Here we asked international high school students about what extracurricular activities have been memorable at their respective schools. Beyond helping make a well-rounded student, extracurriculars provide all sorts of fun and opportunities for these young students to explore other areas of interest. Here’s what they had to say about their individual experiences. 

Caio Motta: The British School of Beijing (BSB), Shunyi

What are some of your most memorable academic endeavors, extracurricular activities, or school trips you have taken part in over the past four years?
The most memorable trip was the one in Year 12 where the teachers and Year 12 students went to Tanzania which also incorporated my IB CAS project work, charitable work, and a safari. This was a life-changing experience that myself and my colleagues will remember forever.

How have these activities provided by your school helped shape you as a person?
Completing the Tanzanian project taught me various skills such as how to build and use tools, how to talk to the locals and make myself understood, how to appreciate the wildlife and what is being done to conserve it in Africa.

Beyond academics, has your school been helpful in providing electives and extracurricular activities that cultivate your interests?
We have chances to take part in many IB CAS activities working at migrant schools; there is also a variety of sports programs that are held after school since we are part of ACAMIS.

Chelsea Lee: Yew Chung International School of Beijing

What are some of your most memorable academic endeavors, extracurricular activities, or school trips you have taken part in over the past four years?
Some of the extracurricular activities that were really meaningful to this change are football, Dew Drops Charity, and Roots & Shoots where I was able to learn and mature in aspects such as cooperation, leadership, and responsibility.

How have these activities provided by your school helped shape you as a person?
Through the welcoming environment provided by our school, and through working with innovative and enthusiastic teammates that were passionate about the club, I became more confident in attempting new things.

Beyond academics, has your school been helpful in providing electives and extracurricular activities that cultivate your interests?
Through our CAS fair, I was able to establish the Roots and Shoots Club and the Dew Drops Charity, developing them into fun and meaningful clubs that thrive both within and outside the school.

Simon Floris: Western Academy of Beijing

What are some of your most memorable academic endeavors, extracurricular activities, or school trips you have taken part in over the past four years?
My favorite thing to do at WAB is by far singing in a choir. I’m in two different school choirs, HS (High School) and the APAC (Asian Pacific Activities Conference) Choir. The former is mandatory for the latter, where we perform all over Asia. It’s challenging, but oh so worth it.

How have these activities provided by your school helped shape you as a person?
I think APAC Choir has taught me to improve my ability to feel more comfortable: in front of an audience, yes, but also next to singers I have just met, with homestay families whose house I’m invading, and even with conductors who have their own Wikipedia page.

Beyond academics, has your school been helpful in providing electives and extracurricular activities that cultivate your interests?
I absolutely love movies, and I’m lucky enough to go to one of the few schools in Beijing that take film seriously. Not only is there a course, but there’s the Identity Film Festival (for which I have been head of submissions), and many other opportunities to develop my skills.

Photos: Courtesy of BSB Shunyi, YCIS Beijing, WAB

This article originally appeared on p96
of beijingkids School Choice Guide 2018-2019.

Identity: it’s what defines you, it’s what drives you “you” and it’s how you see yourself. Now, as you may be reading in a language that is foreign to where this piece of writing is being published, you might have a complex, different, mixed, or interesting identity of your own. How come? Well, I tend to relate identity to different countries, languages, and cultures. Everyone has their core identities, usually what they are born with, for instance, their places of origin, their primary language or languages, and culture, just like a plain cup of frozen yoghurt before getting any toppings on it. Then, later comes the secondary identities that we develop from our living environment, our gained knowledge, our language acquisition, and what and who we encounter. These secondary identities, which I relate to as the toppings on this plain frozen yoghurt, tailor our very common core identities into much more personal and exclusive resultant identity. These are ultimately the identities that we present to others.

Knowing these, how would you answer the question: who are you? I’d answer that I’m a bridge between Japan and China. I was born in Japan, but I have a Chinese parent. I was brought up in Japan until the age of seven, when I moved to China. I went to the Japanese School of Beijing, which was technically identical to studying in Japan. Later, I transferred to an international school, but still go back to Japan twice a year to visit my family and friends. It may seem fun to be this “bridge” between Japan and China, but being so, however, isn’t merely about living and visiting both countries and speaking both languages. It is much more complicated, engaging, stimulating, challenging, and sometimes frustrating than that. How so? Well, instead of endlessly writing about my own case, I will introduce you to three inspiring bridges, who I interviewed and talked about their idea of being a bridge from their own career based perspectives.

“How to bridge cultures – that’s the question,” said Andrew Sohn, co-founder of Due West Education, an educational company that helps students in China with US high school and college admissions. Sohn, a New Yorker (first generation Korean immigrant) who took his Bachelor’s degree at Columbia University, came to Beijing for the first time in 2001, as a study-abroad student. There, he immediately fell in love with the growing energy, the rapid development, and the deep-rooted culture of China, which were what attracted him back to Beijing in 2009 to start Due West with his best friend from university. He said his initiative came from “the disappointment in learning about the significant amount of misinformation about US college admissions circulated in Asia and in seeing well-qualified Asian students limited by this lack of reliable admissions information and unaware of the vast number of higher education options that were available to them in the US.”

Studying abroad can be a life-changing experience, just as it was for Andrew. Not only does he want to ensure these opportunities for students in China to experience them but he also wants to ensure the quality of these experiences. By doing so, he achieves something fascinating as a bridge. He further builds and stretches this bridge. The idea behind this is that Due West is the beginning bit of this bridge, but the students become the largest part of the bridge as they learn about and develop through their experience of crossing over to the other side. That enables and stimulates them to mix these experiences with their own core identities to eventually become this object connecting the two cultures. Therefore, as Andrew stressed, understanding both sides of the bridge is how you bridge cultures, because if you don’t, you’re a bridge standing upright on one side not knowing where and how to lay the other end of yourself.

Now that we’ve learned about the primary step to becoming a bridge, it’s time to think about the responsibility of being a bridge. “What does it mean to enter a foreign country?” we asked Fumi Katakura, founder of Fumi & Flowers. Fumi sells and arranges flowers imported from Japan and teaches Japanese-style flower arrangement here in Beijing. The fact that she was born and raised in the port town of Kobe naturally enabled her to interact with many Chinese people, and made her understand more about Chinese culture, specifically Chinese literature. She enjoys and values the ideas conveyed through these books, much like how some people are obsessed with those inspiring quotes you sometimes see on Pinterest. Eventually, Fumi’s interest in China and her passion for flowers encouraged her to start Fumi & Flowers. Upon her arrival in Beijing, the weight of the responsibility of being a bridge felt much more realistic and heavier. She realized that opening the door of another country meant much more than just entering; it meant that she was representing her country. Everything she did or said now represented Japan. Theoretically, it does sound wrong, but in reality, that is what a bridge must deal with. People are used to making generalizations, even if this is just based on one person. And that is ultimately why one has to be responsible for their behavior and speech when bridging together cultures. A person indeed is a very small part, but hey, how many people does one person meet within a lifetime? Probably countless, right?

Finally, David Weeks, co-founder of the National High School Debate League of China (NHSDLC), founded in 2012 as the first American Public forum debate league for high school students in China, likened debates to a bridge. “Debate is far more valuable beyond what one memorizes about the topic, as it rather is a rich community of engaged students.” Being a bridge doesn’t merely mean the temporal exchange of cultures, languages, or traditions, nor does it simply mean mastering the practices of both sides. It means that we, as bridges, are constantly fostering and expanding a huge community of different backgrounds, cultures, languages, traditions, and histories, no matter which two countries or cultures we bridge. “Crossing cultures – it’s a way of trading identities,” Weeks said. It’s hard to recognize the presence of such a big community within such a busy world of constant identity politics, but it’s crucial when understanding the purpose of being a bridge.

David introduced the American public forum not only because he debated in this style when he was a high schooler, but also because it is helpful to those who speak English as a second language. Because the public forum is a mix of research and speaking, it is not limited only to native speakers, but rather encourages those who work hard and come up with better arguments, no matter what nationality may be. Therefore, although it is challenging, it is not limited. Thus it enables the Chinese debaters to feel comfortable crossing the bridge to the American culture of discussion.

Being a bridge, while not only being about experiencing new cultures, representing your culture, and then sharing your culture with others, it is essential when attempting to exist in a culture that is not your own. It is hard to be accepted if you are not willing to allow others to comprehend your own point of view.
And that leads us to a take-home question from Weeks for all the bridges. “Do people feel comfortable crossing the bridge?” It is our priority as bridges to make sure that people do.

Seemingly limitless junk food options, less time to exercise, more time spent sitting in front of computers and screens, and fad diets are just some of the many obstacles to healthy living today. Though teens often get a bad rap for not paying enough attention to what they eat, it can be tough for anyone to decipher the conflicting messages about what’s healthy and what’s not. We chat with four students from Hope International School (HIS) to find out what Beijing teens think about diet and nutrition.

Clockwise from back left:
Jacob Cho, 16, South Korea, has lived in Beijing for 12 years
Isaac Kim, 17, South Korea, has lived in Beijing for seven years
Cindi Li, 17, US, has lived in Beijing for nine years
Sarah Powers, 16, US, has lived in Beijing for two and a half years

Do you or your family have any dietary restrictions?
Isaac: My family tries not to eat pork. My parents say it’s not as healthy as beef or chicken.
Sarah: My mom is doing a gluten-free diet. She feels a significant difference in her energy levels.
Cindi and Jacob: No.

Is the local diet is healthy?
Jacob: Not really because it’s oily and everything is fried.
Sarah: It is really oily, but Chinese people eat a lot of vegetables and less meat so I think it counteracts the oil.
Cindi: The local diet varies from vegan to McDonald’s, so there isn’t a real classification of a “local” diet. Everyone eats differently.

Describe your own diet.
Isaac: Mine needs a lot of improvement because I take in whatever is on my plate.
Cindi: I have a major sweet tooth. I try to stay away from junk food, but then I’m thinking about it and end up eating more of it. I don’t eat much rice though, because it’s just empty carbs.
Jacob: I consider my diet healthy because I usually eat at home besides school lunch, and only eat out occasionally. I don’t eat much junk food.
Sarah: I could eat more fruits and especially vegetables. I eat a lot more meat than other things.

Have you or someone you know tried a fad diet?
Isaac: Once in a while I try to diet, eat chicken breast, and work out – I’ve even tried the no-carb diet – but my family always eats rice and it’s hard to eat separately [from them]. It can also be time-consuming to make your meals ahead of time. I’d rather sleep.
Jacob: I’ve seen someone doing the one-food diet. They chose tomatoes.
Cindi: I had a friend who ate only watermelon for a week to lose weight.
Sarah: My friend did a juice diet for a month and only drank fruit and vegetable smoothies. My friend lost a lot of weight, but couldn’t eat solid food for a while.

Have you ever taken supplements?
Jacob: Protein powder mixed with milk or water, and chewable vitamins.
Cindi: In elementary school, I had a zinc deficiency that I took tablets for. But I don’t take anything now.
Sarah: I take fish oil capsules and Teen One a Day vitamins.
Isaac: Multi-vitamins, and I used to drink protein shakes but not anymore. They say it’s chocolate-flavored but it tastes bad.

There’s more emphasis on nutrition now than in previous years. Why?
Sarah: Thirty or 40 years ago, there hadn’t been long-term case studies but now we see more of a cause-and-effect relationship between what we eat and our bodies.
Jacob: It’s because packaged food and more eating out has caused all the health problems of today, like obesity and diabetes.

What relationship does diet have with today’s standards of beauty?
Isaac: It used to be OK to be a little chubby, but now people diet to lose weight. You have to be thin or you have to be muscular – it’s the way people define beauty.
Sarah: You have to work harder now to accomplish what is considered beautiful. Before, people generally ate what they wanted and people were OK with that. Now, there’s so many options available, people expect you to choose the healthiest one so you can be skinny.
Cindi: When people were too skinny back in the day, it wasn’t considered beautiful. Now it’s the opposite. People want to be in the minority and become the pinnacle of beauty.

Where do you get your information about nutrition?
Jacob: Usually online. Sometimes our biology teacher talks about nutrition.
Cindi: My mom. She does research on cardiovascular diseases and she’s really uptight about nutrition. Also from biology class. We were recently learning about lipids and saturated and unsaturated fats.
Sarah: Yahoo News. After I read an article, I’ll do my own research online because articles tend to contradict each other. For example, one source will say you need to have this many servings of vegetables a day and another will say something else.

How do you know whether online information is credible?
Sarah: It depends a lot on whether the source is just a random news article versus webmd.com. The more credible sites tend to stay on the same page with their information, whereas random news articles will say anything.
Isaac: I usually judge based on the stars they get on the website rating. [laughs]Five stars, I can trust them. Four stars, eh maybe.

How can teens learn healthier eating habits?
Jacob: More education. Schools should officially propose a healthy diet program.
Isaac: In elementary school, there used to be assemblies teaching kids about the food pyramid, but in middle school, nutrition was hardly taught anymore.
Sarah: Everything is easier in a group so if you try eating healthier with multiple people, it’s better because you have others holding you accountable.

What is health education in school like? How can schools improve?
Sarah: For older grades, it’s lacking. People don’t talk about nutrition much because it’s a sensitive issue to talk about what people are eating. But having more open conversations about nutrition would be helpful.
Cindi: Our health class is relatively new and most people don’t take it. It’s for Grade 9 and last year, only two seniors took it.
Jacob: It’s only a required class for freshmen, but it should be more geared toward upperclassmen.

This article originally appeared on p40-41 in the January 2015 issue of beijingkids. To view it online for free, click here (will send link later) To find out how you can obtain your own copy, email distribution@truerun.com.

Photo by Dave PiXSTUDIO

Do you think there’s been more cyberbullying in the last few years?

Matthew: Yes, because of the development of the Internet. People are less shy online, so they will say anything. The sad thing about cyberbullying is that no one can stop it. Even if it’s deleted, it’ll stay in that person’s memory.
Anna: There are websites for teens and kids that warn you before you open a message with bad words. As technology advances, we could develop something similar for bullying; it could detect if a message is insulting and just delete it automatically.
John: But people have the right to express what they want to say and it’s not right to control them. In a way, that’s kind of bullying too; it’s abusing others’ rights.
Rebecca: Without specific rules and consequences outlined on social media sites, people think it’s OK to post someone’s picture with insulting words online. There should be more information sessions in school so students know what the negative consequences are.

Do schools have the right to get involved with incidents of cyberbullying?
Matthew: No, because if the school isn’t aware when it starts, there isn’t much they can do. The later the school gets involved, the worse the situation can become.
Rebecca: It’s a school’s responsibility to get involved and their duty to educate students. We have guest speakers who come each year, but we don’t get education on how to treat and communicate with others. If a student behaves badly outside of school, the school should reflect on that and think about what it can do differently.

How should schools deal with children who bully?
Anna: One thing our student council does during Bully Awareness Week is send out pink papers to every homeroom so people can write to someone they once bullied and apologize.
Rebecca: We also have a school counselor who can offer ways to solve the problem and talk to the people involved.

How can bullying be stopped?
Rebecca: Schools need to protect their students. They can put up more posters, and give us weekly speeches and lessons. Everyone should take [bullying]very seriously.
Anna: We can’t really put it on the teachers; we have to make sure the students actually feel for themselves that bullying is wrong.
Matthew: More rules won’t help if teachers don’t see [bullying]happen. Education should start young, because younger kids can learn more effectively than middle and high school-aged kids.
John: Posters and presentations only work if people actually connect with them. It’s important to educate everyone about how bullying starts so we can prevent it, including the bully.

Is it OK to “fight back” if you are bullied?
Anna: If the person being bullied wants to be the better person, they shouldn’t fight back. If you do, you’re basically bullying too.
Matthew: People should get help from someone else to fight against bullying.
John: Kids who are bullied should first let the other person know what’s happening. You shouldn’t literally fight back, but stand up for yourself and let that person know that what is happening is cruel.
Rebecca: It’s OK to ask for help, but the problem is that some kids are scared to ask for help.

Are bullies bad people?
Matthew: If they do it on purpose, they’re bad people. People who bully others don’t usually feel guilty because they think they have the power to rule over someone, and that’s kind of evil.
Rebecca: Bullies don’t always know that what they are doing is bad. Their intention is to make fun of someone because they think it’s funny, but maybe they’re hurting others in a way they aren’t aware of.
John: It’s based on the intention. If it starts off as a joke, then they just made the wrong choice. In the end, bullies are humans too.

What would you do if someone you know is being bullied?
Matthew: If someone is being bullied, they should go to a teacher or to a parent for support.
Rebecca: I would tell him or her that it isn’t their fault and they don’t need to be scared.

What causes children to bully?
Anna: Kids are very easily influenced by media like movies and TV shows; they tell us what is cool and what isn’t, so things and people that fall outside of the box are not really considered “cool.”
Matthew: If the punishment isn’t harsh enough, the bully won’t care and will keep doing it. Other kids are scared to get involved because they’re afraid the bully will turn on them next.
John: Perhaps bullies don’t always know they’re wrong; you can’t really judge the difference between right and wrong if you weren’t taught.

Who is responsible for preventing bullying?
Anna: Parents. They should teach their children starting from a really young age that people are different. If kids should know they’re loved, they won’t have thoughts of hurting others in any way.
John: Everyone. We’re just talking about bullying in school but as we inevitably grow up, it’s important that everyone try to help out each other in moments of crisis.

How can children learn to resolve differences peacefully?
John: Talking to the bully directly and telling them how you feel. Educating people so they understand that everyone is different and those differences don’t make a person some kind of outlier.
Rebecca: If someone sees someone else being bullied, they should stand up for that person, because then the bully will know that they’re not doing the right thing.

This article originally appeared on p39 of the September 2014 issue of beijingkids. To view it online for free, click here. To find out how you can obtain your own copy, email distribution@truerun.com.

Photo: Ken

There is a huge marital rift going on in my home; an argument of such monumental proportions, that sometimes, we even raise our voices slightly to indicate emphasis. My lovely and talented wife believes that our boys should get their hair cut and I could not disagree more. Her argument is that the twins get too sweaty and that they are scratching at their heads because they feel hot (I’ve checked, no head lice). Her logic here is sound, and my rebuttal at first blush may sound flimsy, but I contend that to cut their hair would be a travesty to all that is adorably cute. Nay, kittens everywhere cringe at the mere thought of it and puppies wee uncontrollably. Okay, puppies are always doing that, but you get my point.

Aside from their cuteness, I have one piece of evidence that I feel is damning to her overall contention – our daughter. Despite suffering through three oppressive summers and an ayi who’s mission in winter was to overdress our daughter whenever we were not looking, Reina’s hair was not cut until she was well into her third year, and only then because it was starting to sweep the floor whenever she sat down. If it is alright to keep a girl’s hair long for the sake of looks, can’t a pair of boys have floppy hair when they look so darn adorable?

I submit our case to the court of public opinion – you be the judge.

Photos courtesy of Christopher Lay