I would like you to take a moment and think. Every single one of us will leave some contribution behind - however, what sets us apart is what the contribution will be.

This question has plagued my interest since I heard it, but I struggled with what I wanted to leave behind. It was until I was in my first year of university that I realized the gravity of the issue. This year, suicide levels reached an all-time high of 18.6 suicides per 100,000 people in Hong Kong. In the adolescent population, the rate increased by 76% in 2012. The rise can be attributed to several reasons, from academic pressure to physical distancing, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These reasons have caused the onset of half of the youth population having anxiety and ⅔ having depression.

Having struggled with my mental health for several years in high school, I took a lot of courage to ask for help. Going into university, I was glad we had access to resources such as the counseling and wellness center. However, the resources were being exhausted due to the demand of students seeking help. Hence, in my second semester of year 1, I was lucky to meet five other like-minded individuals who wanted to bring the same changes to our community. In the middle of the semester, we introduced Pinocchio, an online platform for students to share their struggles anonymously and for other students within the same community to support them through a forum-style app. Since our launch a year ago, we have reached over 2,000 students within the university community. We have partnered with USThing (HKUST’s “everything” app) and several other organizations within and outside the university. Other than this, we have received seed funding from the Seal of Love foundation amounting to HKD 60,000, which we plan to use to develop our services in the university further and expand into other ones around Hong Kong.

As I was not part of the GBUS community when I first began Pinocchio, I would say that the program played a huge role in our expansion around the university. With the skills I had learned in my classes about pitching an idea and financially modeling the concept, we could provide a big picture and detailed view of what we wanted to do with the budget. We were able to convince investors to get involved in our project. However, I also owe the GBUSers who supported me on the venture over the last year, from spreading awareness about the cause to participating in scheduled activities.

For now, I cannot wait to see what continues to happen with the project as I continue within the GBUS program with regard to the skills and connections I make within the space. In some way, I do believe that I may be able to leave the world a little better than how I found it.

Do follow us on Instagram @pinocchio.hkust!