The Puzzle: Blog

Three countries, five cities, nine schools, and ten flights in eleven days.

In mid-November, I embarked on a whirlwind tour to parts of Asia, which had me visit our client schools in Taiwan, South Korea, mainland China, and Hong Kong. The trip was an incredible professional and personal experience that I will remember fondly for the rest of my life.

This is the second post in a series I'm writing about my trip to Asia. Check out the first part of my journey here.

Shanghai American School

Soon after my visit to Keystone Academy in Beijing, China, I flew to Shanghai where I connected with Shanghai American School and Soong Ching Ling School.

Helene Reiter, Director of Human Resources at Shanghai American School (SAS), welcomed me to the Puxi campus (which is important to clarify, as SAS has two campuses). The Puxi campus is west of center Shanghai, while the other campus is in Pudong. Both campuses are K-12 and follow the same curriculum. Approximately 3,200 students attend SAS and engage in an incredibly vibrant, forward thinking school community. As one of, if not the largest international school in China, SAS has students from over 40 countries and teachers from 27 countries. The school embraces the international culture, offering both IB and AP curriculums.  Helene and I toured the Puxi campus, and I was able to see the brand new STEM/science lab space which will rival most university-level facilities. Walking through the center of campus, across the playgrounds and sports fields, you can see the high rise buildings in Shanghai in the distance.

Soong Ching Ling

At Soong Ching Ling School, I met with Mary Margaret Magee, Middle School Head, and Jane Heimerdinger, Principal. I arrived on a sunny afternoon to their beautiful 40-acre campus with flower-lined walkways and lush, green gardens. To have this kind of space in the Shanghai area is truly remarkable. The school was bright, open, and filled with laughter and joy. Open only since 2008, the school is named after Madame Soong Ching Ling, the former Honorary President of China, and offers both a Chinese program and an international program. Currently grades K-8, the school will be adding a high school, and will be adding one grade per year until they reach 12th grade. The school is located on the Qing Pu campus, surrounded by working cargo canals.

My last flight before getting on a flight back home to Boston was a flight to Hong Kong, where I visited Chinese International School and Stamford American School – Hong Kong.

Chinese International School

Ted Faunce, Headmaster at Chinese International School (CIS), led me on a tour of campus and a peek into the new building which houses a multi-purpose facility, science labs, and maker/design space—all of which is intentionally near the art studios on campus to help stimulate more STEAM initiatives. The idea of offering interdisciplinary, innovative courses and programs is very much a focus for Chinese International School. Their “Year 10” students are required to take the full academic year in Hangzhou, living and learning on their boarding campus. This program has been an extremely positive and transformational experience for the students studying away from home, and is a unique and true hallmark of the CIS community.

Stamford American School – Hong Kong will open its doors in the fall of 2017 serving grades Pre-Primary through 8. The school will introduce grades 9-12 the following academic year. The campus will be located in Kowloon, Hong Kong, just across the harbor from central Hong Kong. Stamford hopes to continue to build from the success it has had in Singapore at its sister campus; at the Stamford American International School, over 3,000 students attend from over 70 countries. This institution is forward-thinking, innovative school offering a dual language program on Chinese or Spanish, an IB curriculum, and STEMinn (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and Innovation) programs.

The trip was a real pleasure for me both personally and professionally. Being able to visit and see these vibrant international school communities thrive and provide unique and exciting educational programs for students in all grades is truly inspiring. Knowing that I and the CS&A team have an opportunity to assist these schools in providing them talented educators is a real honor. Our ability to impact students through the teachers we provide our clients is an awesome responsibility, and all of us here are ready and prepared to make that happen.

Stay tuned for Part 3 of this series on my thoughts about how this trip will shape the exciting future of CS&A’s work with schools abroad.

Todd Gochman is a Placement Associate at CS&A working with Biology/Life Science, Chemistry, and K-8 Science. He also coordinates CS&A’s school visit program.

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