Professor Chris Moore in the early minutes of her Introduction to International Relations class
April 21. As a business and political science and media production double-major, Du says she is passionate about helping others and speaking the truth. | Photo by Mikiah Krieg
Mild Du’s sense of community
Student works in three majors with a shared purpose.
Sofia Arana | Freelance Writer
Mild Du sat in Mrs. Cole’s AP government class at Marshall High School in 2020. She only took AP government to avoid taking geography. She was used to the pacing of AP classes so she was fine with taking AP gov over regular gov. Something about the class stuck with her and made her feel called to politics.
“We had good discussions,” Du said, “and it felt kind of like almost like a safe space.”
After taking Cole’s classes, Du knew she was interested in politics. So, as she started at Bethel University she knew she wanted to keep learning about politics. She decided to double major.
Business with an emphasis in marketing and media production with a minor in political science.
After speaking to her adviser, she changed her official majors to business, media production and political science. By removing the marketing emphasis, Du could still get a marketing and media job. An added benefit is that she also has to take less classes to get the same degree.
“It’s like, I’ve come so far in it that … I can’t let go.” — Mild Du, Bethel student
She could go without the political science aspect of her degree because it doesn’t relate to her future career path in video marketing. But she’s fascinated by how the different roles and aspects of government work together.
“It’s like, I’ve come so far in it that … I can’t let go,” Du said.
Du’s love for politics is what led her to join the Bethel Student Senate and eventually run for Student Body Vice President.
Originally, she didn’t want to be Vice President. She wanted to run for president. She knew Trey Adelsman considered running, but neither of them knew anyone who was willing to run for vice president. Vice presidents are responsible for attending all student council meetings, communication between student counsel and the executive board and to oversee all student government emails.
“I called Trey up and I was like, ‘Trey, can I bring an idea to you? What if you ran and I would be willing to run as your vice president?’ ” Du said. “I was fine taking a step back just because I had an extra year. And I knew that I really wanted to do presidency, and I love Senate and all, but it’s also nice to kind of be able to have more reach I guess to the student body.”
Du and Adelsman won the election and were sworn in on Apr. 22. With her new title comes much more responsibilities. She is already committed to many activities and clubs that with the addition of her VP tasks, her schedule is packed.
Du is a part of Bethel’s Asian Student Alliance [ASA], she was a part of the Bethel student government senate and videographer for Bethel’s newspaper, The Clarion. She also has a job, regularly returns home to visit her family and play golf with them.
“I think it’s good for her. She enjoys being busy,” childhood friend Angela Gonzalez said.
Du keeps a 4 column, 124 row, Excel spreadsheet always up to date to help her remember her assignments. To remember her commitments and schedule, she uses the Google calendar. It’s color-coded based on activity and classes.
As Du scrolls through her G-Cal, her face lights up with the reflection of the bright colors. Her classes, flamingo pink. TA hours, blueberry blue. Hard deadlines and important events, tomato red.
When Du has free time and has no homework to worry about, she plays uno with her friends in the Cultural Connection Center, talks with her friends and roommates in The Grill or the media production suite.
When someone from Gonzalez and Du’s church passed away, Du was on vacation. So, people from their church were waiting for her to come back to tell her the news.
“She ended up calling me and I thought that was so random. Like, she was calling to see if I was okay about hearing the information and I was like, I was like wow, we haven’t really talked in a while but she’s still like, is seeing how I’m doing,” Gonzalez said.
“So just kind of like step out of your comfort zone and the important thing to think about is ‘Hey, like you never know if you’re gonna like it just just try it out,’ If you end up liking it then you know, it’s great but if you don’t, like it doesn’t hurt, ‘you know what, like this isn’t for me. I’m moving in a different direction.’ ”- Mild Du, Bethel student
As daunting as Du’s schedule is, her one piece of advice for incoming freshmen is to get involved.
“So just kind of like step out of your comfort zone and the important thing to think about is ‘Hey, you never know if you’re gonna like it, just try it out,’ ” Du said. “ If you end up liking it then you know, it’s great but if you don’t, it doesn’t hurt, ‘you know what, like this isn’t for me. I’m moving in a different direction.’ ”
