Spotlights type: Alumni stories

“Challenging” is the word that most often comes to mind when describing the events of 2021. After three years of dodging and battling Covid-19 we have still not returned to anything semblance of normalcy. Now the fifth wave is upon us in Hong Kong.

On the pandemic frontline are our anonymous medical workers, the true warriors in all this as they adapt to changing circumstances to keep the threat at bay. Not enough has been said about them but one YCIS Hong Kong alumna was ready to come forward with her story.

Ms Jacqueline Wong (YCIS HK, Class of 2004), a pharmacist with the Hospital Authority of Hong Kong, is one such unsung hero helping fight the fifth wave. She remains remarkably down to earth. “I have never considered myself a heroine," she says quite matter-of-factly, "nor am I directly in contact with Covid patients”. Self-effacing this may be but it is time to applaud the effort put in by all our silent protectors.

With great power comes great responsibility, as the maxim goes. And with it comes great stress. In Hong Kong, which has a worrisomely high number of older patients, doctors had prescribed an emergency pack for each resident of elder-care facilities. With the massive influx of prescriptions, Jacqueline at times felt like a sweatshop factory worker on a mass production line.

“We were short of staff and stretched thin" at the peak of the wave, she says. "Staff had to be redeployed from various locations to meet these needs. It was difficult and I fully appreciated the tireless and ungrudging work put in by all available people.” It was a team effort. All staff put their own wellbeing at risk in order to protect the more vulnerable.

Thankfully, in Hong Kong the fifth wave appears to be subsiding. However, “We still have to remain vigilant,” cautions Jacqueline. Anonymous heroes like her have made huge sacrifices to hold the line even if it has meant renting a separate place to live and not being able to meet with family and friends. It is important we do not take their sacrifice for granted.

As the situation relaxes further in April, Jacqueline hopes everyone will be able to strike an appropriate balance between socialising and social distancing. Covid is about accommodating change. A new variant may or may not re-emerge but, lacking a crystal ball, it is imperative we remain vigilant “to have a healthy and safe 2022.” Thank you, Jacqueline and all our frontline medical workers. You are not forgotten.

As April rolls in, alumna Sze Kwan Ki shares her success stories with tips on boosting confidence in uncertain times.

In the hands of a competent coach, an individual can be completely "transformed". This is an oft heard refrain from Sze Kwan Ki, YCIS-HK Class of 2008, who works as a coach for middle managers and those coming to grips with leadership roles. She is a former member of the Global YCYW Alumni Advisory Board (AAB) and was a regional representative in Beijing for four years before returning to Hong Kong. We had a chance to talk with her.

Kwan Ki obtained her professional Certified Professional Coach qualification from the International Coach Academy and received her Associate Certified Coach license from the International Coach Federation. Her attraction to this industry came quite naturally as she has always enjoyed supporting struggling individuals. Before becoming a professional coach, she worked for almost nine years as a management consultant in an MNC company. In various ways she has helped people attain their goals.

“Consulting and coaching have similar skills sets and I see coaching as a natural progression in my career,” Kwan Ki says. It is a meaningful and rewarding experience.  “I gain energy and confidence through witnessing positive changes in my clients during my coaching sessions.” She has emerged as a highly successful professional coach.

Once a member of Global YCYW Alumni Advisory Board, she enjoyed every moment. “I believe the school’s value in nurturing global citizens is a unique trait," she says. "We should continuously reconnect with alumni to build a strong global network."

A memorable experience from that time was her role in “coordinating the speakers for the Virtual Alumni Week in 2021" where she learned the "importance of having a diverse-talent network."

Drawing upon her experience as a certified coach, Kwan Ki gave us three professional tips on how to manage stress from unexpected lifestyle changes. These are particularly apt in these disruptive pandemic times.

• Admit to yourself that you are stressed. This is a normal state of emotions as people face unexpected situations.
• Be aware of your behaviour under stress. Observe your thoughts. Question them. Are they based on fact? Consider how your thinking can help or limit you at the current moment. Closely watch your behaviour. Question it. Is your behaviour appropriate for the situation and how will it help or enable you?
• Only do one thing at a time and start small. This will help gain in confidence and offer you a sense of control.

Last but not least, Kwan Ki would like to encourage our alumni in this taxing Covid-19 period. “Hang in there. I understand it’s a stressful time with a lot of distractions, but don’t forget your personal goals and passions. Discover the good things that can help you in the long run — and go for it.”

If you have participated in any YCIS Hong Kong annual musical shows you will be familiar with Mr Allan Nazareno. He directs our school productions. You will also know how important it is to have backstage workers scurrying about with makeup and costumes.

Ms Vanessa Law, YCIS Hong Kong Class of 2012, shared her stories since Year 3. She started thinking of makeup as a career while she was pursuing an IBDP. Later, she became a professional instructor in New York while taking makeup courses. Becoming an international makeup artist has always been Vanessa’s dream. After working on a school production of The King and I as head of makeup in 2011, she was encouraged to follow this direction.

“I was thrilled when Mr Naz asked me to be the head of makeup for The King and I back then, as I had never taken the lead in helping with a group of more than a hundred performers. There were crews in the team to help but they had little experience of how to put stage makeup on, so I had to come up with different plans to teach them before splitting them into small groups to make the whole team effective. That was a remarkable experience. It gave me a deep sense of accomplishment and confirmed my passion.”

“Mr Naz has given me a great support while I was studying Drama during my IBDP. He encouraged me to follow my dream as a professional makeup artist and even came to New York to visit me with his family during Christmas in 2017,” said Vanessa with tears of joy. She is thankful for the opportunity the school provided and the encouragement from Mr Naz. Without this support she would not have gone down her chosen path or attained success in this field.

“Having the opportunity to work and study aboard certainly widened my vision. I had the chance to work with some of the most famous designers and art directors in the world. My dream is to become one of them. It is never easy to go down this path without a great passion and love for the job. The entertainment industry is very competitive and can be toxic. People are harsh with their comments and respect is hard to find unless you prove yourself.” Vanessa returned to Asia – visiting Korea, Shanghai and Guangzhou – after her New York stint to work on some fashion shows. Now she is back in Hong Kong.

Mr Wayne Tai, YCIS Hong Kong Class of 2003, spent his entire childhood with us for over 15 years and that bond still continues. Apart from being a Yew Chung alumnus, the APAC regional Ecommerce & Digital Manager of Naos also volunteers as the president of the YCYW alumni advisory board, bringing his driving passion to expand and build a more meaningful alumni community for all of us.

“Growing up in Yew Chung wasn’t easy for me,” says Wayne, as being in the second class of IB was quite a challenge. Back in the day, the network and connections weren’t as wide as now and applying to universities was a daunting task. “Hundreds of hours must be spent to achieve a good result,” he sighed. But thanks to all the help from teachers, UGOs, and fellow classmates, the second class of IB, including Wayne, were able to achieve extraordinary results. It is for this very reason that Wayne decided to retain and foster his connection with Yew Chung, volunteering for services and eventually rising to become president of the alumni advisory board.

The YCYW alumni advisory board was a fairly new concept established three years ago by the alumni relations office along with Wayne and a few core alumni members. The idea of alumni isn’t new for Yew Chung or Yew Wah, “Everything started in Hong Kong at first, and existed there for over a decade until now. However, everything [in Hong Kong] was very Hong Kong centric,” says Wayne. Therefore, after the resignation of the second president, Wayne decided to take the lead and make changes. With a singular aim to better link our school and to expand globally, Wayne decided to work with the alumni relations office and form the new YCYW advisory board from scratch.

The advisory board has been a success, establishing different chapters around the globe and organising various events including career sharing, virtual alumni day, alumni mixers and more. Board members with different cultural backgrounds from different generations were able to sit together and brainstorm some amazing ideas to connect alumni globally.

“We never had these events in the past but now we are able to see alumni of different race, region and age, mingle and have fun together,” says Wayne. At first, when the board was just established, communication and cooperation was very difficult. Members had to communicate across different time zones with several members attending meetings either extremely early in the morning or very late at night. Prioritising ideas from members was another challenge for Wayne. “All members are enthusiastic and are full of fantastic ideas, but sometimes we will need to think through what works and to prioritise these ideas before execution,” he says. Good team chemistry helped overcome these hurdles.

While the current status of the alumni community and the alumni advisory board is quite satisfying, things need to move forward.

“We will continue to expand our network across the globe allowing more and more alumni to benefit and, of course, getting in touch with those who have lost contact with us [at Yew Chung and Yew Wah],” says Wayne. We can proudly say our alumni are spread across every corner of the world. With the zeal of the Biblical shepherd searching for his lost sheep, Wayne’s dream is to find all floating alumni and reconnect them with the broader academic family.

“The year 2020 has not been an easy year for us, and 2021 may not be any easier, but we are all doing a great job,” Wayne believes. “The juniors and the seniors are adapting to this new era. The world is evolving and changing at an extremely high speed. What I want to say here is, you are not alone, you are never alone, and the Yew Chung and Yew Wah alumni community is always here to support you.”

Film is a very unique form of art because it captures life in a way that other forms of expression, like painting or photography, cannot. Ms Chelsea Chen from our YWIES Shanghai Gubei Class of 2015, hopes to continue making films that convey the beauty of humanity and nature through art, culture and sustainability.

“Film ultimately combines every single thing I love – music, art, words and stories.”

As a writer/director, Chelsea is constantly observing broader society, not just the people around us, to understand more about ourselves. “It allows me to create what I want to express,” she says.

During her time at UBC, the environmental courses Chelsea took helped her realise how serious the problem is of climate change and pollution. “I will keep your light” is her first big production, exploring the theme of climate anxiety. “I feel it is a privilege living in Canada surrounded by nature, the sea, the beach and the forest. While I was creating this film, I came to treasure this even more.”

Her second big production “Reverie”, explores our relationship with technology, another big issue that we all deal with daily. Through a story about a power outage, Chelsea hopes to depict what would really happen if we were forced to disconnect from our digital devices. Ultimately, the film encourages her audiences to find the right balance between humans and technology. “As a creator, I feel like everything around us, everything we are experiencing, naturally draws me towards something I really feel passionate about. Although I might not be able to solve the problem, being able to ring a bell and bring awareness of the problem is already enough.”

“Art is here to give us comfort, to tell us that we are not alone. There are always other people going through what you are experiencing.”

Interestingly, the movies that give us serious chills aren’t the ones with the greatest optical or sound effects, but the ones we closely relate to. This is what Chelsea is trying to do as a producer. All the films she has produced relate to her own experience and observations. She is currently working on two film projects. One explores the sense of loneliness in a big city. Inspired by the current Covid outbreak, it looks at the reasons for our generation’s alienation and examines how we might break free of this cycle.

The second project examines how we often overlook the working classes, the people that laboured to build the world we enjoy now. As Chelsea explains, “We often say in Chinese, ‘Art is inspired by life but goes beyond it.’ I want to express myself from a female perspective as someone just graduated from college; someone who has just entered society and is trying to figure out what is happening in life.”

We often enjoy different types of film at different stages of our life. For this reason, Chelsea has neither a particular role model nor a film she solely admires. But at her current stage in life, she recommends two films that have much meaning.

• ‘YiYi’ (一一), a 2020 Taiwanese film directed by Edward Yang (杨德昌) that brings the audience right into the lives of three generations of a Taiwanese family and explores the experience of living in Taiwan.
• ‘Roma’, a Mexican film directed by Alfonso Cuarón shot in 2018, which follows the life of a live-in housekeeper of a middle-class family, in a semi-autobiographical take on Cuarón's upbringing in the Colonia Roma neighbourhood of Mexico City.

Sometimes, the theatre effects play an important part in movie enjoyment, but relating to characters, families and storylines, gives us a deeper connection and lingering aftertaste that keeps us thinking about issues and circumstances. This is why Chelsea particularly enjoyed these two films.

Balancing Between Dreams and Bread

During the ongoing Covid outbreak cinema theatres are closed. Film doesn’t feel like an essential activity any more. “But people need these comforts… people need art,” says Chelsea. Although her current projects are all short films, she eventually wants to make the transition from small screen to big. Keeping herself busy with small projects and building up her experience for a career in film, she ultimately hopes to get involved in theatre projects to develop her own style and stories.

Of course, early on it is difficult to find the right balance between the dream and your daily bread especially if, as with Chelsea, you’re not working for profit. Currently apart from all her non-profit film production, Chelsea is also doing a lot of commercial advertising and branding videos. “Right now at an early stage I don’t need to make a definite choice. But it will eventually become a challenge to balance both. It is a question that will need an answer if I continue to go on this path.”

Art is never about satisfying everyone, but to create a special bond and connection with someone.

Chelsea strongly recommends those who are already in or still considering this field to keep their passion alive and to believe in their pursuit. “Being able to explore things fully is a privilege,” she says. “Take advantage of this and don’t overlook how precious it is. When you have the passion for art or are in an environment where you can explore art, take advantage of it. It doesn’t always happen.”

Sports medicine technologies are rather undeveloped in China. There is a need for every person to increase an awareness of the issue
- Dr Peiying Lei, Parent of YCIS Shanghai Puxi

While launching my start-up in Hangzhou I sent my daughter to a public school near our home for a year. My daughter loved the atmosphere but the school didn’t instil a love for learning as it placed too much emphasis on examinations and grades. It was then that we decided to transfer her to YCIS Shanghai in the fourth grade. The school’s proud history and reputation for excellence were definitely key in our decision, but what really attracted us was the prospect of an international education with its core value of developing children’s personal character and growth. This aligns with my priorities as well.

I think Yew Chung has done a great job in blending Eastern and Western cultures in a challenging and creative curriculum. Yet, as a Chinese family, we hope to continue growing our Chinese roots to enable the next generation to carry forward our language and culture.

Yew Chung grants students freedom of choice. When my daughter and I discussed which subjects to select for the term, I noticed there were different mathematics and English classes of varying levels and difficulty. No matter what, I would certainly respect my daughter’s decision. Yew Chung’s approach doesn’t emphasise competition and it encourages teamwork and group learning.

Teachers come from various cultural backgrounds and employ different teaching methods, which enable students to learn to adapt and thrive in a diverse society. I saw a tremendous improvement in my daughter’s academic performance. We were delighted not only because of this, but also because she developed a love for learning and was motivated to do well.

This kind of learning style allows my daughter to continue with her interest in art and music. She loves painting, playing the violin, and particularly ballet, a hobby she has developed since she was four. For over 10 years now she has not only improved her technique but also learned to enjoy the beauty of ballet. As parents we never focus on winning prizes. We would rather watch her build confidence and enjoy the time on stage expressing herself.

As with other sports, ballet requires hard work and sacrifice. As our daughter underwent intensive training we found out that the muscles around her ankles did not have sufficient strength to enable her to stand on tiptoe, a common position in ballet. The problem required a large amount of assistance from sports rehabilitation doctors. The ballet teachers and the school principals liaised with my team at the hospital and that was when our professional cooperation began.

Applied science and sports medicine technologies are rather undeveloped in China and lag behind other countries. There is a need for every person to increase his or her awareness of the issue. We hosted several talks at the Yew Chung and Yew Wah schools to raise the awareness of child development and rehabilitation. This aligns with the values of Yew Chung and Yew Wah, which not only focus on academic performance but on holistic development.

Earlier our team, which had conducted examinations of the spine for primary and secondary students in Ningbo, was surprised to find that 10 percent of the children had curvature of the spine. Several common problems such as rickets, slouching, and leg length discrepancies were revealed but parents were simply not aware of this and blamed the child for walking improperly.

Our understanding is some children have a lack of confidence due to problems arising from a curved spine. Some even develop depression and tire of schooling. If parents’ awareness is raised, such unfortunate situations can be prevented. If left untreated these problems can lead to frequent sports injuries such as a damaged meniscus that can result in lumbar and cervical pains.

Nowadays parents understand that sport brings intellectual and mental benefits to a child’s development but there is still no understanding of how to prepare for it. We recommend that from primary onwards parents should bring their children for musculoskeletal examination and devise training for weak areas. Not only can this help reduce the number of injuries, but it can also improve children’s sports performance.

We also provide a comprehensive report showing different indicators including the child’s musculoskeletal condition, cardiothoracic state and weight, to determine which sport suits them best and at what level of involvement. We identify ways to train muscle groups so as to correct and strengthen them rather than simply focusing on an excessive amount of sport.

We also take into account the children’s nutrition and mental health. For instance, females at puberty experience weight gain but with weak muscles and a high percentage of body fat. This can have a negative effect on their growth and sexual maturation and cause potential mental trauma. There are weight loss and beauty programmes from medical healthcare organisations, but we hope to provide positive intervention programmes by professionals.

In addition, especially for Yew Wah families whose children transferred from public schools, we hosted talks on child learning, reading skills and attention development, as many children may potentially experience culture shock and new academic challenges. It is easy for parents to misread this, assuming children are being disobedient or lacking in effort when they spot problems with reading. In reality, this is a reading disorder. Fortunately, it can be treated with the help of professional assessment and tests.

Hand-eye coordination, the sense of touch, and cognitive ability are all part of simple act of reading. Every child has strengths and weaknesses and our focus is to find weak areas and improve them.

Whether it is the child’s learning ability or attention-cognitive ability, these are essential skills for life that will determine success in the future. Teachers and parents alike must create assignments that help develop children with a view to solving any fundamental deficits. Many mothers could then spend more time on their careers or socialising with friends, instead of being tied down at home.

The name of our centre, Rainbow Fish, is inspired by my daughter. She got it from a favourite fairytale in which Rainbow Fish is the main character. Rainbow Fish has a body full of colourful scales and she is the most beautiful fish in the sea. Yet, she is singled out as arrogant. One day, a small fish asks, “Can you give your smallest scale to me so that I can become more beautiful?” Rainbow Fish does so and is delighted to see how happy the small fish is as a result of this small gesture.

This story conveys the importance of love and sharing. Our medical technology can become a world pioneer to undertake even the most complex rehabilitation for patients who have undergone heart surgery and to help in the recovery of patients with traumatic spinal cord injury. However, just having the technology and expertise is not enough. Without kindness and compassion it is impossible for us to succeed. We hope to share our professional knowledge with everyone to bring rainbows into the lives of many, whether they are newborns or 90-year-old grandparents.

YCIS parent Dr Peiying Lei is a medical professor who did her training overseas. She has accumulated considerable experience in clinical care and operations management. She founded Rainbow Fish Rehabilitation Center with “love and sharing” as its core value. The centre was selected for the prestigious “National Demonstration Project”. As a school parent, Dr Peiying Lei has frequently given talks at Yew Chung and Yew Wah to inspire families.