People Of The Year 2020: Amy Ma

Amy Ma is currently a senior at University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management majoring in Management Information System. She is a hard-working student and a passionate advocate for all the students of the U. Her hard work and dedication has been such an inspiration to students around the University. Therefore, she was nominated and awarded the “Top 10 People of The Year 2020 Award”.

Below is her profile:

Student Body President - Minnesota Student Association

Student Senate Chair

Honors Research Assistant

Vice President of CoMIS Case Competition

International MIS Case Team

Ambassador of Multicultural Center for Academic Excellence

Vice President of Membership - Net impact

One of the major changes that have occurred this year is the grade basis change. Due to the pandemic, students are allowed to change their grade basis from A/F to S/N after completing their course. This change has been so supportive to students, especially whose conditions don’t allow them to successfully complete the class with the grade they deserve. Through social media, we saw students celebrating this new grade policy. Asking Amy about what motivated her and MSA to advocate for this, she mentioned a lot of factors affecting lots of students in the middle of the pandemic.

“This year has been so hard on so many people. For me, I definitely feel challenged in terms of mental health, socialization and a lot of other things. I feel privileged I won’t have to worry about my classes. However, some people have to wake up in the middle of the night to take classes, worry about wifi problems, take care of other folks or even grieving people that passed away due to COVID-19’s complications. I honestly don’t understand why everybody is still expected to do what they usually do in the middle of the pandemic.”

Amy Ma is graduating soon and planning to go into consulting. Besides, she is thinking of going abroad and teaching for a year before that but she is still waiting for her application to be accepted. She feels pretty much “up in the air”.

“It is pretty odd to me that by the time I finish this semester in May I won’t be coming back.”

Moreover, the pandemic is still out of control. Amy just hopes she could finish up this semester first and then takes it from there. Personally, she hopes she could leave this school year thinking that she has done everything she wants to.

Despite being a busy person, Amy prioritizes self-care. She usually lives minute by minute with her Google Calendar. During COVID-19, she usually stays in her room and knows that there is so much more work she could be doing. However, sometimes, she allows herself to not do things. She might just sit there, be on her phone and try not to think of things she has to do. To her, taking a step back and thinking about the long-term is important and helpful instead of sabotaging herself about not doing enough.

Amy's dedication to enhancing the academic life of students of the University and thoughtfulness have been crucial in improving the campus life quality of UMN students. We are so honored to have her in our Top 10 People of The Year 2020 Award. With her talent, intelligence and consideration, we believe that she will be doing well wherever she is.

Congratulations, Amy Ma!

Amy Ma’s full article will be published in our upcoming magazine. Stay tuned!