Meet Our "Future Leaders" | Overcoming Unforeseen Challenges

Editor's Note

Meet Our “Future Leaders”是北京大学光华管理学院“未来领导者”国际本科项目推出的专题系列报道，通过讲述来自北京大学及全球合作院校的该项目学生丰富且多元的故事与思想，展示“未来领导者”项目学生的青春风采。

今天带你认识项目里热情开朗、善解人意、同时在中国有丰富的学习生活经历的巴西男孩——Enzo Cardoso Pertence dos Santos。

#Meet Our "Future Leaders"# is a featured series on stories of PKU Guanghua "Future Leaders" International Undergraduate Program students. It aims to introduce students in the program coming from PKU and our partner schools around the world to a wider community and share their experiences and thoughts before and after studying at PKU.

Today, we will introduce one of our "Future Leaders" program students, Enzo Cardoso Pertence dos Santos--an enthusiastic yet considerate Brazilian young man who has experiences studying and living in China.

About Enzo

Enzo Cardoso Pertence dos Santos studied at FGV-EAESP in Brazil for the former half of his bachelor's degree and is currently doing his latter half at Peking University. He had spent more than two years studying Chinese in China before joining the "Future Leaders" Program at PKU. He is a big fan of scuba diving and traveling, and he is fond of learning about new cultures.

Experiencing Local Culture and Developing Leadership through Teamwork in Competition

If you ask me what my most impressive experience is so far, I would probably answer playing in the University Championship as a member of the Ultimate Frisbee team during my exchange in China, which happened before the pandemic. After a grueling year with regular practice sessions twice a week plus extra night sessions every other day, we finally made it through the regional qualifier and earned a spot at the university national championship.

Although we didn't get to play in nationals due to the covid, getting into the regional Top 4 after beating one of our major rivals 13 to 2 was simply amazing! While we have achieved a lot, the process of getting there was also nothing short of extraordinary. Prior to the game, we had lost a large part of the team due to graduating students, so it was hard for incoming members, especially when they were composed of both local and foreign students, to increase their skills and manage to cooperate smoothly with older members within a short time.

However, with our shared effort, we finally managed to come together as a unit and play a cohesive game. This experience helped me further understand the local Chinese culture, strengthened my leadership skills, and taught me ways to support others to be leaders themselves.

Terror in the Ocean: Always Prepare for the Worst Outcome and Safety Comes First

As to the experience I find the most unique, it would be one that I hope would never happen again. I was traveling with my friends in Malaysia for a scuba diving trip, and we decided to go for a swim in the ocean after a day of diving. As the most experienced swimmer in the group, I asked my friends if everyone could swim before going down in the water, to which all of them replied positively. After leveling with the water, we all jumped into the ocean and raced towards the floating station.

Upon reaching the station, I looked back and suddenly noticed that I couldn't see one of my friends. That was when I heard him calling my name and saw him drifting away with his head barely above the water. Through his voice, I realized that he was not going to be able to swim back or maintain above the water for longer than a few seconds. I performed exactly as I had done during training, with nothing on my head other than the goal of getting my friend out of the water. I swam over, talked to him to calm his nerves, supported him from behind so that he couldn’t hit me, and wrestled the buoy thrown to us under his body. When I felt exhausted and realized it still took around 10 minutes to swim over to the platform due to the current, one motorboat approached. They threw a rope for me to grab on and pulled us towards the platform. I was proud of myself for having successfully gotten him out of the water, but deeply ashamed that this even happened in the first place. The sudden despair and anxiety that washed over me after I got out of the water was something I could not describe.

I wanted to share this experience to reemphasize that safety comes first no matter what you do. We shouldn't go swimming in the ocean without a life buoy, and neither should we expose others in danger. While we should always be ready to deal with the worst possible outcome, the best way to prevent danger is to take extra precautions.

Social Life in a Global Society

While I really enjoy reading books and comics, watching movies, playing ultimate frisbee, traveling and teaching, one of my most unique talents would be my ability to interact with different types of people, with the most varied tastes, hobbies and cultures. This derives from my ability to talk about politics, economics, video games, football, movies, and a plethora of other topics, with people not only from my country but also from different places and cultures. Being able to communicate with most of them given the time and effort is something I’m confident I can do.

This probably stems from constantly moving schools when I was young, interacting with new people, having different interests, and also having lived in China for more than 2 years. When you constantly adapt to new environments, you end up learning how to do it better. Through this process, I not only grew more confidence, but I also gained a deeper understanding of the world we live in.

Shenzhen-Shanghai-Beijing: A Closer Look at China and Meeting Excellent People

My interest in China grew further after visiting Shenzhen in late 2016, when I was awed by the city's landscape and bustling economy. After my visit, I thought the closest I could ever experience China would've been during my exchange program in Shanghai, and later during my 2 years studying Chinese, but upon hearing about the possibility of staying in China and immersing myself for another 2 years, I knew I couldn't let go of this opportunity. I chose to attend the “Future Leaders” Program because it aligned closest with my personal goals and aspirations, which could provide me with not just a closer look at China but also an international and diverse environment. It was the perfect opportunity showing up at the perfect time for me.

During my time at the “Future Leaders” Program, I was most impressed by how attentive the staff was to all of our needs, especially when we have to learn remotely. They made sure all of our classes at Guanghua were interactive and with good audio and video streaming. I was also extremely impressed by the achievements of my classmates. All of them are outstanding people and are nothing short of the best their respective universities could offer. This program so far has been full of delightful surprises and has far exceeded the expectations I had prior to its beginning.

PKU Guanghua “Future Leaders” Program

Partnering with 15 of the world's best business schools, the Guanghua School of Management has founded the "Future Leaders" International Undergraduate Double-Degree Program that gives students the opportunity to gain an understanding of their local markets while also immersing them in one of the fastest-growing and most dynamic economies in the world: China. This program will focus on admitting top students with outstanding leadership potential from Peking University and its partner institutions. After completing their first two years of study at the institution in their home country, students will live and study together with classmates of diverse backgrounds from all over the world, including students from China, for two more years as a single cohort at Peking University.