During the epidemic, ISA Liwan encouraged and organized students to share their feelings and insights from the book through a video. In the video, Tony introduces the book What If to us, and he was so excited when talking about the book, like a quiet lake causing ripples after ripples. “Randall Munroe's What If brings us not only the science from an unusual perspective, but also gives us what we need and encourages us to get pleasure from the knowledge.” Tony said, after reading this book, I feel myself become more cheerful!

Tony is a seventh-grade student at ISA Liwan Middle School (National pathway). When talking about his hobbies, he mentions that he likes to read books, and often picks up a book for a while. “Asimov, a famous science fiction writer, popular science writer, and literary critic, his works cover a lot of thought-provoking things besides science fiction, including sociology, psychology, opposition to pseudoscience, and so on.”said Tony.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Tony started to read original books when he was in first grade, and "The Chronicles of Narnia" was the first original novel he read. "Although the book had mixed reviews, it still served as a positive inspiration for me. I also found that the author's expressions in this book were diverse, and I detected a lot of cultural exchange and collision of ideas from this book." He exclaims, "From then on I realized that the world is so diverse. I also felt the fusion of cultures and the colorfulness of the world in ISA Liwan. Our school library has a rich collection of books, and I can find many different kinds of original books here."

Read wide, and you will wisely write. When sharing his learning experience, Tony said, "We should pay more attention to daily accumulation.” In early years, under the influence of his parents, Tony began to immersed in a multilingual environment since he was a little boy, so that by the sixth grade, he was able to get an IELTS score of 7. Tony's multilingual growth history coincides with the multilingual environment and training goals of ISA. He said, at ISA Liwan, in addition to maintaining his bilingualism and becoming a confident communicator between Chinese and English, he has the opportunity to learn a second foreign language. He took French as an elective at the school, and in the future, French may become a "powerful tool" for his university applications!

Ms. Xi Wang, the teacher of Tony, told us that the school not only provides a solid national curriculum, but also diversified co-curriculum activities such as science and technology innovation, baseball, etc. Tony,  who excels in academics, also participates in various subject activities like debate club with his buddies while consolidating his homework. Dare to express and exercise are the qualities that the IB aims to cultivate, such as the willingness to experiment and actively explore.

When mentioning whether it is more stressful to balance academics and hobbies, Tony shared with us: Because of the small class size, the teachers are able to pay attention to each students. Also, our school has a tutor system, and my tutor takes good care of me. Especially when I need to relieve my stress, my tutor will help me plan my studies and interests. I feel that it would help me to develop in all aspects of my life.

In middle school, students gradually enter a critical period of growth - "adolescence", therefore, in addition to academics, students' mental development is also crucial. Ms Xi Wang said that through a comprehensive mentor programme, we will pay close attention to students' psychological conditions in daily teaching, relieve students' stress in all aspects, encourage students to establish a correct view of friendship, and cultivate students to be confident independent learners who have a love for life-long learning.

ISA values the development of each child's personality. Previously, Tony and his brother Tommy participated in the school's winter camp. Tommy also participated in the elementary school drama show. Tommy also slipped a little note to his music teacher, Ms. Sharon, telling her that he wanted to study music with her in the future. Knowing how to fight for what you enjoy is the power of hands-on teaching.

ISA Liwan is a multicultural integration campus where students are encouraged to actively explore and make connections with the real world. "I want to be an engineer in the future and deliver warmth and service to everyone!" Tony said. We believe that with the school's uncompromising care, he will be able to firm up his path, face the various challenges of learning and life with confidence, and strive for a meaningful life.