Former student graduates Stanford University: nominates Macleans College teacher as most influential
Posted on May 26, 2023
Former Macleans College student Yang Fan Yun (Snell House 2014 - 2018) was recently awarded the Frederick Emmons Terman Engineering Scholastic Award at Stanford University.
Yang Fan is currently a fourth-year student at Stanford University, pursuing both a Bachelor's and Master's degree in the School of Engineering. The Terman Award is awarded to the thirty students that rank academically at the top of the School of Engineering graduating senior class. The award is named in honour of Dr Frederick Terman, who was the Dean of the Stanford School of Engineering from 1944 to 1958, and is widely credited as being the "Father of Silicon Valley".
As part of the award, each recipient nominates a high school teacher who has been most influential in the student's academic career. The teacher is given a fully paid trip to Stanford University to attend the award ceremony, which took place on April 29 2023. Yang Fan nominated Mrs Shakthi Ladkoo at Macleans College. This is the first time a teacher from New Zealand has been nominated. In his nomination of Mrs Ladkoo, Yang Fan remarked, "Mrs Ladkoo was also unconditionally supportive of students' endeavours to stretch themselves academically. Without Mrs Ladkoo's championing, I may have never developed my passion for business and markets which now drive my professional aspirations."
Yang Fan achieved 10 national NZQA scholarships - Outstanding Scholarships (top 0.3%) in Economics, Chemistry, Biology, Earth and Space Science, Statistics, and Scholarships (top 3%) in Calculus, Geography, English, Agricultural and Horticultural Science, Physical Education. He was awarded the Prime Minister's Award for Academic Excellence in May 2019. Yang Fan was also awarded a gold medal for gaining the top score at the International Economics Olympiad in September 2018.
After graduating with a Bachelor's in Computer Science and Master's in Management Science and Engineering in June, Yang Fan plans to start his career at Uber as an Associate Product Manager in San Francisco. In the long term, he plans to start his own venture with the goal of using technology to help people around the world unlock economic opportunities.
