Lier Guo, San Francisco Digital Connector - 2009 Lisa Y. Sullivan Horizon Award Winner

(Guo is far left.)

Lier Guo, San Francisco Digital Connector
2009 Lisa Y. Sullivan Horizon Award Winner

 This year's Lisa Y. Sullivan Horizon Award winner, Lier Guo, is a 17 year-old rising junior at the International Studies Academy from San Francisco, California.  Lier has been an enthusiastic, hardworking student who has used her experience as a Digital Connector to gain confidence and give back to her community.    

In memory of Lisa Sullivan, a founding One Economy board member and advocate for urban youth, this award honors exceptional youth who use technology to transform low-income communities.

Lier emigrated with her family from Zhuzhou, China in 2008, and lives with 20 other family members in San Francisco. When Lier began the Digital Connectors program she had limited English skills and therefore a severe lack of confidence in the classroom. 

Throughout the year, as she gained knowledge and confidence, Lier took the lead on many projects.  One example was a volunteer project working with the San Francisco Department of Technology to pass out flyers to the Chinatown community regarding the Digital TV Transition. Lier speaks both Cantonese and Mandarin, and was essential to this project as many residents of Chinatown don’t speak English.  Lier tracked down people at the bus stop, in stores, restaurants and standing on the street to tell them about the Digital TV Transition.  Lier’s confidence and self-worth grew immensely. 

During the second half of the program, Lier created a digital story entitled, A Day in My Life , which chronicled a typical day in her 17 year-old life from sun up to sun down.  Through this project, Lier learned about digital photography and mastered Windows Movie Maker.  Furthermore, she emailed her video to the friends she left back in China.  She was thrilled to share this new, exciting and sometimes scary life with her friends back home. 

Through the digital connectors program, Lier not only learned tangible technology skills, but she also gained   confidence, improved her communication skills and made friends in a new country.  Perhaps most importantly, she discovered her own unique skills and realized just how valuable they are. 

After graduation, Lier aspires to go to UCLA and study to become a scientist.