Devin Wu, in his childhood
Devin Wu
Devin Wu, in the skies
After almost a year in LA, Devin Wu still gets a kick out of the surprised looks he gets when he opens his mouth to speak
in flawless Spanish. His accent is hard to place. Locals assume he learned it in Spain. Actually, he’s Ecuadoran.
His parents are Chinese immigrants who settled in Guayaquil, Ecuador, when Devin was 8. He attended the bilingual American school there, graduating from the international baccalaureate program.
At home, he spoke the family’s Chaoshan Min dialect. But Devin is also fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese. All four grandparents
live in Shantou, a coastal city of 5 million in eastern Guangdong, and his parents travel back and forth a lot. Both are in the import business: mom
sells wholesale party supplies; dad imports Asian truck and auto parts.
Straddling so many cultures and languages, you’d think Devin would be a humanities
major. But his academic interest is decidedly more concrete: as in, the poured kind.
The 19-year-old international student is in his second year at SMC, focusing on architecture.
His goal is to transfer to USC’s bachelor of architecture program in 2024. He’s known
he wants to be an architect since 14, when he got to meet one of Ecuador’s top residential
architects, Jannina Cabal. Like her, he hopes to design custom homes in Guayaquil someday.
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Devin’s artistic sensibility was nurtured from a tender age by his grandmother, who
is skilled in shan-shui, the ancient Chinese brush landscape style. “She taught me how to draw when I was still living in China. She stood behind me and
held my hand. It’s pretty hard, because there’s a lot of detail,” he says of shan-shui, which literally means “mountain-water-picture.”
All through his teens in Ecuador, Devin continued to draw on his own. Now, as he works
toward his AS degree in architecture, Devin takes formal art classes alongside his
GEs. He’s currently wrapping up a design theory course (Art 10) and figure drawing
(Art 21). He’s also enrolled in English 2 and Bio 3. Elaborate sketches of molecules
and proteins, drawn on his iPad during class lectures, fill his biology notes.
Devin can hardly wait for winter term, when he’ll take his first architecture studio
class. He’s already put together a portfolio of independent projects undertaken during
the tedious months of pandemic isolation.
When he first arrived, his SMC courses were virtual. “I was closed up in my apartment
in Westwood, and I wasn’t going to waste my time,” he says. “I decided to look through YouTube
and Google, and teach myself 3-D sketching and CAD.”
With the return to on-ground instruction and brisk campus life, Devin hit the ground
running. He joined the Alpha Gamma Sigma Honors Society, and started volunteering in an early literacy program with Words Alive. He got active in SMC Nomas (National Organization of Minority Architect Students). A recent club trip brought him to SCI-Arc in downtown, where he met LA architect and UCLA professor Neil Denari. He landed a job as an International Student Peer Mentor, working primarily with Chinese students needing help with visas and immigration-related documents.
“Most of the time, people don’t even realize I speak Spanish,” he says. But when fellow
peer mentor Abril Olivares Nolasco of Mexico City isn’t around, he happily fills in counseling any Spanish-speaking
student walk-ins.
But there’s more to Devin than the artistic, polyglot student of architecture. He’s
also an amateur chef whose favorite hangout is LA’s ethnic supermarket scene. Devin
experiments in both Ecuadoran and Chinese cuisines. He makes a wicked “Seco de Carne,” but his signature dish is a steamed crab, sugar-infused and stir-fried in soy sauce,
served over Asian noodles.
He’s also athletic: “I play a lot of basketball, as well as golf and ping pong. And
I love cars.” Back in Ecuador, Devin bought an old beater and changed out all the
parts. “I love to mess around with mechanics and electricity,” he says.
These days, he has little time to indulge his many interests. On top of his studies,
Devin puts in 20 hours a week at the International Education Center. But in multicultural Santa Monica, sometimes it all comes together. Like the time
Devin stopped for a quick bite at a taco truck. His passion for cars, food and languages
converged in one crystal moment when “they gave me a free taco because I spoke in
Spanish.
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SMC in Focus Volume VIII, Issue 6
A Radical Reimagining
Acclaimed Native American artist Matika Wilbur’s Project 562 is creating a never-seen-before synergy across disciplines on campus—and changing the way SMC community members see Native America. Read Article
Creative Cognition
Abril Olivares Nolasco applies her imaginative empathy to writing and serving as president of Santa Monica College’s International Student Forum. Read Article
More than Meets the Eye
SMC int’l student Devin Wu gets a kick out of the surprised looks he gets when he opens his mouth & speaks in flawless Spanish. Locals assume he learned it in Spain. Actually, he’s Ecuadoran. Read Article
Empowerment Champion: Spotlight on Nick Mata
An interview with “compassionate and caring” Nick Mata, who currently leads 11 of SMC’s special programs covering what he’s most proud of, milestones & more, including a stint as a hotdogger! Read Article
Bragging Rights
A Black Collegians staffer wrote a book to help others & set herself free. A sociology prof. writes about Iran’s women-led protests. A journalism prof. is the first Black woman to be elected VP of Society of Professional Journalists. Read Article
Journey to Success
With a family background in business, Thu Shun (Isobel) Wati journeyed from Myanmar to develop her marketing skills at Santa Monica College. Read Article