News

(Summer 2023) – “Oh, I love New York. Moving here is probably the best decision I’ve made in my life. Just because of how large a decision it was, and also because of all the unexpected, positive things that have happened since.”

Nine years after going off to college, SMART alumnus George Lieu is taking on new challenges and adventures in New York City.

George joined SMART in 2006, after his older siblings participated in the program. “My brother is four years older than me and my sister is six years older. I think at the time when they were part of the program, I didn’t really think much about it. I was incredibly young.”

His family, however, was already familiar with SMART’s resources and he underscored how much that support meant to his family: “SMART has always like been that for families—as a home base—not just supporting the student, but the entire family through any challenges through the education system. For me and my family, we knew being a part of SMART provided a lot of opportunities and it was up to us to leverage the resources and guidance.”

That support enabled George and his siblings to “really try to achieve goals and dreams that previously we either weren’t even aware of or didn’t think would be possible.”

At the start of his SMART journey, George attended Cathedral School for Boys for middle school, and then San Francisco University High School. After graduating, he went to UC Santa Barbara where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. Like his two siblings, he is the first generation in his family to earn a college degree.

After college, George moved back to the Bay Area, where he started working at an enterprise AI company. After three years, he and his partner decided to move to New York, and George started working in the healthcare industry as a software engineer: “At the time, especially because I was still under my parents’ health insurance, healthcare was just all very foreign to me. I thought to myself, you know what, I’m definitely going to learn something outside of tech.” In this transition, he enjoyed the idea of bridging his experience with learning something new—“the driving factor was putting myself in an unfamiliar territory but within an industry that I’m comfortable and familiar with.”

That adaptability is one skill he refined during his time at SMART. He credits the support he received from SMART staff with enabling him to seek out opportunities and new possibilities. Those resources, “opened my eyes to things that I didn’t realize I could do before, like summer or career opportunities, or just future-thinking.” His SMART Advisors and mentors helped him set goals and solve problems. “It was like, what goals do you want to set for yourself? And then teaching us how to achieve them—and if there are any challenges, how can we work through these challenges?”

George has always been naturally curious. Since moving to New York, he’s made a conscious effort to get outside his comfort zone, “especially if I am scared of failure. A big thing for me is just saying yes, giving it a try. Then also setting clear, realistic goals within certain activities or hobbies so that I can see my progress…to try out something new, and see how I improve.” Some of the hobbies he’s picked up include bouldering, dance classes with his partner, and handball—which he says is very popular in New York.

He’s looking forward to expanding and deepening his roots in New York over the next few years, “There’s a lot happening in the city, and you end up with a lot of opportunities to do a bunch of things that are very new.”

Now that he’s further into his career, George has also begun to reflect on how he can serve as a mentor to others: “I think I’m at a point where I want to help others and guide them in the ways that I have been guided by others and in ways that I think could be impactful or helpful to them.”