Alumni: Harriet Z

On 16th June, Dulwich International High School Suzhou held an alumni event. A group of alumnae were invited to come back to school and share their experiences with teachers and students. The media was fortunate to interview one of our first graduates, Harriet Z., whose confident and independent personality left a deep impression on us. The following are the highlights from the  interview:

• She is one of the first graduates of Dulwich International High School Suzhou
• From undergraduate to graduate, from social anthropology to art curation
• She likes to challenge the unknown, she’s full of curiosity about the future
• She is independent and has so many ideas, she keeps thinking about the world
• She is the product of a holistic education
• She is Harriet Z., who graduated in 2016

Back to Dulwich, Familiar and Unfamiliar

After graduating a few years ago and returning to Dulwich as an alumnus, Harriet said frankly, compared with what she remembered, "there is no major change, but some small details have changed." For example, the school has made a great effort in promoting mental health now,  which it didn’t four years ago.

As a school under Dulwich College International, Dulwich International High School Suzhou has rich experience in running schools and is committed to providing a purely British education. On this basis, it continues to add "local elements" from "small details", is polished and continuously improving.

Recalling four years of high school life, besides the "painful" math class, Harriet was most impressed by the House system like that in "Harry Potter". The house system provides students with an activity center that integrates sports, communication, and residence. As a House Captain, Harriet organized and participated in all kinds of activities. She told the media, "Joy does not come from ranking. The important thing is that we participate in activities together and the team spirit is built up in this process, that’s what makes me feel excited."

At Dulwich, "playing" is a serious thing. In addition to attaching importance to academics, the school also attaches great importance to music, art, sports and other courses, and at the same time, guides students to participate in various co-curricular activities. Therefore, Dulwich students can choose to "play" in projects according to their interests, such as the Duke of Edinburgh Award, Shakespeare Festival, World Scholars Cup and Debate Competition amongst other activities.

The adventures of the Duke of Edinburgh International Awards bring students out of their comfort zone and allows them to experience life in a natural environment; the annual Dulwich Shakespeare Festival is a highlight of the annual activities of all Dulwich schools, in which students can develop their potential to the fullest, and Harriet was once the heroine of "Midsummer Night's Dream".

Through various activities, Harriet acquired very important skills such as creativity, critical thinking and teamwork. For example, she learnt how to express herself in music and performance, and how to communicate and cooperate with others in drama. Harriet said that the most important thing is that she "built self-confidence" during these practical activities. This self-confidence comes from knowing how to deal with different people in different situations and how to use appropriate wording and expressions. It is a pity if students just focus on their exams and ignore the cultivation of other abilities.

If the co-curricular activities provide a stage for students to improve themselves, then the true core of Dulwich Education is the inheritance and recognition of school culture. This also helped Harriet to choose Dulwich, and finally became one of the First Dulwich Graduates.

She clearly knows that the founding school of Dulwich—Dulwich College has a history of more than 400 years and is a well-deserved "old name" in the field of international education. Dulwich College has a great reputation in the world. Dulwich has a family of schools, which connect with each other closely. Students in different areas can also learn from and cooperate with each other in the activities organized by Dulwich College.

These factors helped her to enjoy the challenge of “the unknown." This is why she chose Dulwich without any hesitation and lived a rewarding four-year high school life here.

Start Again, Graduate Worldwise

Harriet's undergraduate study was at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London. SOAS is the only higher education institution in the United Kingdom that offers studies of Asia, Africa, the Near East, and the Middle East. Her major, Social Anthropology, ranks third in the UK, only behind Cambridge University and the London School of Economics and Political Science.

She used the word "romantic" to describe her undergraduate life, which is a feeling different from emotional experience and focuses more on the school atmosphere. We often compare the university to an "ivory tower", an "isolated dreamland, a hideaway away from real life, a place of seclusion", which often contains romantic elements.

The romance is that SOAS provides students with an extremely free-thinking environment. As introduced by Harriet, “Different from the systematic professional world, in school, we can romanticize and idealize everything. In a free and safe campus environment, students can give full play to their critical thinking to think about social hot spots. As a result, students maintain observation of the world and are eager to do something useful to contribute to it."

Is idealization a good thing? Harriet gave her own thoughts. She quoted an interview with Xiang Biao in "Thirteen Invitations" to give a divergent answer, "In my undergraduate studies, I have the urge to criticize the world with knowledge. And I am not doing research for publication. There is no pressure for publication. Let go, it is embracing and self-investigating." All research is done in a very special way at a very special life stage.

"Idealization allows me to show a new research attitude towards society, while reality allows me to have a more mature and condensed view of the world." Said Harriet. There is no absolute good or bad, different stages of identity will have different levels of thinking, each experience is precious, and most importantly, Harriet has been continuously thinking.

This coincides with the aims of Dulwich. At Dulwich, we hope to cultivate students who not only have excellent academic abilities, but also have an innovative spirit, self-discipline, independent thinking and teamwork skills, to ensure that students are entering the university and continue to make progress in work and life. Harriet, who is "independent in thinking and full of energy" is the best possible proof of this in action.

In the current epidemic situation, Harriet also put forward some ideas for current Dulwich students and recent graduates in terms of study and life. “Compared with the previous impetuousness, the present provides a rare opportunity to slow down. We can keep reading to reflect." Harriet didn’t sit by, she and her brother are working on new art projects, growing for the future space through "programming language + art", planning to arrange exhibitions using video. When facing unknown dangers, waiting is a terrible choice. Only by learning to enjoy a slow life can you better grasp your "life".

Holistic Education Makes Students Independent Thinkers

At Dulwich International High School Suzhou, the school adheres to holistic education in any environment. What exactly is holistic education?

◆ Pay attention to the balanced development of physical and mental health, character development and academic achievement

◆ Curriculum designed according to the learning environment

◆ Facing the future, cultivating knowledge and digital skills

For holistic education, Harriet has her own thinking. "Holistic education is an idealized concept, the most important of which is to promote a diversity of talents, which is different from traditional ideas. It emphasizes that the value of students is not reflected in an elite way, but focuses on improving students' qualities in all aspects. Therefore, Dulwich's definition of students is different from that of general international schools", and helps students explore their potentials and interests with a wealth of practical activities.

In graduate school, Harriet chose to major in Curating Contemporary Art at the Royal College of Art. Perhaps in our view, majoring from human anthropology to art curation is a very big change, but Harriet has her own explanation. "Art curation also needs the support of humanities and social sciences. I hope that I can use my undergraduate knowledge background to explore the topics of concern and display them in the form of art." She emphasized that we need to treat the experience as a holistic study, rather than blindly treating it separately. In the process of transformation, interest is very important. In addition, she believes that holistic education is important to help students find "identity" and be a person with "faith".

Facing an unfamiliar environment when going to school abroad, adapting to foreign culture has become a top priority, which is also a major problem faced by many international schools in the teaching process. She used our own example to tell us that Chinese people are inherently sensitive to culture, and she is a “contradictory complex," when going abroad, she makes an effort to fit into local cultures while still keeping the core of Chinese culture to heart. For schools, it is imperative to pay attention to the impact of language and cultural environments on students and actively guide them

She has Clear Plans for Her Own Future

Different from the formation of culture, contemporary art is a figurative existence. Art communicates with the soul through these forms of sculpture. With the development of new technologies such as VR and AR, it has challenged the traditional ways of presentation and has also increased the forms and ways for humans to understand art. Under such a big background, Harriet hopes to return to China in the future and help those folk artists to explore their artistic direction, explore new expressions and form her own unique and strong style from her own perspective.

As one of the first graduates of Dulwich International High School Suzhou, she witnessed firsthand the growth of the school and provides a great example of what we mean by Dulwich spirit.