This is the story of one of our pupils, who grew from a girl with depressive tendencies to the first AISL Harrow Scholarship recipient at Harrow Haikou.
How did you know Audrey Gao?
Is it because of her impressive speech about her depressive tendencies at the Oral Language Festival?
Or because of the Mongolian dance she performed at the Mid-Autumn Celebration?
You may see her riding on the waves as a sailor or receiving multiple honours at Speech Day.
Audrey is always exploring new areas, allowing us to gradually get to know her different sides.
Audrey Gao 高筠涵
—
She joined Harrow at G8/Y9 as one of the first founding pupils.
Now she is Harrow Haikou's first AISL Harrow Scholarship recipient.
“Receiving the AISL Harrow Scholarship is a great inspiration for me to further develop my interests and passions towards future success. It also means greater responsibility, and I'm confident that my perseverance, ability to learn, multicultural experiences, and contributions to the community will make our surroundings a better place because of me.”
Audrey exploring different fields of academics, sailing, music and dance
She is what we see as a multi-talented individual who excels academically and in many different fields, but we can't really know her by just labelling her as a scholarship winner. Once you get to know her, you'll realize that what she says about responsibility isn't just empty talk.
Receiving a letter of recommendation from a Cambridge University professor
From self-discovery to
academic subject research
As a pupil with a passion for psychoeducational research, Audrey is extremely concerned with the human spirit.
Audrey is seen by everyone as an enthusiastic learner, always asking thought-provoking questions in class. When it comes to the arts, she is always ready to try new things. Not only is she a keyboardist who composes music for the band, she sometimes plays the clarinet and even tries to learn various types of dances as needed. As a House leader, she was always positive about all challenges. It seems that someone like her would not be associated with the word ‘depression’. But today we want to take you to the parts of her that are not well known by others.
Audrey winning 1st place in the Oral Language Festival
Two years ago, Audrey bravely shared her experience in her English speech - Why Can't You Be Happy? and appealed to everyone to break the prejudice against depression. She said, “I suffer from depression. It doesn't make me weird, weak or crazy, instead, it makes me different, wonderful and unique. All I can do is learn to deal with this in the best way I can. I hope that now, you can express more kindness, understanding and empathy towards those you may meet who are suffering from mental illness.”
During the speech, many teachers and pupils were touched and got to know the other side of Audrey for the first time.
She is extremely hard on herself, causing her to suffer from depressive tendencies for some time. At Harrow, it seems that each individual has a mission to change the world. As she slowly comes out of her depression, she realizes that she should do something to impact those around her, and even the world, with her own experiences.
As a result, Audrey spent her whole summer vacation participating in a research project on educational psychology initiated by Dénes, a tenured professor at the University of Cambridge and Associate Director of the Center for Neuroscience in Education, and successfully presented her paper in English at the International Conference on Global Politics and Socio-Humanities (ICGPSH). As an outstanding participant in the project, Audrey also received a letter of recommendation from Professor Dénes at the University of Cambridge.
Audrey's paper was included in the collection of papers of the ICGPSH
Audrey said that from this project, she felt for the first time the importance of education for the mental health of a person. It was also the first time she felt the difference between empirical perception and the presentation of research results. When researching one of the variables, she needed to compare the quality of sleep between pupils in public high schools and international high schools. Audrey initially thought that it had to be the international high school pupils who slept well, as the higher pressure from Gaokao was faced by the pupils in the public schools in China. Nevertheless, she followed her tutor's guidance and opted for a quantitative approach, consulting with a professional counsellor and developing a scale. She tried to reach out to pupils from 74 high schools including those from China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, the Philippines, and Canada, and collected nearly 500 questionnaires.
She then analyzed the data from the questionnaires and found that the results were very different from her perceptions!
She found that despite the pressures of Gaokao, public high school pupils had very clear goals and a unified plan, while international high school pupils showed poorer sleep quality and higher levels of depression than public high school pupils due to multiple pressures beyond academics and different plans for each individual.
“Success consists in failing often without losing enthusiasm”
As the leader of House Churchill, Audrey has always kept in mind one of Churchill's famous quotes: Success consists in failing often without losing enthusiasm.
“Success consists in failing often without losing enthusiasm”
When applying for the scholarship, she talked about the depression she once felt. She said,
「“I never consider barriers to be ‘failures,’ but rather a valuable gem that drives me to success. My achievement is determined by my persistent tenacity in the face of hardship, despite the difficulty of balancing my studies with my mental health.”」
Since then, Audrey has continued to participate in programmes and events related to the field of mental illness or psychology to reduce prejudice against people with mental illness. She has also helped many of her peers who share her mental illness issues to build their self-identity. She has persevered with her research and has made an impact in her own way on the outside world.
「 Now, I'm very glad I'm at Harrow. There are not only teachers from all over the world, but also excellent Chinese teachers and good friends, a culture that I can relate to, and Harrow values that coincide with mine, which are the cornerstones that have supported my growth.」
Be brave enough to express yourself
in all areas
Year 12 pupils are doing their best to enrich their resumes and are actively involved in the Duke of Edinburgh Award programme. Let's look at Audrey's more achievements from the perspective of this programme.
Out of her love for music, Audrey and her friends formed a band and Audrey plays the keyboard, and she has continued to learn clarinet and explore the field of music. She is also a good dancer, having won the Gold Medal in dance at the National Youth Arts Festival organized by the China National Opera and Dance Drama Theatre. At the Mid-Autumn Celebration, as a girl of Mongol nationality, she presented a Mongolian dance for the whole school. She hopes that through her performance, the Mongolian culture will be understood by more people and the ethnic culture will be better passed on.
Based on her interest in sailing, Audrey joined the sailing club and was coached by the Nansha team. In the process of training, she has learned a lot of sailing knowledge and skills, and has also had some valuable experience, she hopes to lead more people to feel the charm of the ocean.
This month, led by teachers from Harrow School, Audrey and her classmates visited the elderly living in the Xiaoci Yuan Elderly Center, accompanying them to do handicrafts, performing for them and spending an unforgettable day with them. She has also been involved in several online projects aimed at helping women in impoverished areas of China to receive education, as well as a few programmes to protect China's natural environment. She always acts to bring warmth and power to her community and the world.
Following an outdoor adventure initiated by the school, Audrey went on a hiking challenge to Haikou Crater National Geopark with her teachers and classmates. They went deep into the volcano cluster to observe the volcanic geological features and learn about the movement of the earth's crust. They will be doing more outdoor expeditions in the future.
Audrey's achievements were already impressive when she was in Year 10 at Harrow, where she won five academic prizes at the end of the school year in Chemistry, Music, Chinese, History and English. Mr. Karl Fischer, her Chemistry teacher, commented on her success:
高年级化学老师
Chemistry Teacher, US
I first met Audrey when she was a Year 10 pupil here at Harrow and what immediately struck me was her effort and determination to be successful. Audrey has developed her confidence over the last two years and is an excellent, enthusiastic scholar. By reflecting on her work and asking very deep and meaningful questions she continues to push her understanding to new levels of excellence! Pupils like Audrey are a credit to her family and to our Harrow community!
What we have mentioned is only a very small part of her colourful life. We can't tell the whole story about her in one article, nor should she be defined by one article.
In the future, she will reach out to more fields, care for more people, and focus on more practical issues. She will continue to experience life under different dimensions, define herself with her thoughts and actions, and extend her power to the wider world beyond the Harrow community.
2024/26 AISL Harrow scholarship is launched!
