1、Having received more than 10 offers from the world-famous universities, he finally decided to go to Imperial College, London.

Can you imagine what it would be like to have a Fields Medal winner (the equivalent of a Nobel Prize winner in mathematics) as your mentor?

This is exactly what Frank, a senior from EYAS and also a maths major at Imperial College, has enjoyed. More than a year ago, Frank finally selected Imperial College among dozens of offers from top universities in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. Before the outbreak of COVID-19, he had spent his freshman year happily in London.

“College students here study on their own. Class attendance is not necessarily required. It's up to you. If you want to study, resources are always available, and libraries are almost always 7/24. There are no textbooks for all courses, and the professors write the handouts themselves. We were lectured by professors from the Royal Academy of Sciences and even winners of the Fields Medal...” Frank told us.

Life in London is cozy. Every Friday and Saturday is joked by Frank as“Hanging around London Day”.“There are a lot of fun things to see on the street!”There are all kinds of interesting clubs in the school. Frank joined a club that specializes in studying the London underground lines. The club organizes an activity every two weeks or every month. Sometimes we take the subway together to make field investigation and study the rationality between the traffic flow and the lines at each subway station. Sometimes we also visit the museum of trains, subways and airplanes.

“Once, a member of our club wrote a letter to the government, proposing an optimization plan for a section of subway line, which was finally adopted!” Frank told us proudly. “It's easy to create a constant sense of self-drive in such an open and diverse environment.”This is also what impressed Frank most when he came to Imperial College.

2、Math prodigy was frustrated.

Frank did not plan to study abroad at the beginning. All the time, he has been educated in China.

He studied in the Primary School Affiliated to Central China Normal University and then he was admitted to Qiyi Huayuan Middle School, a key private middle school. It seems that he didn’t have to try hard to get a high school promotion. Because of his outstanding math performance, he was recruited by the competition class of the No.1 Affiliated High School of Central China Normal University before the college entrance examination (there were only 15 online vacancies in the city that year).

“At that time, I just wanted my son to go to Tsinghua University, Peking University, Fudan University or Jiaotong University.” Frank’s father admitted.

However, Frank's “successful life” suddenly “screeched to a halt” when he was in the high school.

To ‘Survive’ in the competition class of the No. 1 High School Affiliated to Central China Normal University, which is what everyone dreams of, requires a very strong mind as a support.” Frank said.

Frank's competition class is totally different from other classes in learning style. “When I was in high school, I really got used to the self-study mode. I didn't have classes every morning and stayed in the classroom to study on my own. If I had questions, I could ask teachers for help. The whole class used to participate in all kinds of domestic and international math competitions, with only one goal, that is, to strive for admission to Tsinghua University or Peking University.”

Even if you work harder than before, it is difficult to be at the top of your class. Competition at “the top of the Pyramid” is fierce and brutal.

Frank was never the kind of child who could concentrate on study without distractions. He also has many hobbies, such as playing football, running, watching movies, etc.

The high-pressure study mode broke Frank's learning rhythm, so he decided to “find a new way”. In the first semester of his second year in high school, he proposed to his family the idea of studying abroad.

3、From purely public schools to international schools, what does it take to switch the“track”without obstacles?

After gaining the support from his family, Frank's application to study in a Canadian high school as an exchange student for one year was soon approved.

Frank admitted that he had the courage to leave without hesitation, because of his eight years’ English study in Rise English, a branch of EYAS International Education Group.

In 2008, Rise English was set up in Wuhan and Frank became one of the first students. “For so many years, I have been studying in public schools, and my family has not provided any conditions for my English study. I have been relying on RISE for English learning.” Said Frank's father.

Every week, Frank spent six hours in RISE's pure English environment. Frank's teacher, Dora, said, only half-jokingly, “At that time, they even quarreled with each other in English after class.” English thinking has been formed in class and after class everyday.

“When I went to Canada that year, I had an unforgettable experience.” Frank told us, “I quickly adapted to the pure English learning environment in Canada.

Many of the students knew little about the vocabulary of mathematics, but I have learned it in Rise English.” Frank was very familiar with the PBL project learning method, which was often used in high school classes in Canada, involving group discussion, research, separate information collection, summarizing, making PPT, and finally presentation of the project results.

Class in Rise English is very similar to the mode. The teacher will distribute different learning tasks to the children according to the teaching contents. After getting the“task cards”, the students will be divided into groups and given different tasks. Then they will go to the“Apple Lab”(there are 18 iPads in the lab), and complete the input of outline information through 20-30 minutes of free exploration. Then they went back to the classroom and made a presentation.

“In the beginning, I was a person who was really scared of going on stage. Then I had more opportunities to practice, and I was in control!” Frank recalled, “I still remember that once during the break, we spontaneously organized an English debate competition to discuss which is better, Tsinghua University or Yale University. It was very interesting!”

“Completing subject education in American primary school in English”,“cultivating children's subject thinking”, and“teaching children to learn in English rather than English”, Frank made steady progress all the way from S1 to middle school courses, which is probably the key reason why he can switch the“track”without any obstacles.

4、Interest is the best teacher

During the interview, Frank kept emphasizing that EYAS is not just a place for him to learn English. “For eight years, I have spent six hours there every week. It is like a small social circle. Teachers and classmates can influence you imperceptibly. I learned how to put myself in others' shoes, how to collaborate, how to appreciate, how to be a more complete person.” Frank said emotionally.

EYAS is a place where I can relax after finishing a lot of papers.” Frank gave his “highest” compliment.

As Franks father summed it up, what made Frank grow into what he is now? The answer is interest. English is what he is good at, maths is what he is keen on, and interest is the best teacher.

5、Be in control of your life

Now, due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the UK, the school has suspended offline courses and changed them to online ones. Frank chose to return to China. In September, he went to Dali, Yunnan Province, to volunteer at a youth hostel, working five hours a day and spending the rest of the day taking online classes and studying.

 “Why do you choose Dali?”

“Because I want to know more people, and I like to study in lively environment.”

The youth hostel has people coming and going every day. There are overseas students like Frank who come back to China because of the epidemic, stray singers, white-collar workers who just quit their jobs, and mothers who take their children to see the world. Frank is here, listening to other people's stories and enriching his own life.

“What kind of person do you want to be in the future?”

He answered without hesitation, “a person who is in control of my own life.”

Only then did I realize that the brilliant boy, who had just turned 20 years old, was not only shining with“outstanding student temperament”, but also with his passionate love for life.