will spend the next three years at Cambridge University in England after beating out 100 other Canadian students for a prestigious scholarship.
The Blyth Cambridge Commonwealth Trust Scholarship was awarded to four Canadian students this week, three in Ontario, one in Calgary. The Blyth Cambridge scholarship, which is valued at $150,000, has been called the undergraduate version of the Rhodes Scholarship.
"It's life-changing for the students because there is a financial component to it," said Brandon Kerstens, director of development at Blyth Academy, a Toronto private school that partially funds the scholarships.
Nie, 17, has wanted to study at Cambridge since she was a little girl, her mother said.
The family lived in Yorkshire, England, a decade ago.
They returned on vacation last summer so that Nie could decide whether Cambridge was as special as she remembered.
"It's unbelievable," said Jing Zhng, Nie's mother. "It's really a good opportunity for my daughter to pursue her studies in Cambridge. She thinks Cambridge is the best place to pursue her career."
Nie, who was top of her class last year, was nervous about getting the scholarship. She graduates in the spring and will enrol in Cambridge next fall.
"One of my friends knew another applicant who was like a math genius squared," she said. "I was kind of scared. Was I good enough to get it?"
The Blyth scholarship began four years ago when Sam Blyth, a graduate of Pembroke College Cambridge, partially funded a scholarship with revenues from Blyth Academy, a private school with four campuses in Toronto. Blyth joined with the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust this summer to expand to fully funded scholarships for four students.
Competition for the scholarships is fierce. Students must have high marks and be taking advanced placement or International Baccalaureate classes. At the final interview in Toronto attended by Cambridge's director of admissions and alumni, students are given a pop quiz about the subject they plan to pursue.
Nie spends her free time playing piano, singing opera and playing a clarinet in the school band. It was her part-time job tutoring children that got her interested in linguistics, which she plans to study at Cambridge.
"Working with kids who find it difficult to pronounce words and are recent immigrants to Canada, it gave me a desire to help people communicate," Nie said. "I didn't discover linguistics until last July. But when I started reading about it, it just clicked."
Massey French teacher Jill Kaufman said Nie has an affinity for learning.
"She's exceptional and inquisitive," Kaufman said. "She looks at language and analyzes it and tries to figure out why things are the way they are. Most students look at things at face value and don't look at words and meanings and how it evolved. I don't think that's typical of students."
While Massey students are well known for attending prestigious universities in Canada and the U.S., none have gone to Cambridge, Kaufman said.
"It's truly something to be remembered," she said.
Nie plans to follow in her father's footsteps. He's an engineering professor at the University of Windsor. She wants to be a linguistics professor. She said her inspiration is her love for God and her parents. "They've been very supportive," she said. "They've given me the best opportunities in life. I love my parents."
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