Hong Kong International School 1 Red Hill Road, Tai Tam, Hong Kong dragonnet.hkis.edu.hk
“Veritas vos liberatit.” Winter Issue
December 2019
HKIS Tennis Takes China Cup by the Storm By Michelle Ahn
Angelica Cheng’s Transformative Interim By April Leong In the spring of 2018, Angelica Cheng from last year’s graduating class embarked on her third interim trip—Thailand: Life on the Margins. While this trip was not her first or second choice, it would not only inspire her still ongoing senior project but also influence college and career decisions. During this trip, students got to visit Mae Ra Moe refugee camp and the Mae Ra Moe Junior College (MRMJC), where they learned about the oppression of the Karen people in Myanmar and interacted with local students. Through getting to know people who were underprivileged, Angelica realized the importance of education and its power. “[the trip] allowed me to really see the importance of education as a human right, and its value as not only a weapon to change the world but also a source of dignity and purpose for people,” she explained.
Boys Varsity, Girls Varsity, and Girls Junior Varsity Tennis Players
From September 19th to 22nd, the HKIS Tennis teams flew to the International School of Beijing (ISB) to compete in China Cup. Although the competition was fierce, the HKIS Dragons had no trouble dominating the tournament. The Boys Varsity, Boys Junior Varsity (JV), and Girls JV brought home titles as champions, and the Girls Varsity team shortly followed for second. As last year’s China Cup Tennis was canceled for our teams due to Typhoon Mangkhut, many players were especially nervous. “Most of us were going in blindsided… only a few of us had attended China Cup before,” said Abby Davis (10), from the Girls JV team. “I just knew HKIS had brought home back to back championships before, which was even more pressure.” Heading into the tournament, the teams also felt that they lacked the skill set they acquired last year, as many star senior players graduated. In the Boys Varsity team, 3 of 6 new players had to fill the enormous shoes of the past seniors. “I was scared we lost our dynamic,” Subin Shetty (10) said, from the Boys Varsity team. “Our tennis teams always did so well. It’s so much pressure to win, especially with the seniors gone.”
remarkable performance. The players agreed that a crucial reason for their success was confidence and composure. “Confidence is key,” said Andrew Liu (12), from Boys Varsity. “Tennis is 90% a mental game, so if we believe that we have worked harder than our opponents, we can accomplish anything.” Once the teams found their key to success, China Cup became “banter and more about having fun,” said Josh Kim (9). The teams unanimously agreed that their new philosophy was what led them to have such a high-spirited and energetic tournament. “Tennis is a very individual sport,” Andrew said, “but once we built confidence in each other, we were unstoppable—I’ve never had a team with so much passion before.” Andrew, along with his teammates, believed that their confidence, energy, and passion, is what led to the success in China Cup 2019. In the midst of challenge during sports, athletes often forget what drives success. To the HKIS Tennis team, success is driven by confidence, passion, and high spirits. Over the next few weeks in both APAC/JPAC and ISSFHK, the HKIS Tennis team will continue to rise above adversity utilizing this new philosophy.
As the results reveal, however, the teams’ nerves were exceedingly compensated for by their
Visit our website! hkisjunto.org
This eye-opening experience motivated Angelica to focus on helping refugees in Hong Kong for her senior project. In fact, she would visit the MRMJC again the following year, receiving special permission to go on the same interim in order to further her work with refugees. There, she reconnected with some students she met the previous year and interviewed the school principal, who she is still in contact with. In addition, she acted as a leader to the rest of the students on the trip, educating them on the issue and inspiring them to join her cause. In the summer, she collected donations, primarily books, and led another group of students to visit the camp for the third time before heading off to college. Despite being thousands of miles away from Hong Kong, she continues looking for sources of funding for the Mae Ra Moe refugee camp and carrying on her senior project with a team of HKIS students that share the same interest. “I really want to go into education—be a teacher.” After learning about the true value and impact of education, Angelica has changed her initial plans for college and her career and has decided to dedicate herself to helping refugees. She applied to colleges in Massachusetts in order for more access to opportunities involving refugee work, specifically re-settled Karen refugees. She is now involved with teaching English to refugees from Latin America and looking for volunteer opportunities at local refugee centers. What started as a short week grew into one of Angelica’s greatest passions. “I never thought any of this would come out of an interim trip,” she said. Although the trip may not have offered the most comfortable hotels or smoothest transportation to remote refugee camps, it offered an unforgettable lesson about the power of education and how privileged we are to have it.