My Most Recent Trip to China

This trip to China as a guest of our partner agency, New Oasis International Education, was different from any of my three previous ones. I was invited to be a key-note speaker at New Oasis' Tenth Anniversary Celebration in Beijing on October 10, 2018. Everything else on my trip was built around the anniversary. Because of that, I think, the rest of my travel was much more spontaneous and spur-of-the moment, but, if anything, more informative and exciting. I flew from Charlotte to Newark on Tuesday, October 8, and arrived early morning. Kathy Freeman, New Oasis Director of Partnership Development and an old friend who hosted my two previous trips, met me there, and we flew
together to Shanghai. Three in-flight meals, three movies, lots of naps, and fourteen hours later we landed. Yes, it is a very long flight.

The next day in Shanghai we visited one of China's top universities, specializing in foreign language and international affairs, and also an affiliated high school where New Oasis has created a program called "Pathways" to prepare selected students to come to an American independent school for their high school education. There I interviewed students in hopes that they might attend Gaston Day. Unlike my three previous trips, we did not have any time for sightseeing. For those of you who have been to Shanghai, you know it is one of the greatest, most cosmopolitan cities in the world.

On Wednesday night we flew to Beijing, arriving late. The next day was the 10th Anniversary Celebration, and I was busy making some last minute adjustments to my remarks on the future of international education. New Oasis has about 200 partner schools in the United States, and I was honored to be chosen as one of two American heads of school to speak at the 10th Anniversary Celebration.

With complete candor, I can tell you that I have never seen anything quite like the 10th Anniversary Celebration in terms of pageantry and programming. The event lasted four hours, and I felt like I was at the Academy Awards. There were  hostesses in evening gowns to welcome and assist all the guests. Complex light displays and special effects happened throughout the event. There were drawings for expensive prizes between speakers. Wow!! They really know how to put on a show!! I was so happy for Sean Chen, CEO of New Oasis, who I have come to trust and like through our partnership at Gaston Day. He has worked so hard to make New Oasis into a great company, and the celebration was a source of great pride in his accomplishments.

The next day was my only chance to be a tourist. I was taken to the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace complex. While I had been to both places before, both are remarkable, and any visit is a rare opportunity. Particularly in the case of the Summer Palace, the grounds encompass several hundred acres, and I saw parts that I had never seen before. Both the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace are world heritage sites. I am grateful to Gaston Day for taking me to such exotic locales. Sarah Park and I laugh about my trips to China because I am a homebody. We joke that a trip to Charleston, South Carolina, is a big adventure for me. But Gaston Day has sent me to China now four times.

My last day in Beijing I interviewed students at a fair--all of them knew about Gaston Day, in part because they had prepared for their interviews. As hard as this may be to believe, however, families all across China who are thinking about sending their children to the United States for high school know and respect Gaston Day. It really is hard to believe, but, at least in China, Gaston Day School has a strong international reputation.

From Beijing, Sean, Kathy and I flew to Chongqing in central China to visit schools there. Chongqing is on the Yangtze River and arguably has more population than any city in the world: estimated at 40 million. Compared to Beijing and Shanghai, however, Chongqing is more provincial. To me, Chongqing reminds me of how China used to be when I first visited the country fifteen years ago. The pace of change and progress is so fast in China that places seems noticeably more modern each time I am there. Chongqing will not remain provincial long.

The flight back on October 16 was made easier by the prospect of coming home. There will probably be more trips to China in my future. Through our partnership with New Oasis and all the wonderful Chinese students who attend Gaston Day, I am linked to China, and my life is so much richer because of the connection. Never in my life would I have anticipated this marvelous, unexpected dimension to my educational career.

How Well Does Gaston Day Prepare Its Graduates for College?

Perhaps the most important questions that any parent or student should be asking is "how well does Gaston Day prepare my child/me for college?" That really is the big question. And the answer has great consequences not just for college, but for life. 

About this time every year, several of our recent graduates--now freshmen in college--communicate to tell us just how well things are going and how well GDS prepared them. This year is no different. One of these communications came in the form of an email from Katie Elder's parents to Dean Josh Lutkus. With their permission, I want to share the whole letter because I believe it accurately portrays just how well prepared our graduates really are.
Here goes:

Dear Josh,

I returned today from my first visit with Katie at Tulane. She is thriving and so happy! I wanted to send a quick email which I hope properly reflects the gratitude her Dad and I feel for the education and life experiences Katie received while a student at Gaston Day, and for the support you gave her throughout the years.

I am happy to report Katie feels well prepared for the rigor of her classes, and her professors are pleased and impressed with her work. In her Creative Writing class she was the only student who had been exposed to a writers’ workshop method of learning. (Thank you Mrs. Foster!) Her poems and short stories have been used frequently for reviews by the professor to demonstrate an example of the higher level of writing they are all to aspire to in college.   

In her History and Political Science classes she is able to contribute significantly, even as a Freshman, in classes filled with upper level students. (The Honors college is small so she is frequently one of just a few freshman in the honors classes.)

We know she is positioned really well to take advantage of all the great things Tulane has to offer because she is so confident in her preparedness for college; thanks to Gaston Day. She is also taking a few risks--such as switching from Spanish to Russian for her foreign language. This has led to a great opportunity to spend the summer in Russia doing a language immersion program sponsored by the State Department. I know for a fact one of the main reasons she has little fear of trying new things such as this is because Holly Mason required her to do a live audition for Mary Poppins as a Sophomore. She did not give her a “pass”, even though she probably knew Katie could handle the role.  At that time, Katie had a terrible fear of singing publicly. (Hello!!!!- meet her senior year alter ego Fiona!)

I love how each child is pushed just enough at Gaston Day to get them past their level of comfort. Without these experiences and the hundreds of other opportunities she had to speak publicly, debate a highly skilled teacher, represent her class, advocate for herself and others, and experiment with different ways to solve problems and think critically, I don’t think she would be having the college experience she is having. And it’s not only the wonderful experiences that helped to prepare her, it was the tough ones too. Like having to decide how to manage her time with a tough class load and many extracurriculars, coming back stronger after doing poorly on a quiz or a test, and persevering in AP Chemistry with the support of her teacher, even though “science is not her thing.” 

So we wanted to say thank you and ask you to please pass on to the faculty how much we appreciate all of them and you. Katie loved her time at Gaston Day, and she is grateful as well to the educators who helped us to shape her into the young adult she has become. 

Wishing you all the very best and. 

Kind Regards,

Chris and Herb Elder

Congratulations to Katie on such an auspicious start to her college career. We hope you find this unsolicited, parent endorsement encouraging. This is what you can expect to accomplish with your Gaston Day degree. The proverbial sky is the limit.