One year ago, Yiwen saw his parents off in the busy streets of New York. He waited for happiness to hit, for he was “finally free”. However, as his first year as an applied psychology student at New York University was rolling out, he found out that there were hurdles to overcome before he can really feel happy.
New York is a great place to be if you are someone who likes to do a lot of things,” says Tina, a sophomore student majoring in integrated digital media at NYU. “The city is our school."
Of course, life in New York as a student isn’t just going out with friends. Going to a Broadway show is fun while looking for off-campus housing could be a pain. When Yiwen was looking for an apartment, he received help from Anita, who graduated from Pao School a year before he did. “Looking for housing is quite a process in the city, so I gave Yiwen a hand when he was going through it the first time,” says Anita, a junior majoring in Media, Communication, and Culture.
There is a group of Pao alumni currently studying at New York University, one from the class of 2017, five from the class of 2018. Counting another four most recent Pao graduates who just arrived on campus this fall, they will have to book an extra-large table for their next Pao reunion dinner at NYU.
Back in November last year, Pao graduates from the class of 2018 had a dim sum gathering. “It was quite difficult to find a time that works for everyone, but it was so good to see those familiar faces,” says Frank, a sophomore studying at the NYU Stern School of Business.
It’s about you
“There’s not a set lunchtime in college and everyone has a different schedule,” says Tina. “Learning to spend time with yourself is the thing.”
Upon arrival for the first semester of college, Tina moved into a small room with two other people. She quickly found out that all three of them are very different, yet managed to keep their relationship friendly.
Tina started boarding since she came to Pao School in Year 6. She believes that she benefited from having prior experience with having roommates, and so does Anita.
Anita noticed that through the boarding experience in Pao School, she learned to become more independent than many of her peers in college.
Anita served as a volunteer at the Harvard Summit for Young Leaders in China
In New York, this helped her to take care of herself by making independent decisions, like going to a workout class whenever she feels the need to. “I feel very comfortable making plans for myself. If I wait for someone to come with me, I might never get a chance to do it.”
For Yiwen, transferring to Pao School in Year 10 also taught him about living independently. Before coming to Pao School, he knew that he preferred a holistic education which made Pao School a perfect match.
“YK Pao School protects its students to the finest, providing every student with a deep experience to learn, to interact and to enjoy themselves,” Yiwen recalls the most valuable takeaways from living with friends in high school. “We were learning how to live on our own.”
Learning to be independent is both subtle and profound. It is hard to teach yet crucial to the adaptability of young adults as they enter college. With the parents on the other side of the world, Yiwen knew that reaching out to his Pao School friend Tina could be helpful when tough times hit. He found out that they were both dealing with peer pressure and high expectations from the family.
After Yiwen finally settled down in a satisfying apartment, things began to brighten up for him. He started to explore the city more as he found a balance between work and life.
“After the first semester, I realized it (college) is not about GPA. It’s about you, and how fast you can adapt.” Yiwen thinks that there are still more challenges coming, but he sees value in this journey. “I feel like a new person.”
Interested? Go with it!
Like Yiwen, Frank transferred to Pao School in Year 10. He looked up Pao School on the internet and it immediately became his “dream school”.
After Welcome Week at NYU, as classes and course work started to kick in, Frank noticed that his transition to college went more smoothly than many other international students. “The exposure to different cultures back at Pao School made the transition to a diverse city like New York easier to me,” said Frank. Around 90% of the faculty members at YK Pao High School come from overseas.
At NYU Stern, students are required to take writing workshops for two or three semesters, depending on their level of proficiency. After the placement test, Frank got into a class with native speakers. Frank remembers, “It was quite challenging in the first month, having to read 300 pages every week and write a literature analysis, but then I realized that I actually can handle this workload.”
As for his interest in business, Frank says it started in high school.
During IGCSE, Frank took a business studies class and got very interested in it. Inspired by the case studies from the curriculum, he and some classmates started writing short stories in Chinese and then uploaded them to a WeChat public account. The project soon grew into a business education channel that started to reach a wider audience. Frank explains, “There are many young people who are interested in business studies, but their schools don’t offer such courses. Our channel becomes a platform where they can learn by themselves.”
While Frank was building the business channel, Tina was practising on the volleyball team.
Tina started playing volleyball since her time in YK Pao Middle School, and never stopped until she made it to the varsity team in high school. She concluded that Pao School gave her the opportunity to try something new, and she just went with it. “I like how at Pao School you can pursue your point of interest,” said Tina.
In 2018, Tina and her volleyball team travelled to Austria for the United World Games, where they played in a small tournament. Tina remembers, “It was a really valuable experience for us.”
Tina was awarded the Girl's Athlete Award and the Music Subject Award
Tina admits that she misses her old teammates, for they have really bonded with one another after playing together for years. Now as a student at New York University, Tina continues to play volleyball in a club. She is enjoying herself playing with new people, and actually made some of her friends in college on the volleyball field.
For Anita, it was a dance team. She was so committed to dancing that she stayed after CCA to practice. Everyone goes to dinner after CCA, but she would quickly finish dinner so that she could return to the studio dance with her friends.
Anita and her team at the dance show
During her high school years, Anita danced nearly every day, and performed on campus and beyond with the dance team. The team even practised for dancing competitions. “Looking back, I really dedicated so much of my energy and time to the dance team. We really took the initiative. Back then, we didn’t think about how much work it was, we were just having so much fun.”
Thrive as a community
Frank observed that people started building networks for their future careers early in NYU, and there are many student organizations and professional fraternities that connect first-year students to helpful resources.
Frank joined an economics honour society in his second semester, which holds a series of job-seeking workshops, including Resume 101, coffee chats, and recruitment info sessions. It’s a very tightly-knit community with hundreds of NYU students in it.
Frank in the early insight program held by Credit Suisse
In this society, Frank has a personal mentor, called a “Big” who is responsible for a “Little”, a first-year student like Frank. Several ‘Bigs’ would grab a meal together with their ‘Littles’ on weekends. “The society gives me a sense of belonging, and it also helps me prepare for investment banking recruitment next year,” says Frank.
Anita experienced adequate support in the academic setting. Teaching assistants in her classes are mostly NYU graduate students who also did their undergraduate programme there. “As a first-year student, you might attend a class with more than 200 people. That’s where the TAs come into play, and they usually give you a lot of support.”
Meanwhile, Yiwen is seeing himself as a resource for recent Pao School graduates. He has already reached out to some students from the Class of 2019 who have decided to come to New York City for college.
“I told them if they need anything I will be there. If they don’t have any friends, just come hang out at my apartment, because I know the first year might be hard,” says Yiwen. “I care about them.”
Excellence in academic performance comes after a student’s well-being. Community, regardless of size, is a crucial factor in the students’ adaptation to new environments.
This March, Yiwen, and Tina, with two other friends, organized a trip to Six Flags, a popular theme park in the US. “When new people come in, we can bring them there,” says Yiwen. “No problem.”
