YCYW Alumni Advisory Board 2020 Now Open for Nomination!

The YCYW Alumni Advisory Board, has 2 positions available now, and we are looking for a few good candidates to to fill based on those directors who are terming out of office. We hope you will consider nominating yourself to be a Board Member.

If you or any alumni you know are looking for a responsible and innovative leadership role, we’d love to include you in bringing more exciting activities to our alumni community. Please simply click here https://bit.ly/3gsfARz for nomination before 30th June, 2020.

 

YCYW Shanghai Alumni Council – Now open for nominations!

Yew Chung Yew Wah Alumni Council is a voluntary group that helps build pride, commitment and participation of the Yew Chung and Yew Wah alumni community in Shanghai, through organizing events and activities. It is formed to help represent the views of our alumni and support to the Yew Chung/Yew Wah engagement programmes in Shanghai area.  Member schools consist of:

-       YCIS Shanghai ( Puxi & Pudong)

-       YWIES Shanghai

-       YWIES Lingang

-       YWIES Tongxiang

The Alumni Council will consist of around 3-7 volunteer members, appointed by Institutional Advancement Office through self-nominations, as well as nominations by fellow alumni, parents, faculty and students.

The Alumni Council members term of service is for 1 year from 1 June 2020- 31 May 2021, renewable for two years following a successful first term.  We are now open for nominations.  Simply CLICK HERE and complete the nomination form.

Nomination period will close by 8th May 2020.  As an alum of Yew Chung/Yew Wah, you are most welcome to nominate yourself and be part of this brand-new chapter of Yew Chung Yew Wah Shanghai alumni community.

 

Alumni Hall of Fame – Call for nominations!

For many of us, Yew Chung/Yew Wah has been an important milestone on our journey in the achievement of life time accomplishments. The Alumni Hall of Fame has been created to honour select alumni who have shown dedication in their profession and made significant contributions in serving the community.  These distinguished alumni demonstrate the embedded values of Yew Chung Yew Wah, the values of an ethical, caring and loving global citizen.

The first group of honourees will be inducted in October, at our Founder’s Day 2020 celebration.  Therefore, we are now calling for nominations!

Objectives

  1. Celebrate outstanding YC/YW alumni who have achieved certain level of distinction in their lives and careers.
  2. Recognise alumni who have made significant contributions to the society through their good deeds and services.
  3. Build pride and provide role models for current students.
  4. Further engage Alumni reinforcing our commitment to serve “Alumni for Life”.
  5. Recognise alumni who have remained engage with and continue to make a difference in the Yew Chung Yew Wah family.

Criteria for selection

  1. YCIS/YWIES alumnus or alumnae who have graduated/left the school for over 5 years are eligible to be nominated
  2. By definition, YCIS/YWIES alumni are those who studied in YCIS/YWIES for over 1 year
  3. The nominee has distinguished himself/herself in business or professional life, or for significantly improving or enhancing the lives of others through outstanding leadership or has made distinguished contributions in serving the community through their work or volunteer programme, and bring honor to Yew Chung Yew Wah.
  4. Embody the Yew Chung Yew Wah spirit.
  5. Each year not more than five persons will be selected from the nominations presented.

Presentation of honours

The persons selected as members of the Hall of Fame will be honoured on Founder’s Day, the second Friday of every October. Inductees may be invited to speak at the ceremony to the whole Yew Chung and Yew Wah community.  They will also be recognised on alumni website.

Make your nomination today!  Simply fill in the nomination e-form (https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=ijFvLhPxZUyKRwXd1fM3mH-gNWClRnRFiO2JS8HMlkhUNzRFWUg5UTRISDEyUENRMU1MSzhVR0lFTy4u) and send us any supporting documents of your nominee by 29 May 2020.

The Distinguished Yew Chung Educator Campaign Teaser

A good education can never be separated from a good educator!

Over the past decades, countless Yew Chung educators have left great memories in our schools. They have been dedicated in nurturing our children for the betterment of the world and their stories will continue to inspire generations after generations!

So, stay tuned with us to find out more about the Distinguished Yew Chung Educator Campaign!

YCIS Shanghai Alumni T-shirt Design Competition

For all students who have ever had the opportunity to study for at least one year at a Yew Chung International School (YCIS), after they depart, they are considered YCIS alumni. For these YCIS Alumni, who are regarded as “Alumni for Life,”the school offers a growing number of benefits, ranging from networking opportunities, to social gatherings, and more. This year, in celebration of Yew Chung International School of Shanghai’s (YCIS Shanghai) active and involved Alumni group, the Development & Alumni Relations Office is launching a fun initiative: A YCIS Shanghai Alumni T-Shirt Design Competition!

As a way of connecting the current crop of IB students with their older peers, this competition is open to all YCIS Shanghai Alumni, as well as to the current Year 12 and Year 13 YCIS Shanghai students in both Puxi and Pudong.

Not only is this a great way to connect with their alma mater, this competition also allows alumni and students to showcase their talents, and there is also a chance to win some fantastic prizes, including an Amazon gift card (third place), a smart watch (second place), and an Amazon Kindle Paper White for the lucky first-prize winner. All of this on top of the fact that the winning design will be printed on T-shirts which will be worn by our alumni, staff, and students at special events to represent the school, and the design will, undoubtedly, travel all across the world, just like the members of the international YCIS community do.

For Alumni and IB students interested in taking part in the competition, please follow the instructions on the Design Brief, and be sure to email your entry by midnight Beijing time on Monday, December 9, 2019.

The school wishes all those participating in the competition the very best of luck, and please stay tuned to the YCIS Shanghai Facebook page to see the winning entry in December.

Here's the link to download Alumni Logo: https://ycis-shanghai.wetransfer.com/downloads/df7c2401832676b38e88ae1cd2ceae9120191008030010/ac10a3

YCIS Hong Kong Parent's Expression of Thanks

Editor’s note: This past June, Mr Martin Scott, Executive Principal & School Business Manager of YCIS Hong Kong, received a letter of appreciation from a parent, whose two children are enrolled at the school. We wanted to share this heart-warming tribute with you all.

Dear Mr Scott, Mr Murray, Ms Tan,

Laura Colquhoun has taught my child this academic year, and I have felt very blessed to have had her. My son at times can be introverted, shy and humble. He would happily blend in with the rest of his classmates and keep his head down to avoid attention.

What first caught my attention about Laura was at the first parent-teacher meeting. In only 12 weeks, she fully understood my child. Her question to me was “which area of your child would you like to discuss first – emotional, social, sport or academic?”. And she was able to discuss each topic in depth and detail.

Laura has managed to pinpoint all of my son’s weaknesses and strengths and build on all of these over the course of the year. She has also managed to tease out the best in him. At the beginning of the year, I mentioned to Laura that he has not confident in math. And somehow she has turned this around completely and now he’s in the Gifted and Talented class! He is also writing stories for National English competitions and now she is (patiently) working with him on time management.

She has been an inspiration to both my son and myself. My son came back one day from school telling me about how she had talked to him about time management and how he needed to focus on both quality and quantity with his writing. That evening (and for the next few days), he turned around his whole life (he is known at home for procrastinating and dawdling) and managed himself by set- ting himself targets so that he was the first for everything, did everything quickly and immediately and even had time to relax and play. He was enthusiastic and buzzed following his interaction with Laura.

When asked to describe his teacher, my son said the following: “She is kind, helps a lot of people and good at rewarding and encouraging. She gives us time to relax, do work and makes things more fun to do. For example, she will use games to teach things that we don’t enjoy, like fractions.”

In a nutshell, Laura has been an excellent teacher, and as a result my son has had a fantastic year. I am so grateful to have my son in her class and hope that she teaches my other children in the future.

A Happy Mum

YCIS Shanghai Alumnus Generously Donates to Start Robotics Fund

Yew Chung International School of Shanghai (YCIS Shanghai) has received a generous gift from alumnus Clark Wu to create a seeding fund for the YCIS Puxi robotics programme that will further strengthen the school’s STEAM programme and inspire other students to reach their full potential.

Clark and his parents offered their incredibly kind donation as a way to express their gratitude to the faculty and community of YCIS for building such a strong foundation for his academic goals, as he sets off to the United States to study at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire this autumn.

Clark entered YCIS at six years old, having studied previously at a local kindergarten. “I genuinely feel that I learned all of my English at YCIS. At first, I found it challenging, but the year I spent in the English as an Additional Language programme was fantastic and helped me so much to progress in my learning,” he said of his beginnings at the school, during a recent visit to campus to discuss his donation. Starting in the YCIS Puxi Primary programme, he later moved on to the YCIS Puxi Secondary programme during his seven years at the school.

Clark’s mother, Ms Shen, highlighted that one of the main reasons they chose YCIS for Clark was that they wanted to further enhance his already high level of Chinese language skills, whilst also studying in an international environment.

Clark found his teachers very supportive and shared particularly wonderful memories with Ms Gu and Ms Hua, his Chinese language teachers. He also said that the music programme at the school helped him develop a true passion for music. During his time in the YCIS Puxi Secondary programme, Clark was selected as a Prefect and was also part of the Student Council. Clark also reminisced about the fantastic friendships he had with his classmates and noted that another main highlight of his time at YCIS was his involvement in the Robotics Co-Curricular programme, with three very good friends – Frank, Emma, and Gabe.

Clark’s donation will be allocated to support the Robotics programme, providing even more opportunities for the robotics and engineering activities which will take place starting next year in the new Innovation Incubator Space in the YCIS Puxi Secondary ‘C Building’. The renovation project for the ‘C Building’ starts this month and is scheduled to open in August 2020. Designed by Fielding Nair International, Yew Chung’s partner in providing exceptional, world-class learning spaces, the new building will feature a robotics space, project and design studios, a fabrication shop, an A.R.T. ideation suite, and specialty equipment rooms that feature the latest technologies, and will provide an enhanced, ‘Learning Community’ environment for YCIS students.

Ms Isabel Xu, Co-Principal at YCIS Puxi Secondary was delighted to welcome Clark back during his visit and was thrilled and very moved to hear of his donation, saying, “Clark has the heart and spirit that we aim to instil in our students. We are delighted to see how generous he is, and we are certain that he will make a change and impact the future of the world.”

Beyond his donation, YCIS Puxi is looking forward to welcoming Clark back to the school in the future to talk to students and inspire them with his message about giving back. As an alumnus of YCIS, Clark is also part of Yewtopia, the Yew Chung Education Foundation’s global alumni community. To learn more about Yewtopia, please visit https://ycefconnect.com/.

YCIS Puxi Alumnus Zakea Page Wins Olympics Medal Competition

In thrilling news, YCIS Shanghai Puxi alumnus Zakea Page (Class of 2017) has been announced as the winner of the International Olympic Committee (IOC)'s medal design competition for the Winter Youth Olympic Games Lausanne 2020.

Zakea’s winning design, entitled ‘Beauty in Diversity’, was selected by a panel of judges from among nearly 300 entries from 60 nations. His design will be cast in the form of gold, silver, and bronze medals for the Winter Youth Olympic Games, which will be held in Switzerland in January 2020. Zakea will attend the Games, including the Opening Ceremony, and will witness first-hand the athletes being awarded the medals featuring his design. In addition, he will receive his own set of medals.

The 20-year-old, who graduated from YCIS Puxi Secondary, is now a creative media student at Massey University in his home country of New Zealand. He has combined his love for art and hockey into an incredible work of performance art, coating a ball in ink and using his stick to create art, integrating sporting equipment into his artist's toolkit. His next dream is to perform his live performance art with his painting at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony.

In March, Zakea came back to visit Gubei Campus while hosting an art exhibition in Shanghai and shared his excitement as he awaited the results of the competition.

Zakea explained the background of his design, saying “It was inspired by Maya Angelou’s quote, ‘In diversity there is beauty’. This is fitting because the Youth Olympic Games are not only a celebration of human excellence but also of culture and humanity. The spiral represents a culture of respect, friendship, and excellence as young athletes gather at the Youth Olympic Games to celebrate their success. The spiral also celebrates the journey of hard work and dedication made by each individual athlete. These journeys are specific to each athlete, but they all lead to the Youth Olympic Games, where the athletes will compete and showcase their abilities.”

During his visit to campus, Zakea looked back fondly of his time at the school and shared that the highlights of his time at YCIS were the people that he met, the long-lasting friendships that he made, and the myriad of opportunities that YCIS provided for him.

According to Ms Isabel Xu, Co-Principal of YCIS Shanghai Puxi, “Zakea’s passion and talent for art is amazing! We were absolutely delighted when he joined YCIS Puxi because of the Arts department. He is now not only pursuing the art career he dreamed of, he’s doing it at such a high level! We are thrilled that his studies in our IB programme helped him to realise his dream. Personally, I am very happy to hear the news of his success, and to have witnessed his transformation from a gifted student to becoming an award-winning artist.”

YCIS Puxi Secondary Art & Design Teacher, Mr Regimon Augustine, who taught Zakea during his time at the school, said that he is also exceptionally proud of his talented former student, stating, “Everyone at YCIS Puxi Secondary is so proud of Zakea and his achievement. He is a fully-fledged artist, full of creativity. It was clear when he studied in my class that he was especially talented and that he possessed a creative outlook and was very forward-thinking, drawing inspiration on the latest, modern trends in art and design. His medal design was definitely the worthiest winner.”

Of this time at YCIS Shanghai Puxi, Zakea said that he wholehearted recommends the school to other students, stating, “YCIS Puxi is a place where you learn and you grow. The teachers and people at the school are phenomenal, and it’s a fantastic and safe place in which to be challenged. YCIS is a wonderful environment from which I have really benefited.”

Zakea’s visit served as a fantastic illustration of the enormously positive impact a YCIS education has on shaping the exciting career and life paths of our alumni. We warmly congratulate Zakea on his win and look forward to his future visits to campus!

A Dream Comes True – Yew Chung Educators!

YCCECE’s students come from diverse backgrounds and various parts of the world, many of whom require financial support to pursue tertiary education, but all of whom share a dream of serving and nurturing their country’s next generation.  Listen to two of our students on how scholarship has made their dreams come true.

YCCECE is reaching out to like-minded people in the community to support our work towards making our unwavering mission a reality.  Together, we will nurture a new generation of Yew Chung Educators!

We very much welcome you to come for a personal visit to the YCCECE campus.  In the meantime, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at secretariat@alumni.ycef.com.

Happy Founder's Day!

On 12th October 2018, the whole network of Yew Chung and Yew Wah come together in celebrating the Founder’s Day and commemorate the effort and dedication which our Founder, Hau Cheung Po Po (校長婆婆), had put into education.  86 years ago when the first Yew Chung school established in Hong Kong, Hau Cheung Po Po had only a dream to provide the best possible education to students and this dream stays still as the core mission of all YCIS and YWIES.  With the support from our dedicated team of staff, devoted parents and alumni, we are blessed to witness the growth of Yew Chung and Yew Wah in becoming an unique international education institution.   We are also thrilled to celebrate YCIS Shanghai of their 25thAnniversary! Happy Birthday YCIS Shanghai!

Happy 25thBirthday, YCIS Shanghai!  We are very proud of you.

We are blessed to have a big family gather together on Founder’s Day Celebration!

 

Thank you for our parents and alumni in participating this year’s event.