CHES Graduation Season: Special Report Two

Recently, the world's leading universities in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and China's HKSAR have issued a wave of conditional offers to Chinese students. As in previous years, students from CHES have received "olive branches" from their dream universities. Following our previous interviews with outstanding graduates Maia and Cheong Chi Son, this time we will get a closer look at the two besties from the business class, Wu Yazhi and Peng Hiu Lam.

Peng Hiu Lam (left) and Wu Yazhi (right)

Wu Yazhi: BPA China silver medal winner's 'trouble'

Wu Yazhi, who has participated in both Cambridge A-level and the US ACT exams, has received pre-admission notices from five British universities such as the University of Manchester and the University of Southampton, and 10 American universities such as the University of California San Diego and Pennsylvania State University.

Wu Yazhi was born in the United States and attended CHES since junior middle school. She is a girl who dares to challenge herself and is full of innovative energy.

In the summer of 2022, the Student Union was going to plan the Annual Graduation Ceremony as usual. At that time, Wu Yazhi was the President of the Student Union, and she faced a difficult situation. Due to the epidemic prevention and control, many parents could not come to school to attend the ceremony in person, which seemed to leave many senior high school graduates and parents with deep regrets. Wu and her friends were creative enough to live-streaming that year's graduation ceremony on Douyin, which helped so many family to capture and share that wonderful moments in life.

CHES students have won many awards in global business competitions. Among them, Wu Yazhi is one of the winners of the Silver Award in the China Division of BPA (Business Professionals of America), a global authoritative business academic competition. Last July's BPA China competition saw more than 15,000 participants. Wu Yazhi and Cheong Chi Son participated as a team on behalf of the school, fully demonstrating their talent in business academic and practical aspects, and won the appreciation of the judge panels.

As mentioned above, Wu Yazhi received conditional offers from many universities in the United States and Britain, and her family hoped that she would study in the United States. However, she personally liked the history and learning environment of the University of Manchester much better. Deciding where she will go next is a little "trouble" only belongs to her.

Peng Hiu Lam: Next step, the University of Hong Kong? Or Britain or Australia?

Peng Hiu Lam, Wu's best friend, received pre-admission offers from the world's top ranking universities such as the University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, as well as the University of Manchester, the University of Warwick and Durham University.

Hiu Lam is a Hong Kong native. As soon as she graduated from kindergarten in Hong Kong, her parents started looking at the schools in the Pearl River Delta area to choose a suitable one for her. "My cousin happened to study at CHES at that time, and he said the school was really good. So, my parents came to visit the school onsite, and then decided to send me to Zhongshan."

Hiu Lam began to live in the school dorm at the age of 6, and the colorful extracurricular activities of the dormitory department stimulated her extensive hobbies. She became familiar with calligraphy, Chinese painting, baking, piano and photography, and she has won multiple prizes in those areas for many times. She was invited to the Great Hall of the People for four times. During her 12 years of boarding experience, she served as the Vice Chairman of the Student Self-discipline Committee of the school's dormitory department and participated in planning a large number of school events.

Talking about the future, her parents want Hiu Lam to study in the University of Hong Kong. She has lived up to their expectations, and received conditional offers from the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. However, she also has her own ideas. She has applied for several universities in the UK and Australia at the same time, and has received pre-admission notices from the University of Warwick, the University of Manchester, Durham University, Lancaster University, and the University of Melbourne and the University of Sydney in Australia.

As for which university will she choose, let's all wait and see.