Sylvia Kim, Grade 11
UWCSEA (Dover)
At UWC Dover, learning stretches beyond the classroom walls:
‘Hey! Why would you put the book on the floor?’ My Indian roommate came in screaming at me.
‘Calm down! I was only trying to clean up the table. Look how messy it is.’ I replied.
‘Please quiet down girls.’ My houseparent, Helen, walked in shaking her head lightly.
‘Sorry, Helen!’ My roommate and I giggled in chorus.
This was another day in my room when I had put aside one of my books on the floor. My Indian roommate became slightly upset about this. According to her, in Indian culture, it is extremely disrespectful and almost spitefully rude to leave books on the ground. That is probably one of the first things I learned at UWCSEA. I hadn’t been taught how to differentiate an algebraic equation nor how to structure an analytical essay, but it was something I couldn’t have learned anywhere else in the world. Like that, my transformational learning experience at this school began three years ago.
After the long thirteen years in my hometown, I left the small nutshell I had been in for my whole life. The best part of living in a smaller neighbourhood and a small school was knowing everyone in the community and recognising all the students and teachers at school. Being under constant protection and care of my beloved mother and father had kept me safe and sound, but what I craved was to be in a bigger world.
From a small school of five hundred students in Seoul to a massive school of thirty-five hundred all the way in Singapore was the greatest change I had faced in my life. Everyone I saw, every building I walked into, every teacher I waved hello to, were all strangers. As a new boarding student with not a single person I knew, it was very difficult for me to start my new family and to call this school my new home. I missed home, my parents, and that bubble I used to be part of. I would lay awake many nights, anxiously thinking about how I could fit in. Going through this dilemma of my own, however, was the turning point of my life. Soon enough though, starting with my roommate from Burma, then my friend’s Indian friend in the room right across, I eventually made my very own - UWCSEA family. I made lifelong friends even across different grade levels and amazing connections with teachers. That summer, I came back home a completely different person than I had left it. I was no longer shy but a valuable contributor to my community.
Within the family I found at my home away from home, I came across another transformational lesson: that in fact, many people make friends beyond their own grade levels. Being a Korean and heavily influenced by Korean culture, I grew up being told to respect your elders and everyone older than you, even at school too. Actually, it was so important to pay your respects that there’s even a word for it: you call all of your upperclassmen your ‘sunbae’. So in my Korean school, it was obviously rare to see friendships across different grades. Then to treat them like your actual friend was a definite red flag in your social life. But it was different here at UWCSEA.
Maybe not every single person, but most people in the boarding house were amiable to the new middle schooler and treated me like their younger sibling. They were supposed to be scary, big high schoolers I would have never imagined befriending back at home. Yet they were not like that at all; they presented me with unconditional friendships. Being able to have a best friend much older than you is another valuable lesson I’ve learnt throughout my time here, which I cherish to this day.
I believe there are many other memorable lessons UWCSEA will continue teaching me in the coming years about the diverse cultures and the amazing community it carries.
UWCSEA is why I am who I am today.
‘Hey! Why would you put the book on the floor?’ My Indian roommate came in screaming at me.
‘Calm down! I was only trying to clean up the table. Look how messy it is.’ I replied.
‘Please quiet down girls.’ My houseparent, Helen, walked in shaking her head lightly.
‘Sorry, Helen!’ My roommate and I giggled in chorus.
This was another day in my room when I had put aside one of my books on the floor. My Indian roommate became slightly upset about this. According to her, in Indian culture, it is extremely disrespectful and almost spitefully rude to leave books on the ground. That is probably one of the first things I learned at UWCSEA. I hadn’t been taught how to differentiate an algebraic equation nor how to structure an analytical essay, but it was something I couldn’t have learned anywhere else in the world. Like that, my transformational learning experience at this school began three years ago.
After the long thirteen years in my hometown, I left the small nutshell I had been in for my whole life. The best part of living in a smaller neighbourhood and a small school was knowing everyone in the community and recognising all the students and teachers at school. Being under constant protection and care of my beloved mother and father had kept me safe and sound, but what I craved was to be in a bigger world.
From a small school of five hundred students in Seoul to a massive school of thirty-five hundred all the way in Singapore was the greatest change I had faced in my life. Everyone I saw, every building I walked into, every teacher I waved hello to, were all strangers. As a new boarding student with not a single person I knew, it was very difficult for me to start my new family and to call this school my new home. I missed home, my parents, and that bubble I used to be part of. I would lay awake many nights, anxiously thinking about how I could fit in. Going through this dilemma of my own, however, was the turning point of my life. Soon enough though, starting with my roommate from Burma, then my friend’s Indian friend in the room right across, I eventually made my very own - UWCSEA family. I made lifelong friends even across different grade levels and amazing connections with teachers. That summer, I came back home a completely different person than I had left it. I was no longer shy but a valuable contributor to my community.
Within the family I found at my home away from home, I came across another transformational lesson: that in fact, many people make friends beyond their own grade levels. Being a Korean and heavily influenced by Korean culture, I grew up being told to respect your elders and everyone older than you, even at school too. Actually, it was so important to pay your respects that there’s even a word for it: you call all of your upperclassmen your ‘sunbae’. So in my Korean school, it was obviously rare to see friendships across different grades. Then to treat them like your actual friend was a definite red flag in your social life. But it was different here at UWCSEA.
Maybe not every single person, but most people in the boarding house were amiable to the new middle schooler and treated me like their younger sibling. They were supposed to be scary, big high schoolers I would have never imagined befriending back at home. Yet they were not like that at all; they presented me with unconditional friendships. Being able to have a best friend much older than you is another valuable lesson I’ve learnt throughout my time here, which I cherish to this day.
I believe there are many other memorable lessons UWCSEA will continue teaching me in the coming years about the diverse cultures and the amazing community it carries.
UWCSEA is why I am who I am today.
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