Last Friday, I interviewed Annie Chen from 12B who was chosen as the Star Student this month. Generally, a Star Student should be achieving academically and be involved in school activities as well as in out of school activities. Without any doubts, Annie Chen conforms to all of them.
When I first asked about why she thinks she was chosen as a star student this month, she gave me a one-word prediction: “active”. How are we using this word to describe a person? Usually, we use this word to describe a person who is involved in something with a determined effort and do not leave it to happen by itself. Annie Chen is a person like that; she put lots of effort into learning math, which later resulted in full marks in both term 3 and term 4 last year. Besides, she won the Euclid contest, which is a contest for Grade 12students, when she was still in Grade 11. Annie also performed actively in the SUID (student union) and she succeeded in winning the election to be the president. Her effort has already been shown by her great academic achievements.
Outstanding is also a great characteristic that can describe Annie Chen. When I asked her about the NBC program, she showed strong interest in drama and hockey. She said: “the NBC program is a good combination of both hard work and interests”. Apart from getting medals in math, she also won the BCOS hockey championship with her teammate last year. Usually, we called a person “bookworm” when that person only focuses on studying. Obviously, Annie Chen did not take this hat and she chose to be “all-around amazing” instead.
The stage of life is vast and out-of-school activities are also important. Annie Chen joined a dance club this summer holiday and she performed three times at school for the last two years. Actually, I felt pretty surprised to hear that because I thought such a great person would not have that much time. Maybe that is the difference between a star student and other students.
At the end of the interview, some suggestions were provided by Annie Chen about how to do better in the NBC program. The core is “being serious,” which means paying attention to everything. Annie suggested that a group discussion can be planed before every quiz and test. Also, Annie recommended trying different things such as bands, sports, SUID, clubs and so on. Taking her words: “there are so many options; why don’t you give a try!”
By David Gao (11C)