Ascent Issue No.4 by Shanghai American School

ASCENT

The Magazine of Shanghai American School â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Issue No. 04

> A R E O U R F U T U R E S P L A N N E D O U T ? ( P. 1 0 ) > F E A R O F FA I L U R E

( P. 4 5 )

> L I F E A S A G I R L ( P. 5 3 )

SHORTS

F E AT U R E S

Becoming Me > P R E S S I N G P A U S E ( P. 7 ) > S T U D E N T S W A P ( P. 2 0 ) > P U D O N G L O V E ( P. 3 6 )

Editor in Chief Abigail Torres

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Managing Editor Kelsey Heeringa Art Director Lisa Knight Editors Amber Broekmans â&#x20AC;&#x2122;19 Iris Chen â&#x20AC;&#x2122;20

A S C E N T: T H E M AG A Z I N E O F S H A N G H A I A M E R I CA N S C H O O L

Ascent is a partnership between the students of Shanghai American School and the Marketing and Communications Office. We aim to give an authentic snapshot of life at SAS, always seeking perspectives from within our community that dig into the excitement, challenges, and real heartbeat of our school. Want to be part of it? Email us at: ascent@saschina.org P U D O N G C A M P U S : 1 6 0 0 L I N G B A I R O A D , P U D O N G D I S T R I C T, S H A N G H A I , C H I N A , 2 0 1 2 0 1 . T E L : 6 2 2 1 - 1 4 4 5 . P U X I C A M P U S : 2 5 8 J I N F E N G R O A D , M I N H A N G D I S T R I C T, S H A N G H A I , C H I N A , 2 0 1 1 0 7. T E L : 6 2 2 1 - 1 4 4 5 .

C O V E R D E S I G N B Y E M I LY G U ' 2 2

Looking for your most creative captions to go with this photo! Winning lines will be featured in the next issue.

WRITE THE CAPTION!

We are also taking submissions for the next round of Write the Caption! Send it all to: ascent@saschina.org

AVA H UA ' 1 9

“Go your own way.”

— AN N YO U ’ 26

Runner-ups include: “My parents aren’t home.”

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LAST ISSUE’S WINNING CAPTION

“Up, up, and away!” 03

YAW E H I E D A

I S S U E N O. 0 4

Features

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STUDENT SWAP

F E A R O F FA I L U R E

LIFE AS A GIRL

ARE OUR FUTURES PLANNED OUT?

Inside SAS P R E S S I N G PAU S E

LIFE LESSONS FROM COACHES

W H AT I S P U D O N G LOVE?

40 48

CAS REFLECTIONS

ALUMNI INTERVIEW

In Each Issue 26 28 34

52 56 58 59

HUMANS OF SAS

STUDENT VOICES

A CLOSER LOOK

DEAR JUNO

N E W S + U P DAT E S

HOROSCOPES

EAGLES IN FLIGHT

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GROWING UP AS A TCK

PX Pen Pals (1/3)

It began in the fall with one big letter. Ms. Parkhurstâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s grade 3 class on the Puxi campus wrote to some mysterious new friends: Ms. Davidâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s grade 3 class on the Pudong campus. Keep your eyes open throughout this issue to follow the journey of connection (and growth in writing!) through the school year.

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’22

U ’22 + WEN W

E GU AN

ILI

g n i s s e r P e s u a P

ILL

UST

R AT I O

NS BY SH

Y IRLE

’2

There are a few ways someone could define me—as the person who loves horses, the one with the book, or the girl with the dyed hair. When I was accepted onto the APAC dance team, that is when people started thinking of me and calling me a dancer. It was definitely just the delusions of everyone else, though. I still didn’t really feel like a dancer. And yet, my life had changed. Sure, I’d always loved to dance, but mostly I just admired dancers from afar. You know, standing an extra meter away from APAC dancers in the halls out of intimidation. I remember during APAC tryouts in ninth grade (which I attended just to watch, not to audition) I sat on the side of the stage and in the audience, in total awe. On the first dance practice after making the team, I saw one girl casually doing an aerial (a cartwheel without hands) while I was struggling to do a pirouette turn in the right direction. But I was living my own fantasy—something not a lot of people get

to experience during a lifetime. People often talk a lot about working hard in everything you do, how there are always as many tears shed as there is sweat. But frankly, I loved every second of it. From practices late into the day, repeating sets over and over, and going home every day with my knees (gosh, my knees!) and every other joint in my body aching. At the start of APAC, I felt exactly like the starry-eyed girl secretly watching auditions from a year ago. More than the fear of embarrassing myself and revealing to everyone that I was actually barely a dancer, though, was the fear of letting down the team standing by my side. Despite my insignificant role in the group dance, it would be unbearable to ruin the last year of APAC for our graduating team captain (who happens to be the nicest girl in the world) or the first year of APAC for the scary girl doing aerials. But then, it totally surprised me how fun the whole experience was, discovering within me the sense that I actually was a dancer, and I finding a sense of unity within the team, one that stretched

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BY RACHEL ZHANG ’21

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beyond our matching outfits. (Every single day. We had matching outfits every single day.) My alarm woke me up at five in the morning on APAC Day two, and I rolled out of bed to stand up. And I couldn’t. I just could not, for the life of me, physically find a way to make my knees support me. I vaguely remember a sharp pain, and when I finally managed to push myself onto my two legs, they didn’t feel like they were designed to carry my weight and help me move. Luckily, Max Bockmühl and Gustav Ehrhart were smart enough to invent pain killers in Germany a few decades back, which pulled me through the next two days. Back at SAS, I made a quick trip to the doctor and scheduled some kind of surgery. Max and Gustav were now my best friends, and I pushed my surgery back when I learned the date of another dance performance. That eightminute dance felt all too long and not long enough at the same time. Did I know that in a few days I wouldn’t be able to even lift my legs? Perhaps that was somewhere in my mind, but it definitely went unacknowledged. I didn’t think this surgery was going to be that big of a deal, but driving home in the car after leaving the hospital, I cried the whole way. When I came up for air, I was basically chained to a wheelchair. The fantasy I was living in changed pretty quickly, and instead of grand jetéing across the floor I was trying to learn how to stand and walk and sit. Just those things would take weeks of physiotherapy. My life had totally changed again.   I always thought being in a wheelchair would be pretty fun, and it is for the first thirty seconds. As I couldn’t bend my legs, I needed a special wheelchair that had extensions, so I could raise my legs and keep them straight. Some of my biggest fears at this point were heights, spiders, doorways, and nonautomatic doors. It’s incredible the number of doors it takes to get from Chinese class to English, and there was a time when the elevator broke and my poor English class needed to make the trip down to the first floor to hear my speech. Being wheelchair-bound also made me a lot more conscious about everything going on around me. This included noticing a lot of kindness that I didn’t think would be present; it came in simpler gestures of opening doors, or from taking the long way around to drop me off at my class. The low point came at the end of January. The team was rehearsing together again, minus me, for another performance, a beautiful dance to “Reflection” from Mulan. Still unable to dance, and knowing that if I ever

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dance, or sit cross legged, has possessed my life. High school itself is a time to figure out who we are, what are our strengths, how to define ourselves, where we’re going in life. It’s also filled with a lot of paranoia and broken compasses: am I really moving forward? Or am I taking steps back? Am I moving sideways? Am I…. pivoting? I think now we’re all just putting one foot in front of the other, taking it one day at a time, one test at a time. It’s called ‘living in the grey,’ being unsure about what’s to come and where you’ll be in the future. I don’t think anyone is ever perfectly content while trying to make their way through a colorless, unclear time like this, but maybe that’s okay. Even though we all have our labels, whether it be a photographer, writer, or soccer player, we’re all still in the same boat that sails across the incessant sea of life. So, as I pivot, I can look around and see how everyone else is as well—sometimes we’re not always grand jetéing through life. At least for now I’m perfectly happy to still be on the hypothetical stage, prepping for the next leaps and bounds to come.

wanted to dance again I’d have to learn from scratch, I sat by the podium of the PAC. My role was now reduced to pressing play and pause on the music. I had fought so hard to earn my identity and spot on the team, and now I sat to the side. Pressing play, then pressing pause. And it felt like I’d be forever stuck on pause. The harsh reality of who I actually was wrapped me in a deafening, cold embrace—that I really was just the starry-eyed kid sneaking into the PAC to watch the dancers. If I couldn’t stand on my own two feet, was I still a dancer at all? Now, in the spring, I’m able to (relatively) comfortably make it through the school day. As Elton John would say, “I’m still standing better than I ever did, feeling like a little kid.” Everyone has the opportunity to learn how to walk, run, bike, swim, and be a biped in general, when they’re a kid. I’m doing it twice, starting from the ground up, reviewing trigonometric functions while practicing getting up and down from a chair. Not being able to ride a horse, run,

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ARE OUR

FUTUR

OUT?

F E AT U R E

A SUNLIT FIELD. WARM SOIL. CANOLA FLOWERS IN A BOUNDLESS POUR OF GOLDEN YELLOW. HIGH-TOSSED SKIES, CRISP-THIN AIR. GRAND MISTED MOUNTAINS, A SMALL BUTTERFLY.

ES B Y A N G E L A C H E N ’2

humble town in Yunnan Province for a month, and spent an hour or two every day there in the fields. And those canola flowers, bigger than imagining, billowing and glorious and endless under the rich sky—they cleansed me. The years fell like coats from my shoulders. In those happy hours, I was nothing, so I could be anything, do anything. It was a precious month. Everyone should feel that sort of lightness at least once in their life. When I returned to the city, it felt as if I was dragged out of a pool; before, all was dim and serene in that quiet home under the surface. Then, abruptly, I was yanked out, startled and sopping. Reintegration into school life came with no ease. In Shanghai, a life was lived under smog and stress, and I felt as if my skin had become too soft for the concrete and stone of the home I had left. I felt as if I had lost my head back in the pretty cliché of those idle canola fields, that the past, present, and future, after being neglected for so long as I drifted about in the flower fields, were catching up to me, angry. I trust that you are familiar with the conventions of our very advertised, very internationalized school. If you haven’t experienced it first-hand, you would’ve read about it. Shanghai American School is superlatively competitive, shot through with rigor, ambition, and zeal for learning, explor-

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Spring of two years ago, I lived in a

PERSIST

F E AT U R E ASCENT

IN YOUR

POCKET YOUR FEARS

DECISION

One of my favorite things to do in the States is to take a road trip. To pack the car, choose a random location on the map a few hundred miles and a couple of days away, and take my time getting there, following not the most direct route but instead one defined by whimsy, curiosity, or simply the moment. To take a road trip like this is to stop in small towns I would never see otherwise, walk around, have lunch at a diner, and talk to people I would never for any other reason have met in life. It is to remind myself that different lives are happening everywhere simultaneously… and I am part of a fabric much larger than I can conceive of. Often, on one of these road trips, I have what I call a minor transcendental moment. I might be driving past a huge field in Midwest, crops and sky as far as the eye can see, and there in the distance, there will be a house, with a few trees shading it, a swingset in the front yard, perhaps flowers adding color to the front stoop, and suddenly I realize: This house holds a life, a family, a history, a narrative of emotions and thoughts and dreams, and they are not mine. This life here is not MY life, BUT… it could have been. It is a disconcerting feeling. A moment like this reminds me that of course I don’t choose everything in life, that much of what happened and happens has been chosen for me: where I was born, to whom, at what point in history and so on. From the moment of my birth, there was always a trajectory, and—well—here I am. But I am not an idealist, and I don’t believe that our lives are either predestined or planned out. I believe our lives are an ongoing dialogue between the choices we make and what reality imposes. Our choices respond to life, and they create life. It is this dynamic between our power to choose and not choose, plan and not plan, that in fact lends beauty and mystery and yes—adventure—to our lives. Could I predict in 1988, when I was sipping a cafe au lait in a cafe in Paris during my semester abroad, that I would be an educator leading a school in Shanghai, China? Absolutely not. Was it out of the range of possibility and design? Absolutely not… Isn’t life a trip? M a r c e l G a u t h i e r, H e a d o f S c h o o l

IN SPITE O

AND FORGE ON.

HEY HEAD OF SCHOOL, ARE OUR FUTURES PLANNED OUT?

YOU ARE THE ONLY GUARANTE

ing, discovering. Integrity, compassion, courage—these are great pillars, the things we want to take with us when we sail forth to bluer oceans. And this is all wonderful. We know we are hard -working people. It is our reputations and aspirations that fuel the flame of the bone-deep belief that when we work hard for a singular end goal— usually top-tier universities, teams, youth organizations, vocations, fame—we are predetermined to be happy. We are on a clear one-way track, one that has been planned out for us—or so we think. We simplify the notion of that ultimate, sought-by-all happiness into something as trite and shallow as a numerical mark, and then we work hard to achieve it. Regardless of whether we do, we

MAKE

OF ANY ODDS.

YOUR TIME.

THIS IS WORTHY OF YOUR RISK AND

only realize afterwards that it wasn’t the end at all. Now imagine you’re in rural, idyllic Yunnan. Veining the canola fields is a network of dirt roads raised gently from the earth. There is a single main road that drew rifts between the canola and always led the way out. You find the main road, you’re homebound. It’s a source of security, wide and paved out to appease the feet. I call it the mother road. The comfortable, dare I say mediocre default that we all start on, with great width and at paved earth for easy walking. The mother road is where you should never stay. We start as blank slates, but it is only a matter of time before we develop our potential to become varied, colorful individuals, vastly different from all others. We

all start on the mother road, but slowly, surely, we veer into the smaller paths, the daughter passages that are often wet with mud, rough with small stones. Hard to travel on. This happens when we make decisions, take risks, and follow through with these risks—instead of merely coasting through life on the comfortable, but at times dull, mainstream. The passages we turn to are entirely invisible, buried underneath the stalks, and they keep forking, becoming narrower with each turn you make—as you yourself become sharper, bigger, more independent. And this is the core of it all. When you make turns farther from the mother road, when you know for certain that this is worthy of your risk and your time,

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WE ARE NOT GIVEN A LIFE IN WHICH WE ARE ONLY ALLOWED

YOUR LIFE.

EED CHARACTER IN

ONE INSTANCE TO MAKE A CHOICE.

TURNS FARTHER FROM THE ROAD.

F E AT U R E

when you persist in your decision in spite of any odds, this is when you know you’ve made the right choice. No matter your age or status, you will not be truly happy until you know the decisions you’ve made are by yourself and for yourself. External pressure is commonplace especially in SAS, be it implicit or explicit; it could be your parents compelling you to sign up for cram school, your peer participating in an activity that you don’t. You feel inclined to take the daughter passage that is the most well-worn, the one that “guarantees” the most success. You feel inclined to immediately go the path that someone you love, you look up to, has pointed out to you. Growing up impressionable, I am often told that being accepted into an Ivy would be the ending, the victorious last hurrah of my narrative, a path in the fields that leads oneway to success—because that is what everyone wants. That is too often the “ideal” in a school like ours. You get in, you’ve accomplished everything. And that’s wrong. That is only

one option in the midst of millions, and would not be meaningful anyway if it was born of someone pushing at you from behind. When you’re sure you move by your own will, you walk forward renewed. The world seems wider; you seem wider. Capable of more things. But look. This isn’t the end. This turn marked the end of a road and the beginning of a new one, less traveled and harder to walk on. The path is rough and you can’t see anything through the thick stalks. The sun beats too hard down on your back. You sweat. You need water. God. How did you get here? Why are you here? But pause. Catch your breath. Look out into the grand sprawl of these golden fields. Pocket your fears and forge on. What if you chose wrong, or if you find the path you want is actually closed to you? Take a look forward at all the other possible journeys. We are not given a life in which we are only allowed one instance to make a choice. One’s life is a culmination of a succession of decisions. In the flower fields, one wrong turn

L O O K I N T O T H E S K Y L I N E W I T H E Y E S T H AT

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A R E DA Z Z L E D R AT H E R T H A N A F R A I D.

HEY MIDDLE SCHOOLERS, ARE OUR FUTURES PLANNED OUT? “Some things are set, like university and a job are pretty much planned out. Smaller things I can improvise along the way.” D i e g o ’ 2 5 “Right now we think it is planned out, but it is probably going to change.” A r i e l ’ 2 4 “My future is not all planned out, I get to choose what I’m going to do.” L o g a n ’ 2 5 “I have it planned out, but I have a feeling it’s not going to go exactly as I planned.” Brooklynn ’25

“I feel like it’s planned, like it has been set for me from when I was born. I have wiggle room, but not very much.” Ay l a ’ 2 3 “I want to go to UCLA.” M i n j u n ’ 2 5 “I have dreams and my dream job already

”

planned. And they are all approved by my mom. Emma ’24

“I don’t even know what I’m gonna do tomorrow!” Eya l ’ 2 5

E CANOL H LT L E

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O FL

won’t end up of a cliff. Certainly, some turns are more high-stakes than others, but there is not a single decision on which the whole of your life balances completely. Flowers are not set in stone; they sway and dance in the wind. Let loose enough to enjoy yourself—to drink the winds that roll from the mountain slopes. Take a breath. Blink up at the cool blue skies. It is also natural to compare yourself to those who may have taken a passage you did not; after all, it is intrinsic to human character to feel envy, self-deprecation, malice. You can’t help feeling stressed when your friends talk about their extensive list of sports tournaments, club officer positions, global competitions. You can’t help feeling unremarkable during APAC pep rallies when you’re sitting in the darkened audience clapping for people who seem “better” than you. You can’t help signing up for that afterschool activity or exploratory when teachers, counselors, and parents are urging you to aim higher, and perhaps in a direction you don’t feel inclined towards. The levels of everyone around you seem to set a precedent for whom you should be. As the saying goes, you needn’t be the richest person on the planet; you just need to be richer than your neighbor. But think about it. These people may walk with you for a while, or only keep you company momentarily. Sometimes, when you turn a different direction, you leave them for good. But you are the only guaranteed character in your life, and those who come and go in your narrative are side characters—friends, foes, strangers who keep your feet moving, and not people to model yourself after and hate yourself when you can’t. Don’t let that negativity onto this grand, flowering field of yours. Walk your own path. And as we go, look into the skyline with eyes that are dazzled rather than afraid. Occasionally, let yourself free from time. Think neither of the future nor the past, and draw joy simply from the present second, minute, hour. There is happiness that lies quiet and unnoticed in the things that strike us as the most simplistic, most unlikely. Leave the path entirely and let yourself into the fields, where the soil is soft and the crops reach your hips. Look at how the mistwrapped mountains descend from the sky to the earth. Lean down. Smell the canola flowers.

HOME

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BY ANONYMOUS ’24

I was a star. I had it made. The geography geek of the grade. Best friends, always by my side, always by their side, for years and years to come. They were ready to take a bullet, I was ready to take a bullet. Then I did, Shanghai came, Shanghai was the bullet. A friend, since the beginning of time, was disappearing off the face of the Earth. Time was slipping by, as sand slips from hands. Cherishing what little we had left. Then, the day came, That day, was the perfect weather. Final twelve hours, soaking in all I could keep. Bon Voyage only home I’ve ever known. I boarded the flight with all my life in one small suitcase. Everything was boxed or thrown away. All that was left was the small suitcase. Happy and sad. Not knowing when I’d be back. Yet, a new experience, A resume builder, new language, new food, new culture. A chance to start over. Homesickness and missing friends. VPN. Then school came, Be quiet and shy. Don’t be bubbly and fun like you used to be. I was once respected and held high in society, then, I was sent to the bottom of the pit, my reputation was tarnished with a stamp of Nothing. Still, I was in awe. So many markets, so much food. So little food of my home. How I longed for the food of my home. I missed home from day one. Desperate to find somebody, anybody else of my countrymen? No-one. Stranded in the big blue ocean of Shanghai. Eventually, I would be rescued, and be taken to a place called Home.

GROWING UP AS A

Walking away from the London Palladium after having just finished watching The Wizard of Oz, one line kept dancing through the front of my mind. “There's no place like home.” It all seemed pretty straightforward for Dorothy. Home is where her family is, home is where her dog is, and home is where she feels safe. However, unlike Dorothy, it wasn’t all that simple for me. In fact, to this day, I still find myself wandering down that twisting and winding yellow brick road, hoping to find out what home truly means for me.

I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y I N E Z L O W ’ 2 2 + L I LY H E A L D ’ 2 2

Being a third culture kid (TCK) makes it a million times harder to answer even the simplest of questions. For instance, when someone asks you, “where are you from?” For many people, this question has a very obvious answer. However, for a third culture kid like me, there are a multitude of ways to answer that question, which I why instinctively respond with clarifying questions such as, “Are you talking about where I was born? Or where I live? Or where my parents are from?” In the past, not knowing how to answer that simple question made me feel sad whenever I went to summer camps in Hong Kong. There, local Cantonese kids formed cliques based on who their favorite Cantonese celebrity was or their favorite Cantonese TV show. I always felt like an outcast, even though I spoke Cantonese and was

BY DAPHNE CHAN ’21

my group asked another girl, “do you think she understands what we’re saying in Cantonese? Do we really have to speak English to her?” I understood her Cantonese perfectly, but in the moment was too scared to speak up for fear they would make fun of my “foreign” Cantonese accent. In the beginning, the thought of not having a “home” or “native culture” could sound pretty sad and terrifying. But as I’ve grown up experiencing so many different cultures, I realized I’ve been creating my own cultural identity as I go. It turns out that not knowing where exactly home is isn’t actually a bad thing. For starters, I find that being a third culture kid makes it easier for me to make new friends. I wouldn’t say I’m an extrovert, but when thrown into a new experience, I usually manage to make a couple of close friends fairly quickly. I think the reason I find it much easier to make friends in a place where everyone comes from a different culture and country is because I am so use to living alongside people that are so diverse. I don’t feel obligated to only talk to people who come from the same country and identify with the same cultural background as I do, because I am not just Cantonese. My cultural background is a complicated mix of cultures: I celebrate American holidays and stay up to date with American pop culture and news because I go to an American school, but at the same time, I celebrate Chinese

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from Hong Kong, they treated me like a foreigner, insisting on speaking English to me, based on the fact that I was a stranger to the Cantonese culture. A couple years of ago, at a summer camp for English speakers at the University of Hong Kong, the kids all communicated in Cantonese. When the camp counsellor split us up into groups, a girl in

ASCENT 18

holidays and also grew up with to Chinese folk tales. My favorite experience was my first year attending the summer camp at IMG Academy. I remember walking in to practice the first morning and seeing I was one of the only two Asian kids, and yet I quickly became close friends with a girl named Lara because we were similar in age. However, over the three weeks, Lara and I became friends with another Chinese girl, Stephanie. Interestingly, the only way Lara and Stephanie could communicate was through me, because Stephanie didn’t know much English and Lara didn’t speak Chinese. Lucky for us, we all bonded over the fact that we watched the same TV show, The Voice. Lara watched The Voice of Germany, I watched The Voice on AXN and Stephanie watched The Voice of China. Because of my knowledge about both American and Chinese culture, I often find myself connecting people who have very different backgrounds and traits, almost playing Cupid at summer camp. I am always introducing the Chinese friends to the Western friends. As I got older, I realized what made this summer camp a much better experience than the time I was at the University of Hong Kong is that I learned to embrace my unique cultural background rather than trying to hide and hope to fit in with the group. I love that my diverse background allows me to make new friends and help others understand different cultures better. Another benefit that comes along with being a third culture kid is that you have the freedom to experience a country in more than one way. When I am in Hong Kong during Chinese New Year, I feel like I am truly in my hometown, because day in and day out we visit my grandparents, aunts, uncles, distant cousins and so on. However, when my family and I travel back to Hong Kong during spring break, I am able to view Hong Kong in a different light. When there aren’t Chinese festivities and traditions taking place, my family

and I go sightseeing at all the famous landmarks in Hong Kong, something not many locals do. This is because when you’re a local, you feel like you already know your hometown, and you don’t have the interest to explore all the unique attractions. Despite Hong Kong being my place of birth, I have never lived there, so the neon lights that blink back at me when I am walking around in downtown Hong Kong never cease to mesmerize me. The late night runs to get traditional Cantonese street waffles never fail to excite me. Strolling down the Victoria Harbour and staring in awe at the beautiful Hong Kong skyline never gets boring for me. Furthermore, being a third culture kid, I’m privileged be able to travel to anywhere in the world and still be able to feel like home. Two years ago, my family and I visited Sydney over winter break. While

WHERE IS HOME? BY ADITI BABEL ’14 From her new book Unsettled. Read a featured interview with Aditi on page 48.

is it your birth place? is it your city of residence? is it your country of citizenship? is it where you have spent eight years of your life in an immigrant bubble in a city that never truly felt like it belonged to you? is it where Mom is from? is it where Dad is from? is it the language you speak? I think home is a feeling

onto land you have lived and loved on before

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I think it is the overwhelming reminiscence looking out of an airplane window as you

we were there, we visited a Chinese restaurant who served the best egg tarts I’ve ever eaten. Upon sitting down at our table, we formed an immediate bond with our waiter. He was a Cantonese man in his mid-40s who immigrated to Australia with his parents when he was just a little boy. All throughout lunch, he would constantly be standing by our table, offering to fill up our cups with water even though they were already full. I soon realized, the reason he did that was because it felt nice to be around people that remind you of where you’re from. As a third culture kid, I can fly anywhere in the world and find people who are just like me. That makes walking around a foreign city feel a lot less scary. In fact, being a third culture kid, walking around a foreign land feels just like any other place in the world, because everywhere can feel like home. Ultimately between living most of my life living in Shanghai, traveling back to Hong Kong every Chinese New Year to spend time with my relatives, and attending an American school, I have learned to develop my own sense of what home is for me. Home isn’t the place where I was born. Home isn’t where my relatives live. Home isn’t the school culture I’ve grown up as part of for all my education. For me, home is everywhere. Being a third culture kid and having the opportunity to interact with people from so many different cultural backgrounds on a daily basis allows me to identify with so many little aspects of vastly different cultures. For instance, because I live in China, I adore Chinese food like cha shao fàn and xiao lóng bao, and because I go to an American school, I love Sour Patch Kids and blue raspberry Jolly Ranchers. For everyone else, home is a place where the culture and people around them are what they are comfortable and familiar with. Since I grew up with such diverse people around me, I feel safe and at ease no matter where I am in the world.

F E AT U R E

STUDENT

A DAY in the LIFE

ASCENT

ANNALIE YU â&#x20AC;&#x2122;21, PUXI CAMPUS

SWAP

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ERIC LIU â&#x20AC;&#x2122;21, PUDONG CAMPUS

F E AT U R E

BY ANNALIE YU ’21, FROM PUXI CAMPUS

Once Eric and I walked into PE class, the teacher gave the class a briefing on Newton’s Laws of Physics and how they applied to badminton. I was surprised that we were learning physics concepts and applying them to sports. After the briefing, we started out with different drills as Eric and I played and talked about how we are both terrible at badminton. Halfway through class, we did a quick fitness session, including suicides with pushups and burpees - hands down, one of the most tiring PE classes I have ever had. Nevertheless, I got to meet many very nice and funny people, and it was a very interesting experience. I am used to learning about health concepts, different types of sports, and how they improve fitness skills, but not to having fitness sessions while playing another sport.

ust the other day, I went on an investigative trip to SAS Pudong (aka the other side) to see what life is like there. Although I’ve previously been there for swim and track meets, these only showed me a fraction of what Pudong is. As I walked out of the car, all I could think was, “this is going to be the most awkward day of my life.” I quickly found Eric and the Ascent team, which made me feel better. As we walked in, I was excited to see Charlotte, my friend from swimming. A familiar face.

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7:55, the bell rang. One person, then another one, then another one - there were countless people rushing by, going into different classrooms. “Wait, but it’s only 7:55,” I thought to myself. When Eric told me we might be late to class, I realized that class starts at 8:00, compared to 8:10 in Puxi. We arrived at PE. I felt awkward with the kneelength pants and full navy blue uniform. Middle school PE memories (about how much I disliked wearing uniforms) started to come back to me. I was grateful that Puxi PE classes don’t need uniforms and that all we need to wear is athletic clothing.

We spent break inside the swim office while Eric was studying for his Chinese test. I enjoyed seeing all the Pudong coaches again, who welcomed me with

loads of questions, jokes, and warming smiles. The pool made me feel calmer since it was a familiar setting with familiar people. The pool felt like a home in Pudong and, quite frankly, it does in Puxi, too. Walking down the hallway, I noticed Pudong’s classrooms were closer together and its dark-blue walled hallway more narrow and darker, compared to Puxi’s wide hallways with light-colored walls and windows.

It seems a lot more compact, which can be good in a sense of community and warmth. In Chinese class, as well as AP World History class afterwards, I noticed that teachers and students have a lot of personal connection and interaction within classes. Teachers immediately started teasing and chatting with Eric. Even when taking a hard Chinese test, the whole room was filled with energy and a warm, cheerful atmosphere. Compared to Puxi’s Innovation Institute, where we do a lot of hands-on activities, Pudong classes were a lot more lecturing. One hour and 35 minutes of lunch including Flexi: similar to Puxi’s mandatory Extended Learning on Thursdays except you don’t have to be in a teacher’s room, so it can be just chill time. It gave me lots of time to meet with both middle school and high school friends from swimming. (A lot of them were confused about why I was here. We even joked about how I was shadowing Eric because I was transferring to Pudong.) The hour and 35 minutes felt just like our normal 55 minute lunch. I think Puxi’s food is less expensive though.

more of an indoor campus. One thing I liked about Pudong are the bean bags they have within their commons and how the Pudong community is like one big family. I was really surprised that I felt a lot of “Pudong love” because I had thought it was just going to be an awkward day.

To sum up my exploration of the other side, Pudong is not a better or worse campus. It just has a very different style of teaching and sense of community. Puxi is more of an outdoor campus while Pudong is

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After Eric’s last class, biology, where the more traditional science room once again brought me back to middle school memories, I could finally go to my natural habitat, the swimming pool. The relationship between Coach Ryan and the high schoolers was tight, and I felt like I got included into that big family. I was the only girl at swimming, but practice was lively and fun. The guys experienced what leggings felt like when we wore drag suits and some liked it so I even offered to give them one. Once practice ended it was kind of sad because I will miss all of them a lot.

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ecently I had the privilege to participate in a student exchange program organized between both SAS campuses. In some sense it was more of a mutual shadowing rather than an exchange program: I spent a day shadowing Annalie and attending all of her classes at Puxi and vice versa. Apart from simply just attending Puxi-style classes, I also had the opportunity to experience the campus’ student life. Personally, this entire experience was very compelling and extremely eye-opening. I felt that even though I only had the opportunity to be at the Puxi campus for one short day, within that short timeframe I managed to make new friends, learn new things, and have a bunch of fun. The day I visited Puxi was a very unique one, at least from the perspective of an outsider. Instead of having normal classes, I participated in this program called Innovation Institute. The reason that this program was special was due to the fact that instead of having normal classes, this group of 10th grade students were dedicated a special space to work on projects and presentations rather than tests and worksheets. When I first entered the building, I was immediately taken aback by the surroundings:

everything was newly renovated with a modern twist of elements. Looking around, equipment and machines whirled, students wandered around waiting for the day to start. For me, this was a stark contrast to the learning environment I was used to back at SAS Pudong. In some sense, it seemed more chaotic than the regular classroom experience, but I soon learned to find the organization within the chaos and the creative learning experience it fosters. It almost seems that the entire Innovation area is part of some science laboratory. Something I noticed was the way that the working spaces were set up greatly differs from the normal classroom setting, with many of the separate areas putting a large focus on group work and flexibility. For example, nearly all the furniture, such as tables and chairs, were movable and could be rearranged differently for a multitude of purposes. Something that was very intriguing for me was the double purpose that the tables served, where they could be used as whiteboards when needed. Another interesting aspect was the multifunctional rooms. Throughout the entire space there were rooms which were designed to be used in group project situations. The entire layout of the space reminded me of a college campus. In reflection, the actual content learned within those classes did not

BY ERIC LIU ’21 , FROM PUDONG CAMPUS

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differ as much from the curriculum at Pudong, it was just the style of learning where clear distinctions could be found. At the very start of the day, everybody who participated in the Innovation Institute gathered in a central room. There were 40 or 50 people together, yet it seemed that everybody was very familiar with each other. Overall, there was a strong emphasis on team building and spirit. The day started off with a very interesting game, called “Assassin.” In this game, all Innovation students were given a target to “kill,” but at the same time were also a target themselves. To kill someone, you had to stick a red colored sticker on your target’s back without them

realizing it. People were assigned different teams to work with, and they learned to watch each others’ backs. I had the chance to play this game by joining Annalie and her team. The initial amazement of the game was quickly replaced by a sense of excitement; indeed this was the case for nearly everybody present. Everyone wanted to win, to take out their opponents while keeping themselves safe. Plenty of people were leaning closely to walls for safety, or tried different forms of “backstabs.” Initially, I was quite confused about why a high school sophomore program was playing a comparatively childish game. However, as the day progressed, I began to realize the effects of the game; the game brought people together and strengthened group spirit.

Students worked in groups and were required to create a podcast. It was particularly interesting to watch the process, as the groups had to search for people that they wanted to interview. The whole approach was very different to what I was accustomed to in English class, and thus was quite memorable for me. Overall, I got to experience a completely new way of going to school that differed a lot from what I was accustomed to. At the same time, I managed to meet some friends I had previously made from swim meets and other events, as well as even make some new ones. I’m happily back at Pudong, but with some new perspective on Puxi. I suppose that means the exchange program was quite successful.

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Throughout the day I took four different classes all in that same space: Biology, AP Seminar, Innovation and Design, and English. The one class that was most memorable to me was Annalie’s English class. In this class, the students were doing yet another project.

I like art class because I can draw my feelings and

ADRIAN

express myself more than in other subjects. I can

WANG

follow my interests in art. I like that we are always making different things in class and everything is fun.

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Art is important because everything contains art. I make art, but when you see a performance of some kind, that is also art. Even this table is a kind of art, because someone had to design it. Everything is art, just all in different styles.

S T S I T AR HUMANS HOUFMSAANSS OF SAS HUMANS OF SAS, INSPIRED BY

THE WORLD-RENOWNED PROJECT HUMANS OF SAS, INSPIRED BY “HUMANS OF NEW YORK,” HAS THE WORLD-RENOWNED PROJECT “HUMANS THE AIM TO PHOTOGRAPH, OF NEW YORK,” HAS THE AIM TO I N DA I LY L I F E , A S A M P L I N G O F P H OTO G R A P H , I N DA I LY L I F E , A S A M P L I N G PEOPLE WHO MAKE UP OUR OF PEOPLE WHO MAKE UP OUR C O M M U N I T Y. C O M M U N I T Y.

I remember going to see

K AT H E R I N E

the Mona Lisa. It was crowded, but I’m small

CHONG

so I snuck past all the

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on their phones taking

people, who were mostly photos. Then I saw this old man who was just staring at the painting. I really appreciated him, and he seemed really wise in the way he was taking it all in. I think you have to take time in order to understand art and beauty.

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I try to slow down and really see things. I think I notice things other people don’t because other people move too fast. Someday I will go

back and really look at the Mona Lisa the way that old man did.

Being an artist forces me to look at all kinds of things in the world differently, to break apart how and why people create things, and then look at how and why I do. My work this year centers around the theme of automation, and the truth is I only fully understand the intent of each piece as I go about creating it. Sometimes my art is criticized for lacking clear meaning, and others will question how much I actually know about my own work. However, many of these pieces are designed to prompt people to form their own interpretations. Is this piece really a work of art, or just mass-producible garbage? I want you to think about each lens of automation from a new perspective, to stop, ask questions, discuss, and formulate your own views on what the future of automation means to you and I.

SAMMY LEVIN ’19 SY N N OVA B L AT T M A N ’19

I’ve always been into art, but my art style has developed over the years. I used to be into traditional painting, sketching, and drawing, but over high school I’ve found my love of graphic design, printmaking, and photography. My parents are artists too and they are totally behind me. In fact, I do street photography with my dad. With that, I like trying to capture the emotion of a person in a split second. We pick a street and walk, stop, keep going, always on the move. Overall, I think art is a reflection of how society is in that moment, showing how a culture and people are thinking at a time in history. Whether it’s my 3-week process of printmaking, a piece about my heritage, or

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quickly take a bunch of photos, and then

photos I take of a landscape in Iceland, art and place.

captures and creates the context of a time

STUDENT VOICES

B Y O R I A N A TA N G ’ 2 1

MUN and the Woes of the BY CYNTHIA WANG ’20 | PHOTO BY GABRIELLE ZHU '20

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You know that feeling when you see a candy store for the first time? There’s an entire world there, just through the glass. Once you go inside, once you dive in, there’s so much to explore: things that you will like and things that you won’t like. What I love about global politics is the freedom it gives you to roam around, look at different topics of different interests, and get an understanding of what’s going on. To Chris Shen ’21, global politics is a candy store of wonders for all to admire. Conversely, to some, the very suggestion of “Global Politics” is pretentious; to some, Model United Nations seems like a favoritism-infested concentration camp. But to MUN veterans, MUN is a battleground for compromise, the Hacksaw Ridge of international-relations-enthusiasts, a steppingstone for us politics-devotees on our way to attaining global citizenship. Even so, however vainglorious we make MUN sound, the words “global citizenship” become boring, even repetitive. Being in a relatively “woke” school and having teachers drone on about “community” and “being present” all day long, it honestly surprises me how MUNers are still capable of pontificating about the “significance of being a global citizen.” Don’t get me wrong; global citizenship is important. As a resident of this world, I have just as much responsibility to understand the world as I do to my country, my city, and my family. The idea that we, as individuals, have duties that transcend all borders and override all conflicts is fascinating to me. Estelle Denker ’24 seconds this, saying that, “as a global citizen, I am more knowledgeable about global issues and how they are affecting us and the world around us.” It’s a universal symbol of the international-relations-enthusiast: you know

about what’s happening right here, right now, right “everywhere.” But, is that really all that “global citizenship” entails? Glancing through brief CNN news updates? Checking The Guardian from time to time? That’s the bare minimum: NOT living under a rock. The weight we ascribe to “global citizenship” is slowly draining away. It’s like how after so many Grade Level and Community Meetings (and the failure of Common Ground) the idea of “community” starts to lose its meaning as well. “Community.” “Global citizens.” How many times have we heard this? Being

Being international students doesn’t automatically make us global citizens. international students doesn’t automatically make us global citizens or a community, but we continue brandishing the words like styrofoam Minecraft swords, waving them about in mimicry and mockery. We are the counterfeit “global citizens” and the forgers of international identities. Even in Model United Nations itself, we are ersatz “young diplomats.” Sure, MUN advocates constructive collaboration towards finding compromise; that is a beneficial skill for students to learn and earn. But, we are “modeling” the United Nations – an international organization that delegates probably don’t even know the ins-and-outs of. I like how MUN promotes constructive collaboration and discourages aggressive competition. But if we want to use MUN to teach global citizenship and international relations, we might be mistaken.

So-Called “Global Citizen” Sure, students research global issues in MUN and learn more about them. I can’t deny that: if I weren’t in MUN, I wouldn’t know as much about foreign military bases or the Fourth Industrial Revolution as I do right now. But, I find that people rarely dig deep into issues to find appropriate solutions. All too often, I see delegates employ cookie-cutter solutions, and I couldn’t help but do it myself and teach it to them as well. “Create an NGO”, “host a summit”, “promote awareness”, “make a website or database”, “educate the public”… the list goes on. Especially because SAS Pudong has such a competitive MUN program, I sometimes wonder if we are being taught how to be good at MUN, rather than how to become a global citizen through MUN. So how do we, MUN-ers and students alike, leapfrog from these pessimistic slums of repetitive research to more optimistic paths that ultimately lead to whatever “true global citizenship” may entail? I think we need to first recognize a few things. One, “winning” is a cursed word here. The moment MUN becomes a competition, a battle for the oh-so-glorious title of Main Submitter, MUN loses its positive cooperative atmosphere. Two, many problems with today’s international organizations permeate through MUN. Take the United Nations: as a nonbinding international organization, the UN can’t really do anything productive, because there’s always going to be some country that disagrees and calls “violations of sovereignty.” How to make global change without any sort of authoritative, supranational force? Global citizens should be active participants in the entire world’s affairs. Just as understanding our governments and voting for our presidents makes us citizens of our countries, shouldn’t global citizens understand their international

organizations just as well? Joining MUN could be the first step towards earning global citizenship, for sure. But, being an MUN-er doesn’t make you the equivalent of a global citizen. I started my international relations journey with MUN. I began with the same formulaic resolutions as I see in the delegates I mentor today. This, then, is a call to action for all who boastfully believe in their “global citizenship.” This is a war cry to tear down our unbelievable lack of sensitivity towards our words, our language, our rhetoric. “Community.” “Global citizenship.” What have we done to transform these words from beacons of hope - supernovas of wisdom encapsulated in a handful of letters - into pennies at the bottom of the Mariana Trench? Delegates and aspiring global citizens alike: I call on you to lose your complacency. I call on you to recognize the elements of global politics that are creating our power dynamics today; I call on you to learn the essence of state sovereignty and how realism is surging back at blinding speeds into international political realms. To become a global citizen, you must treat global politics like a candy

store that you’ll never get tired of, not like another resolution you formulaically, half-heartedly draft; become part of MUN and then remember it is the tip of the iceberg of international relations; treat the world as an ancient grandfather clock that you have the responsibility of keeping on time.

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Delegates and aspiring global citizens alike: I call on you to lose your complacency.

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BY TED CHANG ’20

COACH WOLF

E F O I L SS LE OM HES FR OAC C

What I took away from that season was to live a little bit more on the edge.

It was the bottom of the sixth inning. APAC semi-finals, against HKIS, and we were up 2 to 1. I was panting - tired from the fatigue of the games played earlier in the day - and I tried as best as I could to block the simmering rays of the sun in my eyes. STRIKE. This is the year, I thought, APAC finals. Then… the unthinkable happened. The HKIS batter hit the ball far into outfield, allowing him an easy and comfortable slide into third. I turned toward Coach Wolf, who was still calmly sitting in the dugout. He got up. I thought he would approach the team to give one of those movie-cliché let’s-get-em talks, but he didn’t. He just casually yelled out a string of numbers, telling us what play to execute at this crucial moment. I was shocked by his call. It was a throw from the catcher to third - an attempt to pick off the HKIS runner there. Why was Coach going for that?! We were ahead with only one out left! The play went down, we messed up, and we lost the game on THAT risky play. Though many of my teammates probably won’t looked back upon that moment as one to remember, it was for me. I think Coach Wolf’s decision to call that play is a memento of how we ought to live life. Coach Wolf’s rationale for the play was simple. He said, it’s about believing in yourself and your team. To this day, I’m still distraught at how I wasn’t confident enough to execute the play. How can I do great things in life when I can’t even trust myself and my team in a simple game of baseball? What Coach Wolf’s play told me was that life is a constant struggle between the realist, pessimistic self and the dreamer waiting to take off. Only when we have enough courage to believe in ourselves, will we be able to act with compassion and be who we want to be. But secondly, I learned that sometimes life is all a gamble. Sometimes it pays off, like when you get an A in your IB Bio class (which I haven’t yet gotten), or it doesn’t, like when your day goes poorly and you have just been rejected by a friend. But life goes on and it’s up to you to (healthily) gamble and put some faith in yourself. Because as Coach Wolf puts it very bluntly, only when we trust ourselves and are willing to take a chance on life, will it be a little more interesting and colorful. So maybe we did lose a baseball game. And we did lose APAC. But what I took away from that season was to live a little bit more on the edge. Because if you don’t trust yourself, who will? And if you don’t do it now, then when will you ever start?

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Coach Amelot has also taught me that you do not have to be the best at something to be a good leader.

COACH AMELOT BY ARCHANA VELAUTHAPILLAI ’19

My last APAC cross country race was one to remember. The race was in Hong Kong, and since it was a mountainous region, there were giant hills on the course. The cross country courses that I was used to only had a few hills with a small incline, so the hills that I encountered in Hong Kong were way out of my comfort zone. When I did the walk through of the course, to see the terrain, I honestly did not think the race was going to be that bad. When I was actually racing on the course, it was torture. Mentally, I did not think I could make it up the last hill because I was exhausted from running up the first hill. I was so ready to start walking. To make matters worse, it was raining, which meant that the grounds were slippery and that made it even harder to run up the hill. Just when I was about to stop, I heard Coach Amelot, cheering from the top of the hill. At first I was surprised that she was at the top of the hill because I had not seen any other coaches since the first half of the hill. I was also relieved because seeing her meant that I was almost to the top. After seeing Coach Amelot, I somehow found the motivation I needed to run hard, and I finished the race strong. The fact that Coach Amelot climbed the hill before the race to cheer me and my teammates on just shows how dedicated she is to the team and how much she cares about us. She has shown me what dedication looks like. Coach Amelot has also taught me that you do not have to be the best at something to be a good leader. In my junior year, she appointed me to be the cross country captain. Usually the captain of the team is someone who is the fastest because they can set an example for the rest of the team. I wasn’t the fastest and I struggled a bit at first because I thought I wouldn’t be able to be a good captain. I put pressure on myself to run faster and train harder in order to be the fastest. When I did not perform as well as I wanted to in a race, I would beat myself up about it. One day during practice, Coach Amelot sat me down and told me that being a leader is so much more than being the fastest on the team. It is about how well I can bring the team together and motivate them to do their best. From that point on I started to focus more on that. We did team runs over the weekend and had team dinners to help us bond. I was still focused on performing well at races, but I no longer put myself down for not being the fastest.

COACH CLAASSEN BY BENSON CHANG ’19

Our interactions taught me to prioritize a sense of belong and inclusivity over

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individual success and winning.

I’ve had Coach Claassen for four years of my volleyball career, and in those four years, he watched me transition from a first year, 8th grade newbie to a young sophomore, varsity bench player to starter to captain. Coach Claassen has been one of the most well-rounded mentors in my adolescent life. Mentally, he dedicated himself to the volleyball program by coaching not only the varsity players but also the CISSA middle schoolers for the past few years. Physically, he’s devoted himself by participating (and exceling) in the blocking drills we had to do, shutting down our Most Valuable Player of my junior year. Emotionally, he took care of me when I was hospitalized during APAC in Korea. He stayed with me until 2 a.m. at the infirmary, gave me his own hotel room so that I could get some rest, and sacrificed his time with the rest of the team at the APAC ceremony to make sure that I was alright. When I walked out of the infirmary, I was scared of facing the consequences of an angered coach, but I was met with the tired smile of a man that had been waiting for me in the lobby for the past five hours. To me, I see the paragon of a multi-faceted coach; one that all should strive to become. But of course, we seek not only to pay homage but also to elicit life lessons. I mean it seems pretty straight forward at first glance: dedicate yourself wholeheartedly. I took this inspiration to go back and help coach the younger kids, but his actions seemed more profound than mere dedication. There was something uplifting about how Coach Claassen interacted with you. We were blessed to have a coach we could joke around with, and by the end of my sophomore year season, Coach felt more liked a respected and wise friend than an intimidating figure. My mentality, my social interactions, the very essence of how I approached my captainship were all influenced by his interactions with me. Very critically, I feel like our interactions taught me to prioritize a sense of belong and inclusivity over individual success and winning. Though I can’t seem to sum up how he approaches life or how he affects others, I think it may do him justice to say his excellence and impassioned love of life is rooted in giving all of himself to the people he loves and the activities that offer him the most genuine happiness. And I will carry that with me.

Pen Pals (2/3)

Soon the teachers weren't the ones writing, but the students themselves. Matched up with a cross- campus buddy, the letters continued...

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A CLOSER LOOK

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Reggio Emilia As a Reggio-inspired Kindergarten program, we commit to exploration, hands-on learning, invitations to investigate, and lots of voice and choice for students. This day, we were doing a series of science experiments on ice. We asked students what they thought might happen if we added salt to our ice. The children made predictions, and then sprinkled salt on their ice block. To better see what was happening, we invited them to add food coloring as well. When involved in these types of investigations, students learn and use scientific language, make observations and predictions, record what they notice and think, and learn to see themselves as scientists.

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FF EE A AT TU UR R EE

W hat is PUDONG

LOVE BY CARLOS LAO ’19

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EDITOR’S NOTE: TO MARK THE 20TH SCHOOL YEAR AT THE PUDONG CAMPUS, WE TOOK TWO SENIORS (WHO HAVE

EACH BEEN AROUND SINCE KINDERGARTEN) AND THREW THEM ONTO A SYKPE CALL WITH THE FOUNDING MOTHER OF THIS PLACE WE NOW CALL HOME. CARLOS LAO ’19 AND RENA JIANG ’19 WERE FACE-TO-FACE WITH AN UNSUNG VISIONARY OF IT ALL, THE FIRST SAS PUDONG CAMPUS PRINCIPAL AND DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR, MS. DEBORAH KARMOZYN. HISTORY TURNED OUT TO BE MUCH MORE COMPELLING THAN THEY THOUGHT.

S WPI RNITNEGR 22001198

telling me I had not met her before. “Can you see me?” her voice had a lulling cadence to it. “Yes,” Rena and I laughed nervously. After a short exchange of introductory remarks, we finally dove into the nitty-gritty. As she spoke, I felt the layers of tension that initially bound me slowly being peeled back by the soothing melody in her voice. She told us of the start of the Pudong campus, information that even Rena and I, arguably two of the most well-versed students in our campus’ history (having lived it ourselves), were unaware of. She told us of the terracotta-roofed, yellow-walled school that she watched emerge from the depths of an old paddy field. She recounted her oldest memory of the campus: seeing the site for the first time and wondering how a school could be made of the sprawling field she saw before her. A water buffalo plowing the field, a diligent farmer, a man with large hopes for the future of SAS, and herself—none of them could have pictured

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“WHEN DID WE GET THE POOL, AGAIN?” “I think it was, like, second grade? I don’t know. I feel like it’s just always been there” After being certified SAS Pudong-ers for now 13 years, Rena and I are rather acquainted with the school. From wall murals to entirely new buildings, we have experienced the steady maturation of the SAS Pudong campus from its humble beginnings of classes in The Links. As we waited for Ms. Deborah Karmozyn to pick up the call, I squeezed Rena’s hand in nervous anticipation. Even despite all the college interviews I have gone through and the performances I have put on, this was by far the most nerve-wracking. With three microphones, two spotlights, and one giant television screen in front of me, I felt the tension pull at my nervous heart. It felt as though the entirety of my SAS experience was culminating into a single moment. The tone beeped one last time, and suddenly, plastered across the face of the television screen was a woman who looked incredibly familiar, despite the good sense in my mind

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what would eventually rise from the wild grass they stood upon. She told us of how she watched the 50-student school steadily grow into the hundreds. She imparted upon us her knowledge of the past Pudong, and revealed her vision back then of Pudong’s future: an institution not only of great academic caliber, but one of strong interpersonal relationships between students, teachers, and administration. Not just a place students could love—one where they could feel loved. I’ll admit it. The idea of Pudong Love wasn’t one that I was even remotely familiar with prior to the interview, and likely one that you aren’t too familiar with either. When I first heard the term, I largely brushed it off as another marketing ploy. However, the night before the interview, I asked my mom, one of the few people I know to be more knowledgeable about SAS than me, if she knew about it, and she immediately replied “of course.” She mentioned how Pudong Love was a part of the Pudong campus for as long as she remembered, and felt shocked that I had not heard about it before. Hearing this, I realized that while it may not be acknowledged within the student community, it is surely reflected in us. Whether it’s through experiences like mine of being in a musical with kids ranging ages from 9 to 18, all collaborating to create a show, or through simple waves and smiles that are offered in the hallway, regardless of whether either party is familiar with the other, Pudong Love is something that us students are a

De b !

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1st day of school on the new Pudong campus: August 31, 1998

part of, regardless of whether or not we are aware of it. For Rena, it means seeing the dozens of friends, classmates, teachers, and parents standing by the sidelines of the rugby pitch, ardently cheering the team on. “Pudong Love” is the life Pudong-ers live, and the embodiment of Ms. Karmozyn’s past hopes for our campus. As our interview slowly drew to a close, we offered Ms. Karmozyn a virtual tour of the campus before we headed off to class. After transferring the call to an iPad, we began to show her around. Considering the changes Rena and I had noted within our 13 years at Pudong, we were curious to see how Ms. Karmozyn, who had not seen the campus in 20 years, might react. We started with our library which, together with our sister campus, possesses the largest collection of English literature in all of mainland China. Her “ooh”s and “ahh”s hardly gave justice to the priceless reaction

changed. Whether it’s 50 students or 500, we still share that same Pudong Love that apparently has been part of this place since the very beginning—the same familial bond you find just from being part of SAS Pudong. And, just as Ms. Karmozyn felt looking out over the field both in wonderment and anticipation of what was to come next, we share a similar outlook on our future: the future successes of Pudong, its faculty, and its students. Whether for current or past members of our community, the Pudong Love never stops. Maybe to some this will seem like an over-romanticization of our campus, just as how I felt when I first heard of Pudong Love. But I urge you to take a moment. Step outside, into the main entranceway of the school. Close your eyes and picture the vast farmland that once stood in place of our campus and try to explain its drastic growth with something other than Pudong Love. Walk in through the face that never changed, the body that keeps on growing, the heart that will always persist.

S WPI RNITNEGR 22001198

CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO FROM O U R C H AT W I T H MS. KARMOZYN, AND FIND OUT W H AT H A P P E N E D N E X T…

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on her face as we navigated through the high school. We watched her stupefaction grow with each passing stop, until we finally reached the newly-installed Performing Arts Center. As we walked through the backstage doors onto the vast stage, we briefly rotated the iPad around to show her the audience, which is large enough to seat over 600 people. Upon turning it back, we noticed her wiping her eyes. “I’m sorry guys,” she laughed, “I just can’t stop crying!” To see the school she once led grow from its humble beginnings to our campus of today was simply more than she could have imagined. For the remainder of the interview, we brought her around to our favorite parts of campus, showing her as much as we could of our school’s extensive facilities. Eventually, our call came to its conclusion as we brought her to the main courtyard at the school’s entrance. “It looks exactly the same as when we first moved in,” she sighed. Throughout Rena’s and my 13 years at SAS, there have been many notable changes in the campus. The elementary school library was moved and expanded, we lost a basketball court (and gained a PAC), went from white walls to painting murals, and even got an Olympic-size swimming pool. Needless to say, much has changed since we first arrived at SAS. However, what’s more noteworthy is what hasn’t

REFLECTIONS

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ne part of the International Baccalaureate program is called CAS (Creativity, Activity, Service). CAS is a personal journey of self-directed, experiential learning. Students choose their own experiences and activities, and then cultivate projects to support their personal and interpersonal development. This opportunity of self-discovery provides an important counterbalance to the academic pressures of the challenging IB programme. Students also complete regular reflections, giving us a look at some of the moments our seniors found significant.

BY JADE CARDOT ’19, OCEANE CARDOT ’19 + L I LY V A N H O R S S E N ’ 1 9

February. The past few sessions have been quite relaxing and not as stressful. Now that I have built a good relationship with the cafeteria workers, I feel way more comfortable asking them for advice and exchanging small talking during days with less traffic. I remember two weeks ago, I worked at the vegetarian booth. I was quite disappointed as I only served around five people in total. Although I am not saying that the vegetarian option necessarily is healthy, I do believe that there is correlation between those two factors. In contrast, the booth serving hamburgers and fries has the longest line in the entire cafeteria. Working at the cafeteria taught me a lot about the students’ consumption patterns and dietary preferences, and it definitely raised my awareness on such issues.

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December. As an IB Diploma student, helping at the cafeteria was firstly appealing because of CAS. However, with time, it became more than just a service activity. I recall that once, my partner and I served a very popular dish: burritos and fries. The line was enormous, and the serving pace was blistering. The rush lasted 30 minutes, and I barely looked up the entire time. When the last person came, I was

so surprised that the cafeteria workers laughed. However, that day was different from others. We accomplished a goal. That day, we collaborated with the workers like never before, and made their day less arduous. It's really the smile they give us at the end of our duty that illuminates my day. It is one that expresses joy and gratitude. This activity made me realize the virtue of working together, as a community.

August. Last Friday I was sent to my favorite station: the sandwich bar. I am used to making sandwiches at home, but at school it is a completely different story. Not only is there an eye to judge my every move, but I also have to be fast and efficient. So HARD! I try to make the sandwich as nicely as possible, but it takes time and the people in line show their impatience, which is very stressful. Never, before working at the cafeteria, did I stop to think about the workers and their work. They are constantly under this pressure and so often people do not even say hello, look up at them, or say thank you (talking from experience). For the first time in three years I finally feel as though I am contributing to our school. Not only that, but I am now able to better understand the workers and always say hi and thank you- that is the least I can do.

BY TOMMY XU ’19

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AMBER BROEKMANS ’19

April. Today was the first Happy Basketball League (HBL) practice after missing two straight because of Habitat for Humanity and Relay for Life, and it was oddly tiring. During the first two hours with the older players, we played scrimmages with mixed teams. But mixing teams meant mixing skill-levels, and most players don’t love that – especially the better ones. Kevin, the most valuable player from last season, tried to be a good leader and include Kirk, a player that was almost completely new to basketball. Instead of improving the team’s unity and cooperation, this rather altruistic approach just made them lose the game. I watched Kevin sink into frustration and eventually resort to subbing Kirk and other similar players out of the game. Seeing this, Coach Zheng and I tried to pick up Kevin’s efforts and get Kirk back into the game, but he never received the ball and so we just decided to let the better players play. I watched Kirk and Stan stand on the sideline next to me, partly watching, partly wandering. I felt bad but also kind of helpless. I could never resolve this coaches’ dilemma myself, but from Coach Zheng I learnt that as a coach, your words must have weight, and I realized that what you do matters less than how you do it. This was the case not only in coaching but also in leading. On one hand, the “sideline” players didn’t seem to care about the games nor the sport, not as much as the stronger players anyway, but who knows? Passion is partly developed, I never liked basketball until I was more exposed to it. My exposure to basketball was forced upon me by my dad and HBL Coach Peter, around when I was 12. Since then, I’ve picked up this passion and genuinely enjoy the sport now. I probably wouldn’t be here coaching if Coach Peter had sidelined me in a similar way. I made a mental note to get Kirk and Stan playing next practice, as I really didn’t want to pin them down onto that sideline. This reminded me of all the group school projects I’ve been in, where different capabilities were thrown together into a messy soup that needed to taste delicious in three weeks. I don’t blame Kevin for what he did, I actually sympathize with him a lot. I’ve been in similar positions where I felt the same paralysis when someone asked “what should I do?” in a group project that I really preferred to do myself. Perhaps, being able to let things go and trust other people with things you value is part of growing-up; after all, very little successful people only work solo.

February. My CAS project was one of the highlights of my time in CAS. For my project, I worked with people, who honestly, were not people I knew very well. This was one of the best aspects. Our project was to propose to the school that they build a living wall. At times, it was extremely frustrating, particularly when research was not going well, or when we could not decide a location. However, my partners are what got me through these frustrating times.

March. Our CAS project has been a long journey, but a great experience. After weeks of research I learned how living walls are built and why they may benefit our school. I could not, however, have done this without the two other project leaders. Through this project we have gotten to know each other, successfully worked together by sharing opinions and ideas openly, and I am very grateful for the way we were all invested in the project. The project was not without problems. For instance, we initially wanted to build a living wall outside, but we changed our focus to an inside living wall as this is seen more frequently by fellow students and will have a bigger impact on the school environment. This journey has led us to setting up a proposal and final presentation, and we were even invited to meet with an architect to talk about the potential of building! It would be an amazing opportunity to professionally transform our idea into reality!

watching the final games and feeling the sore leg muscles. Then, I suddenly just relished in the rare experience this event gave me. I managed to get a brief glimpse of what I want to do as a future career. As a freak for organization, it forced me to step out of my comfort zones and sort through the chaotic times, while still remaining cool, calm, and collected. With the day ending in more than 25,000 steps, I was definitely exhausted, but knew that I definitely wanted to continue the next year. With CAS, I think the most important thing is to choose activities that one is passionate about. Even though this was a lot of difficult labor, my passion encouraged me to continue. Fast forward a year, and I was back, and it was a lot less stressful. I was already comfortable with all

April. The first year of organizing volunteers for the SITT Touch Rugby competition was, naturally, very stressful and hectic. Not only did I not know exactly what the fields would look like, how many volunteers we had, or even how touch rugby worked, the fact that we (and others) arrived 30 minutes late, definitely didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t help with my stress levels. The first hour was a blur, with stragglers coming in, asking where they could help. Everyone was asking me about how things would run. I gave scorecards to the wrong people. We needed more water. I was constantly checking on the volunteers on each field, handing score cards to the control tent, even carrying the food at lunchtime. When the activity finally died down, I sat with friends as the sun went down on the fields,

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BY ZOE WELZ â&#x20AC;&#x2122;19

the tasks that I had to complete, and I knew what I was going to be faced with. Moreover, we were able to arrive on time, allowing for better organization and set-up. The event did not go without hiccups, though, and I was left with even more sprints than the year before. We had a lot fewer volunteers, so more of the responsibility was on my shoulders, and scorecards were distributed wrong again. Plus, many of the volunteers did not know how touch rugby worked! So... there might have been a couple of times where the scores weren’t 100% accu-

rate…. We adapted, though, and through collaboration with players and referees and the volunteers, the event ended successfully once again. From this experience, I not only learned to appreciate and respect all the coordination that goes into running an event and running it well, but also the key to collaboration and the importance of this. I could not have done this event without the support of all the other volunteers, and those from SAS who supported me with whatever I needed, whenever I needed it.

BY COLIN JUN ’19

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February. I decided to write a “How to Survive CAS: Break the Shells, Keep the Pace” article for Pudong Press, to provide a guideline for CAS to incoming IB students, and I also wanted to share my viewpoints towards CAS. Similar to many other students, at first, allocating time and finding CAS activities was troublesome. However, as I went through several CAS activities, I started to see CAS differently. In 9th and 10th grade, since I believed “studying” was the only priority in my life, I did not dare to spend my time on activities other than school clubs. CAS became an excellent excuse for me to participat in various activities and it became a great motivation to push myself to move away from my comfort zone. With this strong justification and motivation, I tried to gain unique experiences outside of school. Indeed, my school club involvement made

a significant contribution to my CAS, but I wanted to find something more unique. I researched many organizations in Shanghai – even with my limited Chinese skills at that time – to engage with the Chinese community, and reached out to several Korean organizations for possible CAS activities. Fortunately, I was able to participate in activities by Hands on Shanghai, Voluntary Agency Network Korea, and Google Developers Forum. All those activities allowed me to have new experiences (which I had never thought of before), build connections with more people, and understand different perspectives. As I changed my viewpoint towards CAS, CAS was not a burden anymore. It was an excellent way for me to make unique memories of Shanghai. All 160+ reflections I wrote feel like a memory of the adventure that I took. I hope more students enjoy CAS, not survive it.

F E AT U R E

Fear of Failure By Grace Tan ’19 “Don’t be afraid to fail, be afraid to not try.” “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” “Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.” Yeah right. —— In the face of an adversary called high school, inspirational quotes seem like nothing more than just a night’s cram for a year-worth of work — useless. Yes, they sound nice because of their usage of stylistic devices; yes, they are said by famous people who are successful after a series of failures; yes, they probably make intuitive sense, too; but, no, they are probably not useful to our lives. And sadly so, too. Throughout our school years when we are thrusted in the face of many failures, these quotes mean nothing more than just another “creative” hook for an English essay with, writing about how some protagonist has persevered through every single possible obstacle to find success. Looking around, it seems as if, on a personal level, we have begun to hate failure. This development is not accidental. We are forced to compete, to compare, to win in a seemingly very limited amount of time. It becomes a name chase, a trophy hunt, a “resume building” for something aloof called “higher education”, a concept framed on a pedestal built with Latin mottos and medieval school badges. We don’t have time to fail when it feels like every second counts, when life becomes a rubber-band like oscillation between stations of resting, learning, and socializing, where each station requires us to fill a quota of hours before we can “pass”. This high-pressure lifestyle does not seem to permit failure; it looks down on it, and rarely gives us a second chance, if any. No one has time to fail. The understanding of what this fear is, however, differs by grade level.

After establishing why this fear exists, we have to think about if this fear should exist. Well, intuitively no. This is because the “ingrained” fear of failure actually prevents us from doing a lot of things that can potentially bring us more success than our habituated routes and safe behaviors, says Chris Mok ’23 PX. It straps us in a comfort zone that gives us declining marginal utility (because each time we

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Jake Cheung ’23: This fear is a bad thing because when people are not failing, they are not learning. Atlas Tan ’23: It prevents people from taking risks that they might actually enjoy. James Li ’20: It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy that builds an oppressive system of expectations from parents, teachers, and peers. It’s a normalization of success that removes the recognition of hard work, sense of accomplishment, and realization that there are things beyond “success” as we would like to define. Yun Kei Chow ’19: It exists and most people have it. It does create stress, but also becomes a driving force that helps people try harder. Katie Chen ’19: Debilitating and empowering – there’s a thin line of confidence between being fearless and fearful.

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F E AT U R E

win the same thing again it becomes less interesting) and removes us from a learning curve that pushes us to newer height of success. It slows us down — because each real successful step forward is made through an accumulation of failures. This manufactured consent for constant competition is, like Ted Chang ’22 said, “a yucky social narrative that makes us too scared to explore who we are”, or like Jacquelynn Lin ’21 said “a battle between self-consciousness and insecurities with the sole purpose of putting on a performance of being fearless.” However, practically, the fear of failure is also an in-built human instinct to minimize harm through risk aversion, “protecting us from unnecessary harms,” says Audrey Yin ’23. Why risk when we can keep getting relatively good results with what we have always been doing? Does it even matter if we keep improving, because after all, everything is about the results? The way which we approach success can be very clinical, and this is because of the “four year” curse - an arbitrary concept that we “have to accomplish” something in the span of four years. If life is not about those four years (an unobserved fact by many people), and if success is about life, then presumably, success is also not about those four years. In fact, I’d like to make an argument that it is almost impossible to “fail” life. Yes, I am going to try to argue that because it is impossible to fail, then we are guaranteed success. The easiest way to approach this idea is by understanding that our metrics of success at this age are uniformed, when there is almost no uniformity between us. “Failing” a math test means a certain grade to some people, but could mean not putting in the full effort, or not improving to some others. We are fixated on one metric because we have become conditioned to do so, despite being educated by literally every single teacher that we have to think for ourselves. We also tend to focus on defining success as something in the past (i.e. I am only successful if I had done that), which is almost as dumb as it sounds. Success is meant to be achievable, and by putting it in the past, we find a lazy rationalization for not being a better person now. Classic argument.

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The second approach is to acknowledge that you fear because you care. I’m not particularly scared of losing MasterChef Junior because I don’t care about winning it, but if I do, it’s another story. You are afraid of risky-feeling action because you don’t want to mess up something you care about. The calculus of stepping out of your comfort zone tips when it is a success you really want. What if it hurts more if I lose because I care? Good. Remember it, and want it more, because if you feel like something belongs to you, it will be yours one day. The third thing to know is that there is always going to be a way out or another way to get closer to however you define success. No one move is the end of the story. You can review differently for next test, re-prioritize academic goals, make that play on the field differently next time, develop a better work ethic in university, form a new habit. If a certain type of higher education is your goal, you can go to school forever, at all kinds of different institutions for all kinds of degrees, every single year until you get bored. If a certain lifestyle is what you defined as success, realize that you have 60 more years in front of you to get that. If you think that you have “failed” high school so terribly, you clearly aren’t keeping in mind the amount of learning, accomplishments, and personal growth you have been through. You have absolutely been gaining something, information and experiences that will help you move closer to wherever you want to be. Even if you managed to miss 99% of all the opportunities and open doors shoved in your face (which you won’t because you are so conditioned to be afraid to failing that you will grasp on anything you see), that 1% is enough to bring you closer

to wherever you need to go. Still not convinced? Still worried about that upcoming assessment, speech, competition, challenge (even while knowing that that particular day of failing in your life will lose its luster in the midst of happy memories your brain prioritizes to store)? Think of it this way. Imagine that you are 70 years old, and someone offered you a time machine to go back to when you were 16. You, being that old, wrinkly, unsatisfied 70-year-old who wasted your life only doing things that you already knew how to do, that person would gladly take the chance to come back. And here you are, reading this - too comfortable to risking to build a life that your 70-year-old self wants to live. Will the future you regret making the choices that you have made?

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No, I hope not, no.

ALUMNI INTERVIEW ADITI BABEL â&#x20AC;&#x2122;14 IS A MEDICAL STUDENT IN THE UK WITH AN MSC IN GENOMIC MEDICINE. B U T W A I T, T H E R E ' S M O R E .

S H E I S ALS O A N AV I D W R I T E R, A P U BL I S H E D P O E T, A N D R E C R E A T I O N A L SINGER-SONGWRITER. ADITI IS AN INSPIRING ALUMNA WHO EMBRACE S T H AT H U M A N S A R E L AY E R E D, A N D T H AT W E AC T UA L I Z E O U R P OT E N T I A L

Are there ways you think being a poet impacts being a doctor, or vice versa? Definitely. In my personal experience, whether I am on a hospital placement or studying for exams, being a medical student can be physically and emotionally strenuous. Having a healthy outlet is essential in alleviating stress and maintaining sanity: although for me this has been creative writing, I know some of my peers derive the same benefits from longdistance running and meditation. Poetry specifically cultivates introspection, mindfulness, and empathy: all extremely important qualities for a doctor. Primarily studying medicine has meant that writing poems is not something I am forced to do, and there is no pressure from instructors I must follow or quotas I must meet. This allows me the luxury of time; I can write poems as I feel the need to write them, and choose to share them when I feel they are ready.

B Y E M B R AC I N G O U R W H O L E S E LV E S . AS SHE LAUNCHES HER NEW BOOK O F P O E T R Y, U N S E T T L E D , S H E A L S O SHARES WITH US SOME PERSPECTIVE

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F R O M H E R PAT H .

Did you always love both writing and science? How did each of those passions develop? Creative writing has always come very naturally to me. As a child, I loved writing short stories. A few years later when I started music lessons, I began experimenting with rhythm: incorporating it into writing songs and prose. Since those early years, this has consistently been the way I express myself and reflect on my experiences. Alternately, science has been more of a learned and developed interest. I studied physics,

chemistry, and biology until 11th grade, and then focused in on biology and chemistry at a higher level during the IB. I found with these subjects that

the more I learned, the more they fascinated me; and though science itself has never been as effortless for me as creative writing has, it has always been worth the work.

In an article you did for the IB you said, “In our era of proactive personal branding, it is easy to cater to stereotype to fulfill an idea…” Can you say more about this? I think access to social media and other online platforms has largely been a very positive tool. It is a great asset to be able to choose how we present ourselves to potential clients and employers and to develop and share a personal narrative that encompasses our educational experience, fields of interest, and professional aspirations. The availability of these platforms also allows us to connect with other individuals with similar interests working within these fields, and in turn can work to capture a certain type of audience or client-base. However, the other side of that coin may mean that we filter any activities or interests that do not fit the narrative we have curated, and that we may be reluctant to participate in or publicly acknowledge our involvement with any pursuits that may be perceived as incompatible with our professional profile. (In my case, I worried that

What advice would you give to SAS students today? Embrace all the facets of your skills and interests. We are all multi-dimensional humans with multiple stories, and I truly believe life is too short not to share our creative work. Each discipline can teach us different lessons, and there is magic at the intersection of art and science. We have grown up hearing that we can be absolutely anything we want to be, but I think the truer statement is that we can be absolutely anything we work towards. For stories about some current students embracing their whole selves, check out our WeChat series on multi-talented students. SASEagles + read Aditi's poetry on page 19. A D I T I ’ S B O O K O F P O E T R Y I S AVA I L A B L E AT W W W. A D I T I B A B E L . C O M / U N S E T T L E D

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When you did your college search, did you know you wanted to go to med school? I knew during my college search that I wanted to study medicine but was unsure about whether or not I wanted to be a doctor for life. I still think it is difficult to understand what being a doctor truly entails until you have lived it. I am blessed and honored to have the opportunity to experience it first-hand.

publishing a seemingly emotional poetry book could be used to question my credibility as a rational doctor.) We must embrace that we are multi-dimensional humans with varied interests, multiple stories, and boundless capacity to learn. There is so much to gain from engaging in seemingly contradicting disciplines. Unfortunately, attempting to package ourselves can lead to publicly embracing certain pursuits and aspects of our personality, and neglecting others to fit the ideal we want to portray. This can be very limiting. Personal branding means curating ourselves, and that is not always reality.

Were there aspects of SAS that made it harder or easier to be/develop your whole self? Definitely. The harder aspect was the extreme focus on academic rigor at SAS which sometimes left less time for me to pursue my more creative interests; I struggled at the time with balancing the two. However, in retrospect, this difficulty was a blessing in disguise: it has prepared me well for medical school where academic excellence truly is non-negotiable. I feel I am now able to strive academically without compromising my other interests.

BY JEANNIE WU ’21

As a metropolis known for its towering skyscrapers, street foods are often overshadowed. Aside from the popular soup dumplings, Shanghai is also home to numerous finger-licking, mouthwatering, yet underrated street foods. Want to go on a low budget but no less thrilling food adventure? Here are some of Shanghai’s best street foods.

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R OA S T E D C H E S T N U T S ( 糖炒栗子) With a light sweetness and firm inside, a roasted chestnut is not only healthy, but also a ball of pure bliss. Though slightly inconvenient with a shell that needs to be cracked open, chestnuts make you work for the gold. Bring a friend with strong self-control, because this nutritious snack is borderline addictive.

SCALLION CREPES (葱油饼) Don’t have a sweet tooth? This salty crepe has the perfect amount of crunch and softness. Its flaky surface is garnished with fresh green scallions, adding a refreshing touch. The inside is soft and airy, where each bite sends a wave of doughy goodness into your mouth. You can track the scallion crepes by their smell, because their rich and flavorful aroma does not lie.

SESAME BALL (麻球) If you’re looking for a light snack, sesame balls are the ones for you. Its crunchy, paper-thin shell, adorned with gem-like white sesame, folds into a perfect sphere. Most of these delicate snacks are hollow on the inside, accentuating its crisp shell. But if you’re really in for a treat, some of these exquisite globes contain flavorful red bean stuffing.

G REEN DUMPLING S (青团) Emerald green on the outside, violet or gold on the inside—a green dumpling is a regal ball of deliciousness. The chewy, pillowy exterior encases the sweet pulpy filling, creating a perfect combination of chewy and soft textures. This healthy alternative to mochi boasts a squishy outer layer flavored with asiatic wormwood, a type of nourishing Chinese herb, giving it an herbal tea undertone. A must-try!

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Underrated Shanghai Street Food

Pen Pals (3/3)

"I think I saw your Pen Pal at the swim meet last week!" The cross-river connections, the mystery, and the elaborateness of the envelopes continued to grow. By the spring our new friendships had solidified, and we'd found that have more in common than we'd every imagined.

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S WPI RNITNEGR 22001198

DEAR JUNO

Dear Juno,

I need advice. I’ve noticed a change in my child in the past few months. She’s beginning to act more irrationally, sometimes breaking down crying in frustration and anger. She also seems more shut-off from us—her parents. “Nothing, I’m fine,” is her curt reply whenever I try to ask her what’s wrong. I understand the stress she is going through so I try my best to not put any more pressure on her. Our children are pushing themselves too hard! I’m not sure what to do and how to help my child get through this. S I N C E R E LY, WO R R I E D PAR E NT

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Dear Worried Parent,

There is an easy answer to your question, and a hard one. It sounds like your daughter is not ready to talk right now. That’s okay. Your job is to still be there, ready, when she is. Her curt reply is not to be taken personally, it isn’t about you. If you are the loving parent that I know you are, then you are probably one of the only safe places for her to take out frustration, without putting all the rest of life’s juggling balls in jeopardy. Remember: we are juggling a lot of balls and expectations, and let’s be honest, you actually don’t really understand the stress she is going through. You can’t know exactly what it is like to be a teenager today. Love her love her love her and keep standing in her doorway trying to talk. (Humor helps. Yelling never, ever does.) When she does eventually crack open, and she will, for goodness sake just listen without judgement. Tell her it is going to be okay. Because it will. But here is the real thing I want to talk to you about. You still have a chance while your daughter is under your roof to be part of helping identify where all this pressure is coming from. “School!” we all cry. “Peers! Parents! The desire to succeed (read: get into a specific college)!” But that’s just today’s incarnation of this thing called life. Why does she (or you, or I) respond to life through a lens of stress, and the pressure to prove something? At least for me, and maybe a lot of us at SAS, it stems from the sense

that we have to do, to achieve in some way, to feel like we are enough. And, ironically, to feel like we have any shot at having a good life. The problem is that this hunger is impossible to fill. Spoiler alert: if we get into an Ivy, the black hole just reopens there. We get a high-powered job, or we become parents ourselves, and we begin the hustle again, in new circumstances. If, for whatever reason, we feel like our best isn’t quite good enough, then it will never be. And that’s not a way to live. This is where the real work, the work that has the power to transform our whole lives and not just the pressures of today, begins. You have your own role in this part of your girl’s journey, Worried Parent. And depending on who you are and how you grew up, it might feel against the grain. But you are worried about your kid. And I know you don’t know me… but I can tell that you don’t want your daughter to lead a life of always pushing herself this hard. Pushing just because she is ever-desperate to feel like she’s enough. You want her to forge her life and follow her path from a place of fullness, from seeking fulfillment and meaning and joy. So you have to trust me. In your own way, from within your own relationship, family, and cultural dynamics, you need to make it your mission to help your child know, deep deep down, that she is worthy of love and belonging, no matter what she does. Period. That is your task, Worried Parent, and it is a task that requires constant attention, not a one-off comment. That is the ultimate way out of this mess and this entire trajectory. How do I start, you ask? Do things (all of you) that aren’t just for the prize. Celebrate mistakes. Have a party and laugh and lighten it up. Model taking risks. Affirm the parts of her that are not based on doing and achievement. Tell her she doesn’t have to be the best at everything. Believe it. Say it over and over until she believes it too. Drop the Worry for a moment, Worried Parent, and live for the joy of it. YO U RS , JUNO

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B Y QINYI Q I N YMA I M ’20 A ’ 2AND 0 + ANGELA A N G E L ACHEN C H E N’21’ 2 1 BY I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y AG N E S L I U ’ 2 2 , JUSTINA HO ’22 + HUBERT JIANG ’22

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Speak your mind. Be reserved. Prop your feet. Sit up straight. Do what you want. Work for success. Challenge others. Have respect.

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So begins the girl’s life: dual dissonant chords, two sides of one coin, separate spheres of the same globe—one at home, one at school. When she straddles two worlds and cultures trying to fit both into one life, what else could she do other than adapt to it, live with it? At school, she’s encouraged to speak up, be brash and unashamed. She’s taught that a girl should feel confident, that the same opportunities are available to her regardless of sex, but attends IB Physics HL where the male-to-female ratio is disillusioning. She listens to counselors and coaches stressing the importance of self-determination, of carving a path with one’s own passions, but feels that her future may be shaped by hands that are not hers. She watches outspoken students challenge the teacher during class discussions, engaging in fierce exchanges with fellow peers, but never seems to muster will of her own. She walks past girls that captain teams in soccer, rugby, swimming, girls who are cheeky, good-humored, and comfortable in the skin they are given—and wonders whether she could ever make herself have such a presence. She wades through the quotidian bustle of the SAS community and tries fashioning herself to fit. Yet, at home, unfold different circumstances. Raised by a mother and father rooted in conservative ideals on the female sex, her home life demands an entirely different persona. She’s told to choose her paths depending on the chances of success, told to play flute, do ballet, and study pedagogy when she grows up because those professions are considered feminine. She receives—by the media and her parents—immemorial ideals of women

cooking and tending to children. She learns to behave sensibly, to think twice before speaking—all the qualities of a conscientious young woman—instead of being too rowdy and assertive with her opinion. She is chastised for slouching, laughing too loudly, wearing shirts too low-cut and shorts that reach higher than mid-thigh. She lives in the home she grew up in and tries fashioning herself to fit. The mental cacophony she experiences trying to reconcile these two sides was grueling at first, but she’s grown into it now. Even so, once the war’s waged, it never really ends – she still finds it challenging to negotiate these two polar personas and create the perfect, versatile self that is a blend of both her “home” and “school” self. The selves are two jarringly different outfits, for two jarringly different occasions: impossible to integrate seamlessly. If she is the reticent, soft-spoken “home” self at school, she’s automatically overlooked as the quiet, uninteresting kid with no ideas to offer. If she acts too rowdily at home, she receives her parents’ criticism. Actively trying to reconcile the clash of her two personas might lead to self-doubt and frustration. On the other hand, passively watching as the universe molds her into something she’s not might result in loss of identity in a society where girls already have an exceedingly hard time constructing their sense of self. In many ways, it’s a fine balancing act. How do you craft a self that checks all the boxes, no matter the context? Perhaps some tasks require weaving these two senses of self – a leader of a student club might inspire the whole team by being passionate and assertive but might be sensitive and calm while putting forth constructive criticism. Other tasks simply don’t require the conjoining of identities. In some situations, one self might simply become more salient—

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that is, being able to activate one self and dial down the other. No, this isn’t to say she conceals her authentic self behind two masks; perhaps a better description would be that the masks are her true self; they are manifestations of her cultural background, beliefs, and her personality. Depending on where the light shines, one side will show. Shifting her behavior does not detract from her authenticity – it in turn makes her a more socially aware and introspective individual, free to change and ever so dynamic. This girl is one specific girl—but, simultaneously, she is every girl, every girl in SAS. We all have a home culture and a school culture, and often feel torn by opposing expectations. We feel like we’re standing on two worlds, one foot in each: the class clown but the housewife-in-the-making, the strongwilled team captain but the obedient daughter. We often feel like annexing new extensions to ourselves, cutting off old parts that no longer define us—but this will only take away from our identity. So, we learn to bring different parts of our identities to the forefront, but never to cast away any. In contemporary society, it’s hard to be authentic. It’s hard to be, period. But especially now, especially with all these voices telling you whom to be, implicitly or explicitly, staying true to yourself is key. Don’t lose sight of your own identity because it’s the only thing you’re guaranteed. In the end, you are more than the sum of your parts.

NEWS + U P DAT E S

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WASC Self-Study

How do universities and other schools know that SAS is great? That the grades on our transcripts reflect achievement in high quality classes? They know it because SAS is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), an organization that validates our program in the eyes of the outside world. Every six years, we take several months to produce a comprehensive self-study of our school, with the involvement of our full community. This process just started in February, in preparation for a WASC visit in April 2020. So whether you are a student, a parent, or a faculty member, you can expect to hear more about our self-study and be solicited for your input in the months to come.

Battle of the Books 250 student bookworms, 9 international schools, 1 visiting author, and waaaaaay too much frosting. This spring we were happy to host the 2019 Battle of the Books.

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The Next Big Thing Check out our WeChat series where we celebrate just a few stories from the Class of 2019. Because when we tell our students they can go from here to anywhere, they take us seriously.

The Truth About College Testing We got the inside track on college testing with expert Adam Ingersoll. If you didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t attend, talk to your college counselor about it or watch the video on our YouTube channel. It will change the way you look at standardized tests.

SASEagles

SASChina

Our Gala for the Arts 2019 brought out 500 SAS parents, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends, all to support our students and raise money for our Artists in Residence program. The mascarade night included a fashion show of Grace Chen's designs as worn by SAS parents and students, a beautiful performance by the Slate Dance Company featuring our SAS student dancers and musicians, and a live auction. By the end of the night we had raised more than 1.7 million RMB to support the Arts at Shanghai American School.

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Gala for the Arts

HOROSCOPES SPRING 2019 B Y T H E U N L I K E LY A S T R O L O G E R IMAGES BY ROMAN HUA '24

A R I E S : We know you’re impatient about your personal goals. The time will come to keep fiercely chasing your dreams, but for this season, focus your determination on investing in your relationships. You have some awesome peeps in your life. Just look around the hallways or English class! Enjoy them.

L I B R A : We know you don’t like to live in the gray, but allow moments of confusion to carry you on a journey of embracing unpredictability and imagination. It will help you not be so tightly wound, in the end. Raise your hand and speak up in class, even if you’re uncertain. It will pay off.

T A U R U S : New experiences and relationships will be making an appearance soon. Don’t get so stuck in your routines and usual friend groups that you don’t notice them. Sit at a different table at lunch, say yes to something you’d normally brush off. New meaning and learning await.

S C O R P I O : It is time to relax, my friend. Life can’t be all hard work, and deep down, you know it. Give yourself permission to do something fun, to let your wild heart learn to express itself. Lead your friends and parents in this sprit too, you all need it.

G E M I N I : You might struggle in this last leg of school here, Gemini. When things get hard, take a breath, use your natural adaptability, and start again. Don’t burn any bridges, take the stairs two at a time, and things in the classroom will start going your way again.

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C A N C E R : If it feels like you’re getting overwhelmed, remember: circumstances do not define you. You are so much bigger than anything heaped on your shoulders. Instead, think of this as a time of revitalization and taking control. Use pen instead of pencil. Steer your own ship, mate.

S A G I T T A R I U S : It is time to do some maintenance with your support system, and be known by others as someone who is reliable and trustworthy. The payoff for being a friend and family member of integrity will be great, and will build you more into the kind of person you actually want to be.

C A P R I C O R N : It’s a season for fighting for what you want, Capricorn. Greatness is yours to be had. But, don’t be a jerk about it, especially to the people sitting next to you in class. In fact, use your power to bring others with you, to the success you all crave.

L E O : Some surprising people will come into your life as teachers in this season. Be open to children, to other people’s parents, that person in the library, even to the guy selling dumplings. Everyone you meet has something to teach you.

A Q U A R I U S : It is okay to feel vulnerable. In fact, the more you can embrace that feeling, the more you are open to learning that can only be found when you let down your walls. Being brave sometimes just feels like being scared. Your biggest transformation starts there.

V I R G O : Now is one of those moments when you get to take a step back and take stock of the bigger picture. (We know you love this.) Look at your life and what you want to learn. And not just classroom stuff. Start making connections and dreaming and putting together the pieces to make it happen.

P I S C E S : It is a time to embrace gratitude when things are going your way. No need to complain just because it is trendy. That’s no way to love life. As the school year ends, take moments of fullness and spread the light. Write some thank-you notes, be generous of spirit. People will notice.

EAGLES IN FLIGHT

FROM F I L M M A K I N G I N PA R I S

WE ARE LEAVING OUR MARK TO

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R E E F C O N S E R VAT I O N I N T H E P H I L I P P I N E S

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Story of My Life What is Age-Appropriate? Reintroducing the Razzberry

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