Interview

1. Concordia的中文课是我上过最轻松的一种课程，当然不确定是不是因为我的学习能力进步导致的。我上过公立学校和IGCSE的中文课，公立学校毋庸置疑大多都是要背诵诗歌或者概念，答案要一字不差，阅读理解宁可多写不可漏写。IGCSE中文课也有类似公立学校的分析和作文，但稍微轻松。Concordia的中文课重点完全不在这些上。首先考试一般不会出现大量课外的复杂内容，大多通过已经学过的内容并且简单推理就可以完成。真正独立的作业反而是一些海报，自创诗歌，课本剧这类开放型作业。总体来说设计非常人性化，能够在几乎没有应试焦虑的情境下学到中文。

2. 《回忆》是我完成的自创现代诗作业的标题。应老师要求这是视频形式，其中画面是使用iPad上的Procreate加上录屏创作的，主要是表达诗歌中的一些画面感。这首诗其实是将我在学校经历的事情用抽象的方式表达出来，主要使用的是课堂中学到的“比喻”手法。比如诗中“天地的回光”指的是傍晚教学楼内天花板灯光照射到地面的刺眼的反光，“红蜻蜓”指的是车辆的红色尾灯等等。整首诗大多数出现的实景都是意向，主要是想表达我对于高中生活的留念和怀旧感情。

3. 收到Offer的时候我发高烧，躺在床上拿手机看的，当时没力气反应了。选择CMU并没有一个具体的原因，大多还是因为缘分。一年前我申请夏校的时候CMU的NHSGA是唯一几个录取的项目之一，而我参加后觉得这所学校挺好的。选择这所学校是不会出错的，不会像选择没去过的学校那样有不确定性。当然参加过项目再申请应该能增加录取率，我们好几个人最后都选择了CMU。同时CMU的计算机科学项目也非常优秀，将其定为ED不会事后反悔。

4. 学校给予了我相当多的支持。我的顾问老师有亲自审阅我的文书，我的选校列表等等。并且顾问老师对学生的定位是非常清晰的，这样能够让学生们真正安心下来而不是在申请季焦虑不安。作为一个12年级的学生我只体验到了一年的顾问，我相信如果我自高中就在学校，能够体验到完整的顾问体系的话，对于我自身的发展应该有非常多的建设性帮助的。我也观察的低年级的许多人对于选课，或者AP考试都有许多疑问，不过学校对于他们有非常显著的支持。

5. 遗憾的是我这一年的选课并没有特别突出的课程，大概原因是我在之前已经将大多数我感兴趣的课程学完了。我只能说对我印象最深的课一定是Mr. Twaddell的AP World History。虽然我本来对文科没有很大的兴趣，但让我出乎意料的是这与我之前上的所有文科课都不一样。这门课的设计非常细腻，Lecture的长度恰到好处符合人类注意力集中的时间，以及有不同的课堂活动来加固知识。NHD作为我全年参加的唯一一个大型活动也给我留下了深刻的印象，我负责的网站的创新收到了老师和评委的认可。这也对我个人的理解产生了明显的进步

6. 当初转入Concordia的原因是为了在高中最后一年再体验一下更国际化的氛围。自9年级参加机器人比赛被Concordia队伍完胜后就一直对这所学校有神秘般的钦佩。更多其实不是学术上的原因而是我个人的原因，为了亲身经历这所学校并且感受这里。虽然作为本年级最后一个进入的学生，和学校里所有人都不熟且比较尴尬，但这个学校里的所有人都非常优秀以及友好，是我待过的许多学校中最好的一个。12年级转学其实没有想象中那么难受，Concordia的课程都是精心设计过的，至少我选择的课程很少有“读PPT”的那种敷衍模式。刚进入学校我就很快地熟悉了这里的许多系统，并且比我想象中的还要好。当然有个点我觉得是Concordia的特色之一，就是很多课程都会有“自省”的成分，比如英语课期末的个人叙事哲学，中文课两次个人情感的创作，Apologetics期末的关于个人理解的答辩等等。我觉得这是一个非常好的机会，真正地从自身出发，把这种自省换来更深刻的理解。

7. 进入大学后我的首要目标就是与志同道合的人交往。我的高中被混乱地截成了3段，所以我希望在完整的大学生活期间能有完整且舒服的社交。另外我会尽可能尝试用其它方式去放松，比如创作音乐。我前往美国后我家的这台Windows Desktop搬不过去，没办法继续使用FL Studio创作音乐了。正好借这个机会把创作迁移到 Ableton。

Concordia’s Mandarin class has been one of the most distinct courses I’ve ever taken, though I’m not sure whether that’s because my learning ability has improved. I’ve taken Mandarin classes in both a local Chinese school and the IGCSE. Local school was obviously mostly about memorizing things, which requires answers to be word-for-word exact to get points. IGCSE’s Mandarin class had similar analysis and essay writing, but a bit easier and less restricted. Concordia’s Mandarin class doesn’t focus on any of these things at all. The exams generally don’t include large amounts of complex outside material, and most can be completed using only what we’ve already learned with simple reasoning. The genuinely independent assignments are instead in more creative forms such as posters, original poems, and drama. Overall the design is very reasonable and allows me to learn Mandarin in a chill environment with no test anxiety.

“回忆” is the title of an original modern poem I created as an assignment. At the teacher’s request, it was in video form created using “Procreate” on iPad with screen recording. The video part was mainly to express some of the visual imagery in the poem. The poem literally expressed my fondness and nostalgia for things I experienced at school in a unique way using the “metaphor” technique we learned in class. For example, “天地的回光” in the poem refers to the glare of the ceiling lights bouncing off the floor inside the building in the evening, and the “红蜻蜓” refers to the red taillights of vehicles outside the school, and so on. Most of the real scenes that appear throughout the poem are imagery.

When I received the offer, I had a high fever and was reading it on my phone while lying on a bed, with no energy to be excited at that time. However, the reality was that I had no plans to be admitted at all, and I was still preparing applications for other universities. Nevertheless, there wasn’t one specific reason for choosing CMU. It was more of a coincidence. A year ago, when I was applying to summer programs, CMU’s Summer Session was one of the few that accepted me, and after attending I felt this school was fascinating. Choosing this school was a sure thing, without the uncertainty of choosing a school I’d never been to. At the same time, CMU’s Computer Science program is also excellent, so making it one of my choices wasn’t something I’d regret afterward.

The school gave me quite a lot of support. My counselor personally reviewed my essays, my school list, etc. And the counselors have a very clear sense of each student’s positioning, which lets students truly settle down rather than feeling anxious during application season. As a 12th-grade student, I only experienced one year of counseling, but I believe that if I had been at the school since the start of high school and could have experienced the full counseling system, it would have been tremendously constructive for my own development. I’ve also observed that many younger students have plenty of questions about course selection or AP exams, and the school provides them with very significant support.

All I can say is that the course that left the deepest impression on me has to be Mr. Twaddell’s AP World History. Although I didn’t originally have much interest in the humanities, what surprised me was that this was unlike any humanities class I’d taken before. The course design was very thoughtful. The lectures were just the right length to match the human attention span so that students don’t fall asleep in the middle, and there were various in-class activities to reinforce the knowledge. NHD, one of the only events I took part in throughout the year, also left a deep impression on me, and the innovation of the website I was responsible for received recognition from teachers and judges. This also produced a clear improvement in my own understanding.

My original reason for transferring to Concordia was to experience a more international atmosphere in my final year of high school. Ever since my robotics team was thoroughly beaten by Concordia’s team in 9th grade, I’d held a strange sort of admiration for this school. My reasons were more personal than academic, to personally experience this school and feel what it’s like here. Although, as the last student to join my grade, I wasn’t familiar with anyone at the school and it was a bit awkward, everyone here turned out to be incredibly talented and friendly, making it one of the best schools I’ve ever attended. Transferring in 12th grade was actually far less uncomfortable than I’d imagined. Concordia’s courses are all carefully designed, and at least the ones I chose were not the perfunctory “reading off slides”. As soon as I entered the school I quickly grew familiar with its many systems, and it was even better than I’d expected. There’s also one point I consider one of Concordia’s signature features, which is that many courses include an element of “self-reflection,” such as the personal narrative philosophy at the end of English class, the two pieces of personal emotional creative work in Mandarin class, and the oral presentation on personal understanding at the end of Apologetics. I think this is a wonderful opportunity to truly start from oneself and turn that self-reflection into a deeper understanding.

Entering college, my top priority is to connect with different people. My high school years were split across 3 different environments, so I hope to have complete and comfortable social connections during a full college experience. Besides that, I’ll try as much as possible to relax in other ways, such as composing music. After I go to the US, my Windows Desktop at home can’t be moved over, so I won’t be able to keep using FL Studio to compose music. Perhaps this is the perfect chance to migrate my creative work over to Ableton.

Dear Ms. Wu,
Thank you so much for reaching out, and sure, I’m glad to answer and share my thoughts:

Concordia’s Mandarin class has been one of the most distinct courses I’ve ever taken, though I’m not sure whether that’s because my learning ability has improved. I’ve taken Mandarin classes in both a local Chinese school and the IGCSE. Local school was obviously mostly about memorizing things, which requires answers to be word-for-word exact to get points. IGCSE’s Mandarin class had similar analysis and essay writing, but a bit easier and less restricted. Concordia’s Mandarin class doesn’t focus on any of these things at all. The exams generally don’t include large amounts of complex outside material, and most can be completed using only what we’ve already learned with simple reasoning. The genuinely independent assignments are instead in more creative forms such as posters, original poems, and drama. Overall the design is very reasonable and allows me to learn Mandarin in a chill environment with no test anxiety.

“回忆” is the title of an original modern poem I created as an assignment. At the teacher’s request, it was in video form created using “Procreate” on iPad with screen recording. The video part was mainly to express some of the visual imagery in the poem. The poem literally expressed my fondness and nostalgia for things I experienced at school in a unique way using the “metaphor” technique we learned in class. For example, “天地的回光” in the poem refers to the glare of the ceiling lights bouncing off the floor inside the building in the evening, and the “红蜻蜓” refers to the red taillights of vehicles outside the school, and so on. Most of the real scenes that appear throughout the poem are imagery.

When I received the offer, I had a high fever and was reading it on my phone while lying on a bed, with no energy to be excited at that time. However, the reality was that I had no plans to be admitted at all, and I was still preparing applications for other universities. Nevertheless, there wasn’t one specific reason for choosing CMU. It was more of a coincidence. A year ago, when I was applying to summer programs, CMU’s Summer Session was one of the few that accepted me, and after attending I felt this school was fascinating. Choosing this school was a sure thing, without the uncertainty of choosing a school I’d never been to. At the same time, CMU’s Computer Science program is also excellent, so making it one of my choices wasn’t something I’d regret afterward.

The school gave me quite a lot of support. My counselor personally reviewed my essays, my school list, etc. And the counselors have a very clear sense of each student’s positioning, which lets students truly settle down rather than feeling anxious during application season. As a 12th-grade student, I only experienced one year of counseling, but I believe that if I had been at the school since the start of high school and could have experienced the full counseling system, it would have been tremendously constructive for my own development. I’ve also observed that many younger students have plenty of questions about course selection or AP exams, and the school provides them with very significant support.

The course that left the deepest impression on me has to be Mr. Twaddell’s AP World History. Although I didn’t originally have much interest in the humanities, what surprised me was that this was unlike any humanities class I’d taken before. The course design was very thoughtful. The lectures were just the right length to match the human attention span so that students don’t fall asleep in the middle, and there were various in-class activities to reinforce the knowledge. NHD, one of the only events I took part in throughout the year, also left a deep impression on me, and the innovation of the website I was responsible for received recognition from teachers and judges. This also produced a clear improvement in my own understanding.

My original reason for transferring to Concordia was to experience a more international atmosphere in my final year of high school. Ever since my robotics team was thoroughly beaten by Concordia’s team in 9th grade, I’d held a strange sort of admiration for this school. My reasons were more personal than academic, to personally experience this school and feel what it’s like here. Although, as the last student to join my grade, I wasn’t familiar with anyone at the school and it was a bit awkward, everyone here turned out to be incredibly talented and friendly, making it one of the best schools I’ve ever attended. Transferring in 12th grade was actually far less uncomfortable than I’d imagined. Concordia’s courses are all carefully designed, and at least the ones I chose were not the perfunctory “reading off slides”. As soon as I entered the school I quickly grew familiar with its many systems, and it was even better than I’d expected. There’s also one point I consider one of Concordia’s signature features, which is that many courses include an element of “self-reflection,” such as the personal narrative philosophy at the end of English class, the two pieces of personal emotional creative work in Mandarin class, and the oral presentation on personal understanding at the end of Apologetics. I think this is a wonderful opportunity to truly start from oneself and turn that self-reflection into a deeper understanding.

Entering college, my top priority is to connect with different people. My high school years were split across 3 different environments, so I hope to have complete and comfortable social connections during a full college experience. Besides that, I’ll try as much as possible to relax in other ways, such as composing music. After I go to the US, my Windows Desktop at home can’t be moved over, so I won’t be able to keep using FL Studio to compose music. Perhaps this is the perfect chance to migrate my creative work over to Ableton.

Thank you again for reaching out, and hope this is useful.

Best,
Alan