One of the many things we appreciate about studying at Yew Chung International School of Beijing is the exposure to different cultures and the opportunities studying in an international school provides. One of those is having access to multiple University destinations abroad.

Whilst this positively impacts students, it also comes with challenges. With many students scattered around the globe comes the challenge of keeping in contact. However, with social media networks like Facebook the bridge has been built between students and their former teachers. Our University Guidance Counsellor, Mr Jonathan Mellen asserted “We encourage all Alumni to join Yewtopia, our alumni engagement platform” he also added that “All former students of YCIS or YWIES can join no matter how long they attended YCIS. Once a YCIS student always a YCIS student!”

One student who uses such platforms is Emily Lau who is a part of our Alumni Group on Facebook. Emily is currently based in London and was a student at YCIS Beijing for 13 years. We spoke to her about the direction she took and how her experiences at YCIS Beijing prepared her for the world after Secondary School.

1. How long did you study at YCIS? When did you graduate?I studied at YCIS Beijing for 13 years, where I completed my IGCSEs before moving to the UK to study the IB Diploma. I graduated in July 2015. I achieved 8 A*s and an A at IGCSE level at YCIS and obtained 43 points for IB.

2. What did you move on to do? I went on to study law at King’s College London, obtaining First Class Honours and completed my Legal Practice Course in London, achieving a Distinction. I am now working as a trainee solicitor at a City law firm in London.

3. Share you experience attending an IB Diploma Programme. How did it help you with your career/study choice? What was your favorite subject? Is it something you were able to pursue?I thought the IB Diploma was perfect for someone like me who had no idea what I wanted to study. I was interested in science, humanities and languages, and the IB Diploma gave me the ability to study all of them. Compared to the A-levels, where your degree choice is narrowed down by your subject choices, the IB Diploma allowed me to explore which subjects I preferred.

4. What are your career goals? What skills and values learned at YCIS do you think will help/has helped you achieve them?My goal is to become a partner at a City law firm. One of the main things that YCIS has helped me with is becoming a bilingual citizen. When I was at YCIS, I didn’t find it odd or ‘special’ that all of us were bilingual – it was the ‘norm’. Now, I realise that being bilingual is something that is highly sought after, especially as a lawyer. Being fluent in two of the most spoken languages in the world is invaluable, and has definitely given me a bit of an edge compared to my fellow colleagues.

5. Have you kept contact with your YCIS classmates? How do you do it?Yes. I made a lot of close friends during my time at YCIS, primarily being involved in sports teams together, so it has been quite easy to keep in touch. The best thing is that you have friends from all around the world, which means I can go to almost any country and meet up with a few ex-Scorpions.

Read more about our Alumni here.