Pao Alumni | Reaching out from the UK

In 2017, during the graduation of the first class of YK Pao School students, it was hard to imagine as far forward as 2020. A lot has happened, much of which has impacted many students’ lives and, as our alumni in the UK are approaching graduation, many are now rethinking their post-university plans.

This week we will be speaking with some Pao School alumni, based in universities around the UK, to talk about their time with Pao School and how its influence is supporting them as they stride forward into an uncertain future.

10 Years at Pao School

Crystal and her Primary School class on a trip

Over a decade later and Crystal is one of the alums that can proudly call themselves a part of Pao School’s first graduating class – she originally joined the school in the very first class of Year 3s and then stayed with the school for ten years until graduation in 2017. During her time at the school, she wore many hats – serving as a prefect, school ambassador, dance coach and did a lot of administrative work for WeeStudios. This year, Crystal graduated from Durham University in the UK, with a first class degree in Politics and Philosophy.

Starting this month, Crystal is about to get back to school. This time, she will be undertaking a master’s degree in politics over two years, split between LSE in London and Fudan University in Shanghai. This reflects her dual identity and YK Pao School’s mission to not only develop a student with both Chinese cultural identity, but the ability to adapt internationally.

Crystal and her friends at Durham University

It is this desire to seek truth that influences Crystal’s choice to also study philosophy, an unusual choice for a Chinese student. But, despite this – and the fact she hadn’t studied it previously – she took the leap and decided study it at university anyway. At first, she says it was difficult, as most students in her classes at university had already studied the subject before. But that, kindly, the professors in her department were always on hand to help her with unfamiliar concepts, something she says reminds her of the close academic community at Pao School and the patient helpfulness of Pao School teachers.

In the beginning, this interest in Philosophy was nurtured by a spirit of enquiry gained during her time at YK Pao School. Crystal is quick to question the norm and to think critically, explaining, “Studying philosophy is not just about being told A, B, and C, but also part of the course is to think… is it A, B or C? Or is it C, D and F? To me, the meaning, the excitement, the usefulness and perhaps also the pointlessness of philosophy are all grounded in its challenge to question claims no one else would and beliefs no else thinks they should.”

Ten years together: Crystal, her twin Ashley, Pao School friend Jonas and Xiaoxiao (小小) the dog in 2007 and 2017

This ‘spirit of truth’ has been a common thread throughout Crystal’s academic life, as she is quick to challenge the norm when she feels it is needed. For example, during her time at Pao High School, she found herself at odds with her economics teacher. She disagreed with their teaching methods, feeling that they were could be more effective. Eventually, she decided to confront the teacher and offer her feedback,  and to her surprise he listened to her and he modified his methods. Crystal was taken-aback by her teacher’s humble attitude, and the situation ultimately showed her that she can incite change if she raised her voice. She explains, “I was really happy that he listened to what I was saying, that was surprising to me, because I thought it would be a case of telling him and nothing happening.”

Alongside her studies, Crystal spends a lot of time volunteering with homeless charities and enjoys talking with homeless people, embodying the hope that YK Pao School alumni will grow to become compassionate, active members of society. Once a week, she helps at a homeless shelter, spending her time speaking with people and getting to know them.

Classmates reunited

Ariel and the Pao School girls football team

Sports had always had a big influence in Ariel’s life: during her time at Pao School she was nominated Sports Woman of the Year in both 2014-2015, was Varsity Football’s team captain in Year 11 and 12 – plus MVP in 2015 – and also dedicated her time into taking sports CCAs, such as the fitness challenge. Ariel remembers being mostly influenced by her Pao School PE teachers and felt that they were the most impactful part of her time at the school, finally saying, “A lot of YKPS sports teachers are very special, they are very influential in their own. The reason a lot of people love sport is because of these teachers.”

In particular, Ariel fondly talks about the experience taking part in the Fitness Challenge CCA, for which the students were often given interesting sports tasks, such as running whilst holding a log, weight exercises or flipping types. She explains how one of her proudest moments at the school was at a sports awards ceremony, when she was being awarded MVP for her performance during the fitness challenge, “I did five minutes of plank on stage in front of everyone! I was shaking at the end and they were laughing at me… but it was a huge accomplishment for me, both physically and mentally, doing something that I really didn’t think I could do is mentally very encouraging. I can’t imagine how I did it, but I did it!”

Ariel is interested in sports injury rehabilitation

During her time at Pao School Ariel worked hard, gaining a place at Loughborough University, the best university in the world for sports science. However, she quickly found that she was unhappy with the university as it didn’t fit her personality. So, after a year, she ended up transferring to Durham University – reuniting herself with her old Pao School classmate, Crystal.

This all changed after her move to Durham University. With her previous experience, she knew what to expect and also felt that the social culture at the university was better suited to her personality. But, she explains, she would not change her experience at Loughborough, as she feels it taught her a lot as a person and the experience has helped her learn more about herself.

In her first internship, Ariel provided support for the X Games extreme sports festival

In addition to her studies at Durham, Ariel has been busy doing internships – racking up three the past two summers alone! Two of these internships were related to her studies; working at a sports rehab centre and working at a company that supports other companies with mental health resources for their staff. But, earlier this summer, she decided to take a detour – interning at an antique furniture store.

A stepping-stone in a long journey

As a teenager, Chris became interested in a flight simulation computer game, which eventually made him more interested in flight itself. During his time at Pao School, he started playing with this hobby by building drones. After playing around with the settings, Chris was eventually successful and was able to make a couple of drones that could fly. This eventually led him to apply to study Aerospace Engineering in the UK, so he could learn more about these interests. It was a perfect fit immediately, “I went to school for the first time, it was aerodynamics class I think, and then straight off I know I’m in the right department…”

Chris and his group make a plane wing for class at university

Alongside his studies at university, Chris has joined a gliding club, where he is learning how to fly his own glider. He explained how he has been welcomed warmly by the older men in the club, who have been eager to teach him different flying manoeuvres – even giving real life demonstrations about what to do in emergencies, such as when the plane stalls and begins to fall to the ground. He says that gliding and learning about flying is especially useful, as much of his studies involve numbers and theory, so as he flies and has different experiences, he is also able to see the theory in action.

Nowadays, Chris explains that Pao School influenced his way of thinking and his English language skills deeply, which is something he carries with him today. Before coming to Pao School, Chris originally attended a private primary school, which specialised in English and sports. Due to this, he explains that when he entered Pao School he was very confident with his English, but he was quickly surprised. He was put in an ESL class, which was still very hard for him.

Chris meeting old Pao School friends, Jonas (left) and Oli (middle)

Though it was difficult at first, Chris’ English improved massively, going from the ESL class in Year 6 to reading novels like ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ in Year 7. He thinks that his improvement was due to a combination of in-class reading, using English as a communication tool, and having friends to speak English with. He explains how he also used more unusual methods, “We had English only days, where we would try to only speak English for an entire day. It was manageable during classes but when it came to sports time everything turned to chaos, it was great.”

But it wasn’t just his English teachers who left a mark. In particular, Chris remembers the impact of his Chinese teacher, Bei Lei Chen, who today still sits on Pao Schools advisory board.  He explains that she was very kind and influenced her students to read classic novels in class, rather than following typical teaching methods, explaining, “She made us read the book every day, we would have a group discussion about what the story is developing into… she treated us like high school students, whilst we were in middle school.”

It was this influence that helped him develop his critical thinking skills, which would later be essential in his IB and university studies. At first, he explains how difficult it was, as he was more familiar with passively receiving information from his teachers, “I was pretty deprived of critical thinking skills, I would go into a lesson and be like ‘feed me information!’… then all of a sudden people started asking me what I think.” Nowadays, however, he says it has become second nature to think critically, and he feels like he is well-equipped to share his thoughts and deal with university education.

Chris and two fellow Pao School Alumni, Tommy (left) and Florence (right), on a trip to New Zealand

However, academics are just the tip of the iceberg of life at Pao School. Like Ariel, sport was an important part of Chris’ experience, as he enjoyed playing football and was captain of the swim team for two years. He further explains that he was deeply influenced by his swim coach, who acted as a mentor and helped him develop himself psychologically, “He pointed me towards the right path, not the path that I was already on – hyper competitive, everything needs to have a winner – he steered me away from that.”

Building friendships over oceans

An important aspect of education at YK Pao School is the desire to develop internationally aware and bicultural students, who can adapt to different cultural environments. The alumni feel that this early exposure to foreign classmates, teachers and culture has been fundamental in helping them into settling into life abroad. Crystal even says that she feels more comfortable in this environment, “I think it is to do with being at YK Pao School and having people around you that are more open to different cultures, getting used to having more diversity than you would otherwise. I think that makes me more comfortable than seeing the same culture from all my friends.”

Chris explains that being exposed to different people and views at YK Pao School helped him challenge the stereotypes he comes across about other groups of people, teaching him to think of everyone as equal. Overall, this has made it easier for him to make lots of different types of friends and allows him to understand other people and cultures more deeply.