An interest in both teaching and human rights brought Wei \u201cToby\u201d Xinhai to UConn from his home in China, but he hopes to stay in Connecticut after graduation to work as a teacher \u2013 bringing the \u201cjoy of productive struggles in math\u201d to future generations of students.<\/p>\n
Why did you choose UConn?<\/strong> What\u2019s your program of study and why did you choose it? <\/strong> What are your plans after graduation?<\/strong> What activities were you involved with as a student?<\/strong> How has UConn prepared you for the next chapter in life?<\/strong> Any advice for incoming first-year students?<\/strong> What\u2019s one thing every student should do during their time at UConn?<\/strong> Who was your favorite professor and why?<\/strong> Xinhai \u201cToby\u201d Wei reflects on his time at UConn<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":184297,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"quote","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[117],"class_list":["post-184296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-quote","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","post_format-post-format-quote"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-02 10:35:11","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184296"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":184298,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184296\/revisions\/184298"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/184297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184296"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=184296"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=184296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nUConn was a good mix of what my parents wanted and what I wanted. My parents wanted high-ranking universities, and I wanted a dedicated education program and was very interested in human rights. After learning this is where the Dodd Center and Neag were located, it was a no-brainer choice for me.<\/p>\n
\nMy program of study is the Integrated Bachelor\u2019s\/Master\u2019s (IB\/M) at the Neag School of Education for Secondary Mathematic Education. I chose this program because I want to make an impact in the future generations and spread joy of productive struggles in math. (Yes, math can be hard and fun at the same time!)<\/p>\n
\nHopefully, I will be able to teach somewhere in Connecticut.<\/p>\n
\nI was the student director for the Human Rights and Actions House for two years while working with the Community Outreach Office. I also participated in the UConn Gaming Club, which was a blast. Of course, a lot of tutoring programs and educational outreach organizations.<\/p>\n
\nMeeting different people and exchanging cultural experience helped me to get a feel of encountering the diversity that exists in the world. Not to mention that Neag guided me to get a teaching certificate!<\/p>\n
\nBe open to ideas and experiences. And start thinking about financing if you haven\u2019t already.<\/p>\n
\nAsk professors about their projects or research! Seeing their excitement about knowledge is inspiring.<\/p>\n
\nMegan Staple, she is my Connecticut mom. Since I\u2019m so far away from home, I don’t get to go back home just for a short holiday break. So, I partake in holiday traditions here through her family!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"