Before coming to SCIE, I was both excited and intimidated by this school filled with outstanding peers. Faced with an unknown future, I embarked on the happiest week0 of my highschool life. Unlike many other students, my juniorhigh education had fully prepared me to adapt to SCIE’s campus life. At first, everything felt fresh and fascinating. Impulsively, I signed up for numerous clubs at the ECA fair, yet I failed to stick with most of them due to my shortlived enthusiasm. Still, this willingness to try new things opened a door for me — I was lucky enough to join the events logistics team that year.
My twoyear stay in the logistics team became my safe-haven, where I could completely unwind myself both physically and mentally. Although we were kept busy by countless annual events, the tiredness after each long day was always fulfilling and joyful. This tangible sense of living in the moment gave me a strong passionate inner strength.
One “wrongturn” subject choice in G1 haunted me for nearly two years. I chose IG Art on a trial basis. The first three weeks were enjoyable, so I committed to the subject rather casually. However, soon I found myself staying up until three or four o’clock in the morning to fight against tight deadlines. Deprived of sufficient sleep, I suffered from emotional outbursts and could barely focus in class. I kept pushing myself hard, yet my grades never had undergone a steady improvement. It finally dawned on me that my faint interest in art could never outweigh the distress it brought. While this experience also served as an important warning when I later explored my future academic path.
By G2, I chose to let go of my obsession. I finally stopped pouring endless energy into chasing an unsatisfactory outcome. Unexpectedly, my time spent with art kept fuelling my creativity.
Once I stopped treating every deadline as a heavy burden, inspiration and innovation flowed naturally when I relaxed. I starting gradually appreciate my own art pieces. Imperfect as they were, they truthfully reflected my genuine emotions at that time.
Two months after I parted ways with IG ART, my finalexam results delivered the last verdict on this chapter. With a score of 79, I closed this journey.
I have no regrets about my decision. The growth brought by this subject was real, and I am grateful that it woke me up in good time. Someday in the future, I will definitely pick up my paintbrush again to capture new feelings.
When I was in A1, I saw my finalexam artwork displayed in the corridor on the ground floor. Deep down, I thought to myself: this is my very own “medal of merit”.
Meanwhile, a brandnew seed quietly sprouted inside my heart. G2 was the golden period for major exploration, and I tried countless new things throughout that year. Unlike many peers who had already decided their target universities and majors before entering high school, I took a more winding path. My exploration into future subjects began with psychology. Naively believing I was passionate about this field, I started reading relevant books. It was not long before I realised that what I truly enjoyed was merely the process of selfdiscovery, rather than psychology itself. I had misunderstood this discipline from the very beginning, and it was not until A1 that I finally made up my mind to abandon it.
Yet my past choices had already revealed the answer long before this decision. The clue dated back to the geography field trip to Italy at the start of G2. Before the trip, my parents asked me to prove its value, and I delivered on that request — for reasons I could hardly explain, I simply had a strong urge to go.
In hindsight, their concerns were reasonable. While the joy I gained on the trip was temporary, the insights I gathered have stayed with me ever since. Their questions kept me reflecting along the journey.
As I climbed down Stromboli Volcano, watching sand swirl up from the ground and the deepblue ocean stretching far away, I slipped into academic thinking. I connected what I saw with textbook knowledge and raised a series of new questions.
It was the first time I naturally fell into deep thought while enjoying myself. On that day, a seed was planted deep within my heart.
Later, an unexpected IA award brought me fresh inspiration. Back in G1, I had to go to IA bronze final, but could not attend after testing positive for COVID19. The next year, I joined the silver final to make up for the missed opportunity. This unplanned outdoor adventure awakened my longhidden passion for nature. During our fourdayandthreenight expedition, we stayed up until three or four in the morning fending off wild boars while camping by the sea on our first night. We camped near a herd of cattle on the second night. Heavy rain poured continuously until noon on our final day. Trapped under a red rainstorm warning, our sixmember team chatted messily over whether we should go for Haidilao hotpot later. None of these incidents filled me with fear or annoyance. On the contrary, this immersive experience in nature and teamwork rekindled my sincere love for the natural world.
My friend Elaine is a fascinating person. Quite often, even when she already knows her own answer, she will ask others what choice we would make. Looking back, I realise that many of us act in exactly the same way. The moment you are ready to make a choice; the answer already lies deep in your heart. Later analysis of different options only helps you predict risks and avoid mistakes, and will never change the conclusion you have reached inside your heart.
My A1 subjectselection perfectly proves this point. At the end of G2, I hesitated between Geography and Psychology and postponed my final decision until the start of A1. After a summer of freerange exploration, I chose Geography without the slightest hesitation on the first day of the new term.
Looking back now, this decision grew out of countless small experiences and was far from impulsive.
Thanks to SCIE:
After four years of highschool life, I finally understand that outside agencies and consultants are never mandatory for a successful journey. It turns out that you can achieve remarkable growth simply by making full use of the school’s resources.
What SCIE offers its students goes far beyond classroom teaching. The diverse opportunities available here are more than enough for us to enrich our experience and broaden our horizons.
As long as we approach everything with a positive attitude, we can always discover valuable lessons from small everyday moments.
- Article / Coco Shi
