Thankful for Community

Julian Cheng, an adjunct lecturer in Northwestern's Master of Engineering Management (MEM) program, brought together more than 60 students for a Thanksgiving dinner to introduce the holiday and strengthen the bond the students have with one another.

Julian Cheng organized a Thanksgiving meal at the Evanston restaurant Double Clutch.

Sixty years ago, Julian Cheng's parents emigrated from China and Taiwan to the United States, where they were pursuing graduate education — his dad in pharmaceutical chemistry and his mom in surgical nursing. They were welcomed by their classmates, who made sure to include them in American holiday traditions like Thanksgiving.  

Cheng, an adjunct lecturer in Northwestern's Master of Engineering Management (MEM) program and founder of Gen 1 Capital, aspires to do the same thing for a new generation of international students. This past fall, Cheng organized a Thanksgiving feast for more than 60 students from Asia, Latin America, Europe, and the U.S. For many international students, it was the first time they ever experienced Thanksgiving.

"Although many of these students do not have their families with them, they are part of our larger Northwestern University family," Cheng said. "In this broken world, with a terrible pandemic, high anxiety and depression, people in poverty, and a polarized nation, I wanted to demonstrate the meaning of Thanksgiving: being thankful, staying humble, practicing generosity, showing compassion, and serving others." 

Cheng organized the meal at the new Evanston restaurant Double Clutch. The meal featured a traditional Thanksgiving menu: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, glazed carrots, mac and cheese, portobello mushrooms, brussel sprouts, salad, and pumpkin pie. 

"I had delicious Thanksgiving food, and more importantly, I felt a part of the Northwestern family," said Neha Sharma (MEM '21). "I got to interact with many people from different programs, countries and backgrounds, and it made me feel supported during the ongoing pandemic. I am grateful to Professor Cheng for hosting this event and giving me the opportunity to network with my peers, who will no doubt be the new wave of leaders in their respective industries." 

Cheng began the meal with a brief talk about the importance of thankfulness. He explained that while Thanksgiving happens only once a year, "its message and lessons should permeate all areas of our lives 365 days a year." 

Cheng stresses that idea in his Technical Entrepreneurship course, where this past fall his students studied many real-world examples of startup successes and heard from numerous founders and technology executives. The class also studied the Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes case, where greed and deceit overtook the morals of a person and business.

Attendees from his Technical Entrepreneurship course were also given an opportunity to practice pitching their own startups with an engaged audience prior to their final presentation the following week.  

"We got to share Thanksgiving with a lot of folks from the program, but most importantly, we got to experience what it would be like to make a pitch in front of a big audience," Jorge Valdovinos Segura (MEM '22) said. "At the end of the day, these are the kind of experiences that take you out of your comfort zone and make you grow as a person." 

The primary purpose of the meal was to introduce Thanksgiving, but it also demonstrated the bond among MEM students and the larger community feeling that exists across the McCormick School of Engineering. Afterward, Cheng told attendees he hoped they would remember this Thanksgiving, each other, and their Northwestern community as they move forward in their careers.  

"We are under some severely unfortunate circumstances with the global pandemic," Cheng said. "It is important to create a common bond so we can build a better world for ourselves and our future generations.

"I tell students no matter how successful they become to be thankful; stay true to their ideals; be humble, honest, and responsible; and treat others kindly and respectfully.

McCormick News Article