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For Will Xu, being a scholarship recipient is about financial aid—but also freedom.

His CU scholarships gave Xu the flexibility to take extra courses he otherwise may have passed on in order to complete his degree requirements.

“A class I loved that I felt I was able to take because of my scholarships was Financial Markets and Institutions,” said Xu, who accepted a full-time offer at Goldman Sachs starting this summer. “It really aligned with my passion for finance and was helpful in setting my career direction. There are so many really motivated students at Leeds who contribute to this great academic environment.”

Scholarship support also gave Xu the flexibility to pursue extracurricular opportunities. He consulted for a CU startup, held leadership roles with the Delta Sigma Pi business fraternity and started a Phi Beta Lambda chapter at CU Boulder.

In his extracurriculars, Xu—a first-generation student whose parents immigrated to Colorado from China—keeps in mind the idea of giving back, especially after meeting Jennifer and Eric Ostenson, who support the Hummel Scholars program created by Jennifer’s father, Robert Hummel.

“Eric and Jen have been great role models to me,” he said. “Jen said her father always talked about paying it forward, however you can. For students, it means volunteering and being as involved as we can in the Leeds community.”

That’s why Xu created the Phi Beta Lambda chapter at Leeds: His introduction to business was through Future Business Leaders of America—the high school version of Phi Beta Lambda. It’s also why he works as an employer relations ambassador for the Career Development Office.

“The reason I got involved was to help other students through the process of going to career fairs and meet-and-greet events,” he said. “Anything I can do to help companies engage students is my way of paying it forward.”