New Additions to the Ram Community

In the new school year, we are welcoming several new 11th and 10th graders into our Ram community. Joining a new school as a sophomore can be challenging, but entering as a junior may be tougher due to the start of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (IBDP). In the 2019-2020 school year, there is a total of 4 new juniors and 8 new sophomores.

Krish S, a new addition to the Rams junior population, comes from Pathways World School Aravali in Gurgaon, India. He has visited China numerous times before, but it is his first time living in Dongguan and attending an international school in Guangzhou. He is passionate about basketball, and also takes a lot of interest in computer programming and graphical design.

So far, Krish has only been to 3 schools including the American International School of Guangzhou (AISG). He states that he “really likes the teachers here” as they “successfully create a casual environment in the classrooms” that allow the students to be participative and friendly. In the year of starting the IBDP, he says that he is “mostly aware” of how this program works. In spite of that, he is still nervous about continuing the IBDP as it is “still high school.”

Davi M, an arising 10^th grader, has previously studied at Concordia International School of Shanghai (CISS). He studied at CISS for 2 years before coming AISG. He is originally from Brazil, moving to Guangzhou for sophomore year.

Although it is not a very big change from Shanghai to Guangzhou for Davi, he mentioned that people at AISG are “so welcoming.” With this he also expressed his concerns about having to deal with IB in a year’s time. He says that he is “just concerned that everyone always says how this is supposed to be the time to have fun with our lives,” but he isn’t able to visualize an individual who has to “deal with keeping good grades” and have a “[good] social life” with the IB diploma in mind. Nonetheless, since he is coming from an APAC school, he plans to join sports such as basketball and soccer.

With this, another new 10^th grader, Taeyoung “Tony” K, has lived in China for the past 9 years. He is coming from Shanghai High School International Division (SHSID) and has gone to other schools in Shanghai such as Shanghai American School (SAS), but this is his first time living in Guangzhou. His initial impression of AISG was that it contained a “friendly” environment. He states that, “teachers that I don’t even know [the] names of say “hi” to me, and I think that is evidence that this school really has a warm, friendly environment.”

Our new additions to the Ram community seem to be enjoying their time at AISG so far. Be sure to greet them when you see them in the hallway!