In the blink of an eye, I am about to be a 12th grader, which is like an unreal dream. In this dream which keeps going on day and night, I often recall the decision I made three years ago that changed the course of my life. Back then, my parents let me decide independently whether to transfer to an international school. Though I felt lost at that time, I wrote down my own reasons and expectations before finally making the decision to transfer to another school. Looking back on all my past experiences, I realized that they seem to have responded silently to those lines of words I wrote down on that piece of paper.

Unfortunately, when I first joined SHBS in 2020, I had to attend online classes due to the covid pandemic. At first, I feared I might not be able to adapt myself to the new community, but the fact that my HR teacher cared for me each week, and the close interaction between me and my fellow students in classes and during club activities made me realize that they were sincere and warm-hearted people, made me less worried that I might not become a member of them, and helped ensure a smooth transition from online teaching to living on campus.

After school reopened, I found I had plenty of leisure time at my disposal, and I also found it convenient to communicate with my teachers. In my calligraphy class, I met Ms. Wang, who played a huge role in helping me improve my calligraphy. I have been practising calligraphy since I was in primary school, but because I was busy with my studies in junior high school, I "neglected" it for some time.  When I held the brush in my hand again, I couldn’t help feeling excited.  Ms. Wang soon discovered that calligraphy is one of my strengths. Each time she observed my works, she gave me her unique advice as well as her high praise, which inspired confidence in me and motivated me to keep making progress. After class, I enjoyed talking with her, and she recommended several ancient calligraphy copybooks to me based on my personality traits, which helped me a lot. I remember once I felt satisfied with a piece of class work I had written, so I showed it to Ms. Wang, who also liked it very much and had it framed and hung on the wall of the Sinology classroom as a decoration.  This made me feel that what I am interested in was really taken seriously, so I was more ready to explore further.  At the end of a busy day with heavy schoolwork, I could always find a sense of belonging in a corner of the Sinology classroom.

During my high school years, I began to work hard on my college application when I was a 10th grader.  After attending many lectures organized by the school College Advising Department, I got an initial understanding of admission officers from different colleges-----knowing what kind students they would prefer, local traditions and customs of different colleges and how I would be matched with the values of those schools. I came to realize that exploring colleges would actually lead to a profound self-discovery. Our foreign principal Chris often takes time out of his busy schedule to talk with each student one on one, providing us with lots of inspirations. In a conversation with Principal Chris, I expressed my lostness about the role activities play in the process of college application--I didn't know what kind of activities I should participate in to show myself.  He said to me, "What matters most is not what you did for activities but why you did them and what they would mean to you, which is what you really need to search for."  I drew much inspiration from his words because what he said broadened my mind and make me think about “What do I really love?” and “Where does my sense of mission come from?”.

I created a club called clouDsun when I was an 11th grader. Originally, I intended to promote cultural and creative designs and public welfare. At one club session, we watched a pro bono video called "Pearl Recovery Program" -- in some remote mountainous areas, a group of students about our age had a strong desire for knowledge, but could not complete their studies because they came from poor families.  While feeling sorry for this group of peers, I also wondered what we could do to help them.  Based on what we did for club activities in the first semester, we associated "promoting social happiness" with the content of the club "cultural and creative design" -- we could sell the original cultural and creative design products at the bazaar and donatet the profits gained to help them finish school.

In March 2022, due to the worsening situation of covid pandemic, we had to attend online classes at home once again.  What we had planned for an offline bazaar had to be cancelled and we had to make it happen online.  We felt really disappointed and helpless, but on a second thought, it might also be a blessing in disguise because organizing an online bazaar would save us  the cost of setting up booths and having products custom-made, and we may also be able to recruit volunteers from all over the world.  In the process, difficulties are inevitable. When I planned the bazaar at first, I would habitually take it upon myself to do everything. Although the results seemed okay, I didn't get enough sleep for some time, so i felt sleepy in class during the day.  Therefore, I thought it over and decided that I should trust the other volunteers helping with the bazaar more and properly assign each of them tasks so that we may eventually achieve the initial goal through efficient teamwork.  We created several team documents to share our work progress, which greatly improved our work efficiency. While organizing the bazaar, we also received great support from our parents and teachers.  After getting to know our intention and its value, principal Bowen and Liuliu participated in our bazaar without hesitation. Principal Chris, on behalf of his two cats, strongly supported our bazaar. The other teachers also supported us by posting our promotion article on their wechat moments. We truly felt that we were backed by the whole SHBS community. After the successful conclusion of this activity, I also learned that leadership can be developed through repeated practices and that to reflect on or review what we have done after each step is a responsible way of doing things.

Finally, I would like to end my article by quoting a saying I like very much:“Don't let things happen to you. Make things happen.” I hope everyone will be able to understand himself or herself better and love all that they are doing while exploring their high school years.