Global Heel: Zheyu Huang
August 24, 2024UNC Global Affairs
In May 2023 at 4:30 a.m., Zheyu Huang, ’23, woke up before sunrise to marvel at the cityscape of Guanajuato, Mexico from his hotel room. He sat on his balcony in the dark, waiting for the “blue hour”— a time where light and shadows are softest — to come. Just before dawn, he took a photo, which eventually he would submit to the 2023 Carolina Global Photography Competition.
At the time, Huang was an international student at UNC-Chapel Hill from Wuhan, China, studying business and computer science. He also was interested in photography. So, every year on his way to China, he would stop in a different country to take pictures.
On this particular morning in 2023, when Huang took “Guanajuato’s Blue Hour Charm,” he was on his way to China, having booked a connecting flight through Mexico City. After arriving in the capital city, he traveled five hours by bus to spend his one-night layover in Guanajuato.
“I really feel like the Carolina Global Photography Competition has turned what could have been simple layovers into rich cultural explorations,” Huang said.
The photography competition’s review committee selected Huang’s photo as a finalist for the 2024 exhibition, but it wasn’t his first time submitting a photo. In 2022, he was the second-place winner with “Under the Waterfall,” taken at Goðafoss Waterfall during a vacation in Iceland.
Huang believes the FedEx Global Education Center (GEC) serves as an important space for students at Carolina. The GEC is where UNC Global Affairs — which coordinates the photography competition — is located, as well as the Study Abroad Office, Carolina’s six area studies centers, International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) and the Curriculum in Global Studies. The building is also where the finalists from the Carolina Global Photography Competition are displayed as part of the annual exhibition.
A few years ago, when Huang was enrolled in a psychology class that met in the GEC, he made a friend, an international student enrolled at Carolina, from the Czech Republic. Huang had recently traveled to the central European country, taken photos, submitted one to the competition and had it selected as a finalist. His photo from the Czech Republic was hanging on a wall in the GEC.
Český Krumlov” by Zheyu Huang
“My friend was really amazed to see her country represented at UNC-Chapel Hill in the [GEC],” Huang said. “The Carolina Global Photography Competition has a remarkable impact on campus diversity. It allows many countries to leave a visual footprint at UNC.”
In addition to traveling regularly to China, Huang also participated in a study abroad program during his senior year. He traveled to Singapore through the Global Immersion Elective at Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School (KFBS). Sharon Cannon, clinical professor of management and corporate communication at KFBS, led the course, and she remembers being struck by Huang’s confidence and adventurous spirit.
“In his reflection on the trip Zheyu wrote about an experience where he was wandering during free time and met some Singaporean students who took him to sample local cuisine,” Cannon said. “That’s unusual for students to take an opportunity to get to know locals in a 10-day visit.”
According to Huang, it was very normal for him to do that. He was the only student on his program in Singapore who spoke Chinese, and he used his language skills to help his peers navigate the city.
“He would tend to think of the good of the group over his individual desires, which made him very cooperative with peers,” Cannon said.
Huang considers cultural exchange an integral part of his college experience. For example, during his first year at UNC-Chapel Hill, he lived in a residence hall with a born-and-raised North Carolinian.
“It was a really cool experience for both of us to feel like we were part of a global community,” Huang said. “You know, you’re in Carolina, but you’re having a global experience in a dorm.”
He is grateful for the extensive support he received from ISSS, too, and encouraged international students and scholars to lean on this support to make the most of their experience at UNC-Chapel Hill.
“I felt really lucky that I could bring Chinese culture to the campus and promote it for those who maybe haven’t really interacted with the culture before,” he said.
Huang is currently studying computer science at Brown University. He hopes to meld his interest in technology with his love of travel by working as a software engineer for a travel-tech company like Hopper or Airbnb. Until then, Huang plans to continue using his layovers as chances to explore, learn about and photograph interesting places. He hopes that his photos will continue to contribute to the richness and representation that the Carolina Global Photography Competition brings to the UNC-Chapel Hill campus.
“I think [the photography competition] serves as a catalyst for opening students up to the world and to global experiences, like it has done for me,” he said.
UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, staff and alumni are encouraged to submit their photos to the 2024 Carolina Global Photography Competition by Monday, Sept. 16.