The Next Big Thing 下一件大事: Chansol Park

We love when our students get excited about our school’s history. We love it extra when that becomes part of what helps them follow their dreams. Meet Chansol Park ’19 from our Puxi campus, and welcome to our WeChat series where we celebrate just a few stories from the Class of 2019.Because when we tell our students they can go from here to anywhere, they take us seriously.

若我们的学生对上海美国学校的校史感兴趣，我们高兴不已。若这能够帮助学生成功追逐自己的梦想，我们将更加激动。让我们一起来认识一下浦西校区的2019届毕业生Chansol Park。欢迎阅读我们的微信系列文章，一起了解2019届毕业生的故事。我们告诉学生们，他们可以从这里前往世界的任何地方，他们真的做到了。

What are your plans for next year?

I’m heading off to the UK, to Oxford University.

你对来年有何计划？

我将前往英国牛津大学就读。

There is a legend going around here about you: we heard you were applying to study history at Oxford and during the interview they asked about the history of SAS. And you knew it.

In 8thgrade I picked a book about our history off the bookshelf, and read through some of it. It was knowledge that proved invaluable.

For the Oxford admissions process, you have to come in for an interview, and they will throw you some weird curveball questions. The curveball question they tried on me was “tell me about the history of your school.” So, I talked about SAS. I didn’t know that question was coming, so I got really lucky.

校园里流传着一个关于你的传说：我们听说你在申请进入牛津大学学习历史的面试环节中，面试官询问了上海美国学校的历史，而你对答如流。

在8年级的时候，我从书架上挑选了一本关于学校历史的书，并阅读了其中一部分。事实证明知识是无价的。

至于牛津的招生流程，申请者必须接受面试，而面试官会提出一些突如其来的奇怪问题。他们向我提出的问题是“介绍一下你就读学校的历史”。因此，我介绍了上海美国学校。我完全不知道他们会提这个问题，我真的很幸运。

Why do you think they asked about that?

Maybe he researched us. Or maybe the name Shanghai American School gives away some clues about our history. I think they were interested in the story of an American school in Shanghai, and what that might have looked like in the wider scope of history. Maybe they thought, “let’s see if he makes connections there.”

你认为他们为什么会提出这个问题？

也许他调查过我们。或许上海美国学校这个名字透露出了一些有关我们历史的线索。我认为他们感兴趣的是一所位于上海的美国学校的故事，以及这个故事在更广泛的历史范围内的表现。也许他们想的是：“看看他与那里是否有联系。”

And you delivered.

I think I did.

然后你答出了这个问题。

我认为自己答出了这个问题。

Tell us more about your interest in history.

It is partly about wanting to understand where I come from. I am actually South Korean,but I’ve lived in China since I was 4, and I’ve never felt a major connection towards my own people. Looking into history has helped me to build that connection, and helped me understand where I’m from.

My parents always really supported my reading on historical subjects, and bought a lot of books for me. The SAS library was also invaluable. SAS has the biggest English-language collection in China. But most important to the process was that I could follow my interest and be guided by myself. I studied history outside of class, reading about major conflicts between countries, researching daily lives of people, and also the ways societies are structured.

谈一谈你对历史的兴趣。

一部分原因是我想了解自己的祖国。实际上，我是韩国人，但我从4岁起就定居中国，而且我从未感觉自己与祖国的人民有很大的联系。回顾历史有助于我建立这种联系，并帮助我了解自己的祖国。

我的父母一直都很支持我阅读历史书籍，给我买了很多书。上海美国学校的图书馆也价值非凡。这里拥有中国最多的英文藏书。但在此过程中最重要的是，我可以做自己感兴趣的事，并遵从自己的本心。在课外时间，我会学习历史、阅读介绍国家之间重大冲突的书籍、研究人们的日常生活和社会结构的组成方式。

Did you always want to go to the UK?

I also looked at schools in the United States and Australia. Because I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted to study, Oxford was one of the first schools that popped up on my radar, because they give students the opportunity to go really deep into a field of their choice. The main caveat there is that you have know what you want to study before you go, but that really wasn’t an issue for me.

你一直想去英国求学吗？

我还考虑了美国和澳大利亚的学校。我非常清楚自己想要学习的领域，因此牛津大学是我最先考虑的学校之一，因为这些学校让学生有机会深入研究自己选择的领域。这里很重要的一点是，在前往大学之前你必须知道自己想要深入研究的领域，但这对我来说真的不是问题。

When did you know that this was the right place for you?

Funnily, it doesn’t have anything to do with history, or the college search even. I think it was actually a moment when I lost a debate. I do a lot of competitive debating in my free time, and some of the best debaters I’ve seen are people who go to Oxford. One time I got to debate one of them, and got absolutely crushed. I was just stunned by how sharp they were, how they were forming their arguments, and even though I was on the other side of the debate, I could see myself being convinced by them. That experience made me think, “I want to go to the place where they teach people how to do that.”

你什么时候知道牛津适合自己？

很有趣的是，这和历史以及大学搜索没有任何关系。我想这是在我输掉一场辩论之后发现牛津适合自己的。我在空闲时间参加了很多场激烈的辩论比赛，我见过的很多最佳辩手都是来自牛津的学生。有一次我不得不与其中一位牛津的学生辩论，并且被碾压了。我对他们的敏锐和他们形成论点的方式深感震惊。即使我是他们的对手方，我还是发现自己被他们说服了。那段经历让我产生了一个想法——“去培养出这些人才的大学就读”。

Congratulations, Chansol. And congrats to Oxford. You better believe he already knows your history too.

祝贺你，Chansol。也祝贺牛津大学。毫无疑问的，Chansol也已经了解了牛津的历史。

Click on "read more" forthe Class of 2019college/university acceptances.

点击“阅读更多”，查看最新的2019届学生录取院校名单。

About Us 关于我们Founded in 1912, Shanghai American School (SAS) is the largest and most established international school in China. In short, it's the kind of school you wish you would've attended when you were a kid.

创建于1912年，上海美国学校是中国最大的也是历史最悠久的国际学校。简而言之，如果你能回到小的时候，这会是一所你想要去的学校。

Follow Us 关注我们