“如果高中是一座封闭的校园，大家以集体为单位进行活动，那么大学则更像是一座换乘站台，四通八达，许多人在其中流通。”在伦敦大学学院（下文简称“UCL”）读完了第一个学期，Doria如是总结道。曾渴望去往如同熟悉的高中校园一般小而精文理学院的她最终来到了与之截然相反，完全融于伦敦大都市之中的UCL，她却在其中如鱼得水，结交了许多好友，在性价比的中国餐厅充了值，调整到了健康又舒适的作息状态，身影时常出现在学校的各个图书馆中。

作为带头创建了狄邦华曜学生会的首任会长、成绩优异的学霸，来到大学后一部分的形象一以贯之，仍是那个能活跃在Seminar课堂，酷爱发言和思维碰撞的学霸；另一部分的形象却和大多数人预想的有所出入——她不再加入任何学生组织，但她认为这并不妨碍发挥自己的领导力。她的言谈中无不渗透着对自己和周遭环境的清醒认知以及深刻的反思精神，可以肯定的是，在狄邦华曜的四年学习经历帮助她做好了独自面对海外留学生活的准备——扎实的学术底子，以及无形却更重要的，松弛而坚韧的精神内核。

来到大学，Doria发现，如何处理课堂上获取到的信息成为了学习的关键。老师给到的，相较于详尽的知识点，实则是学术框架。课后她时常在其中寻觅自己感兴趣以及需要填补的内容。

为了理解课堂主题下提到的领域权威和相关思想，她会用学校给到的账号进入学术资料库，个体户需要花几十美元购买的论文她免费就能阅览。学校还经常提供与领域内身处研究前沿的教授、学术工作者探讨的机会。“如果非常想要深入钻研文科的话，它其实是一个无底洞，可以不停往下钻，你会发现所有的东西都是连在一块的，永远有读不完的著作。”Doria说。

采访时，她从海地革命里种植园奴隶斗争的历史和哲学意义聊到热带现代主义以建筑为载体体现的殖民、反殖民和后殖民的冲突与转变，前者不过是课堂上老师提到的一则案例，后者仅仅是一场展览的主题，Doria均凭着兴趣顺藤摸瓜，把对主题的了解从点铺成了面。

平日里，Doria的课堂主要有两种形式，Lecture和Seminar，前者由教授输出，后者则以讨论为主、互动性较强，鼓励独立思考，提出观点，深入讨论，从而培养批判思维和学术能力。自主探索能力的具备让Doria对Seminar偏爱有加，尽管输出观点这件事对大多数人而言颇具挑战，课堂上当老师抛出问题时，更多学生会选择沉默不语，但她却始终是最为活跃的几个学生之一，周而复始的观点和思想碰撞令她获益良多。

文献搜索、观点输出，类似能力的获取对Doria而言其实是在高中。那时出于对人文的喜爱，Doria提议学校开设EAP Humanity Seminar，随即得到老师的响应。专业论文和理论著作的挑战太大，课堂上仅她一人，从波伏娃、伍尔芙、福柯到如今的女性主义哲学家朱迪斯·巴特勒，老师带着她研究了横跨数百年女性主义先驱的著作，不断地进行一对一讨论。

在Doria看来，这是她真正意义上首次面对的高强度学术挑战——相较于背、解题、运用，真正困难的是没有答案的东西。强学术性意味着枯燥乏味，从最早的痛苦到后来的习惯，面对如今大学课堂上大量的著作阅览Doria几乎不需要过渡和适应。“我觉得这是最重要的一个技能，如何快速吸收已有的理论，转化为自己的思考，最后投射到学术成果，也就是论文中。”Doria说。

如今她最为想念的就是这堂为庞大人文社科世界打下底子的，小小的、一对一的人文课。回想起当时的结课论文，Doria提到家里摆放着许多诸如哈佛大学、芝加哥大学出版的论文工具书，但她最终还是靠着自己真实的经历归纳总结出了最适合的写作方式，并沿用至今。她把在狄邦华曜习得的诸多学术技能比作小背包，从中国到英国，她把背包随身携带，一旦有需要，就能派上用场。

Upon arriving at university, Doria discovered that managing the information obtained in class became key to learning. Instead of detailed knowledge points, teachers provided academic frameworks. After class, she often explored within these frameworks to find areas of interest and gaps she needed to fill.

To understand the authoritative figures and related ideas mentioned in class, she used the school's account to access academic databases. Papers that independent researchers would need to purchase for tens of dollars were available to her for free. The university frequently provided opportunities to discuss with professors and academic professionals at the forefront of their fields. "If you really want to delve into the humanities, it’s like a bottomless pit. You can keep digging, and you'll find that everything is interconnected, with endless books to read," Doria said.

During the interview, she talked about the historical and philosophical significance of the struggles of plantation slaves in the Haitian Revolution and the conflicts and transformations of colonial, anti-colonial, and post-colonial themes reflected through tropical modernism in architecture. The former was merely a case mentioned by a teacher in class, and the latter was just the theme of an exhibition. Driven by her interest, Doria connected the dots, expanding her understanding of the topics from individual points to a comprehensive view.

On a regular basis, Doria's classes mainly come in two forms: lectures and seminars. Lectures are delivered by professors, while seminars are discussion-based, highly interactive, and encourage independent thinking, presenting viewpoints, and in-depth discussion to cultivate critical thinking and academic skills. Doria's ability to explore independently has given her a preference for seminars. Although presenting viewpoints can be challenging for most people, and many students choose to remain silent when the teacher poses questions, she is always one of the most active students. The recurring exchange of ideas and thoughts has been highly beneficial for her.

Doria actually acquired skills such as literature search and viewpoint presentation during high school. Out of her love for the humanities, she suggested that the school offer an EAP Humanity Seminar, which quickly received a positive response from the teachers. Despite the challenge of professional papers and theoretical works, she was the only student in the class. From Simone de Beauvoir, Virginia Woolf, and Michel Foucault to contemporary feminist philosopher Judith Butler, the teacher guided her through the works of feminist pioneers spanning hundreds of years, engaging in one-on-one discussions continuously. For Doria, this was her first significant academic challenge in the true sense—compared to memorizing, solving problems, and applying knowledge, the real difficulty lay in dealing with questions without definitive answers. The highly academic nature meant it was initially tedious and boring, but over time, she got used to it. Nowadays, she hardly needs any transition or adaptation to the extensive reading of works required in university classes. "I think this is the most important skill: how to quickly absorb existing theories, transform them into your own thoughts, and finally project them into academic results, namely papers," Doria said.

Now, what she misses the most is that small, one-on-one humanities course that laid the foundation for the vast world of humanities and social sciences. Recalling her final paper for that course, Doria mentioned that her home is filled with reference books published by universities like Harvard and the University of Chicago, but ultimately, she relied on her real experiences to summarize and develop the most suitable writing method, which she still uses today. She likens the many academic skills she acquired at Huayao Collegiate to a small backpack that she carries with her from China to the UK, ready to be utilized whenever needed.

再次回到高中校园，Doria感叹现在的自己一半保留着原本的底色，另一半则被狄邦华曜给予的东西所塑造。当她在英国认识了不少来自A Level全脱产机构的同学后，她更直观地感受到自己身上那股不为达成他人预期的松弛感和开放的心态正是来自自己的高中经历。问及狄邦华曜如何塑造了她，她淡然地答道：“我们可以做任何感兴趣又想做的事。”

在这里，学校与学生的关系不仅仅是前者单向培养后者，学校给予的自由更包容着学生提出想法、做出行动、改善学校。作为年级的创校学生，Doria能感觉到在这所新校里不少同学很有想法、跃跃欲试，却苦于没有发挥的平台，从而让她萌生了创建学生会的想法。彼时有严重完美主义情结的她抱着从0一步跨向100的决心，想要建立分工明确的部门，所有人员在其中各司其职，在校内同步推进许多项目。

设计太过复杂精细就会迟迟难以落地，“拖了很久”的感觉逐渐消磨同学们的积极性。那时她终于意识到世间无完美，她开始着眼于当下的重点，写策划案、找校长沟通、做成员招募，逐一分工，最终打造出了初代学生会。她将其称之为“雕塑的原石”，后来的学生都可以在它之上“敲敲打打”，虽然它不完美，但不能没有。

校园中多样化尝试的机会一步步构建出了Doria如今松弛又开放的心态。过程中的瑕疵和失败教会了她调整预期，减少内耗，长出韧劲，最后的成功更令她明白凡事不应给自己设限。她想到社会学中Social Networking的概念，人应当如同网状结构一般，抱着开放的态度对待事与人。

来到海外，这份开放的心态便决定了视野的开拓。申请夏校碰上了问题，她会积极地请求教授给予支持，在学校里她的朋友更是遍布各个专业。前不久当狄邦华曜升学指导总监唐珮颖老师来到英国探望校友们时，她发现仅仅等个红灯的时间竟然接连有三个人和Doria打了招呼。认识更多人，她便看到了更多可能——有因热衷创业而gap了一年的同学，回到大学后仍在继续创业且颇为成功，也有为了换专业而退学重考，最后考上了牛津的同学。

当只身一人在国外，接受着全新的信息，面临着太多的选择时，不迷失自我，知道自己是谁、想要什么，会变得尤其重要。细细回想，Doria觉得也是狄邦华曜“Make your own voice”的教育理念帮助她认识自己，保持清醒。

“人在发声、表达自己的过程中，必须要斟酌自己的voice到底是什么。如果在表达之前压根没有思考过，说出来的话就会毫无意义。”在Doria看来，学校的土壤培育了发声的念头，推动她思考自己究竟想要表达什么，获得什么。如此的思维过程潜移默化地帮助她建立了对自己和周遭的清醒认知，以及深刻的反思精神。

这也正是如今Doria在大学停止参与学生组织的原因。在UCL，她曾加入过中国学生会的学术部，成员们主要负责邀请学术专家来校进行讲座。尽管部长时常鼓励大家想些点子、组织些活动，但她很快就发现，其实这并不适合自己。

“找专家的办法就是通过学术部部员的人脉，每年换届意味着一年以后大部分的成员会离开，人脉无法长久维持，这不是一个很好的循环。普通的部员很难在其中获得心理的成长和满足。”更深层的原因在于，Doria对大学和高中的定义完全不同，“大学并不是一个需要我与环境共成长的地方，我想要从中汲取营养来帮助自身成长。如果说高中是基础教育的最后一个阶段，大一就是高等教育的小学，进入新阶段时，我不急着要做什么，也不觉得我会比浸透在其中多年的人要做得好。”

Returning to her high school campus, Doria reflects that she is now half her original self and half shaped by what she gained from Huayao Collegiate. After meeting many peers in the UK from full-time A Level institutions, she more clearly perceives that her relaxed demeanor and open-mindedness, free from striving to meet others' expectations, stem from her high school experience. When asked how Huayao Collegiate shaped her, she calmly replied, "We can do anything we are interested in and want to do."

At Huayao Collegiate, the relationship between the school and students is not just about the former unilaterally cultivating the latter. The freedom granted by the school also embraces students proposing ideas, taking action, and improving the school. As the top student of the founding class, Doria noticed that many of her peers had ideas and were eager to try them out but lacked a platform to do so. This inspired her to create the student union. With her strong sense of perfectionism at the time, she was determined to leap from zero to one hundred, aiming to establish well-defined departments where everyone had specific roles, advancing many projects within the school simultaneously.

However, the overly complex and detailed design made it difficult to implement, and the sense of delay gradually diminished her peers' enthusiasm. She then realized that perfection does not exist in the world and began focusing on the immediate priorities: writing proposals, communicating with the principal, recruiting members, and dividing tasks. She eventually created the first student union, which she called the "raw stone of a sculpture." Subsequent students could "chip away at it," and while it was not perfect, it was essential to have it.

The opportunities for diverse experiences on campus gradually built Doria's current relaxed and open mindset. The flaws and failures she encountered taught her to adjust expectations, reduce internal friction, and develop resilience. Ultimately, her successes made her realize the importance of not setting limits on herself. She recalls the concept of Social Networking in sociology, believing that people should approach things and others with an open attitude, like a network structure.

Coming overseas, this openness expanded her horizons. When she encountered problems applying for summer school, she actively sought support from professors. Her friends at school came from various majors. Recently, when Peiying Tang, the Director of College Counseling at Huayao Collegiate, visited alumni in the UK, she found that in the time it took for a traffic light to change, three people had greeted Doria. Knowing more people showed her more possibilities—one classmate took a gap year to pursue entrepreneurship and returned to university successfully continuing their venture, while another switched majors, retook exams, and ultimately got into Oxford.

When alone abroad, facing new information and numerous choices, it becomes especially important not to lose oneself, to know who you are and what you want. Reflecting on this, Doria believes that Huayao Collegiate’s educational philosophy of "Make your own voice" has helped her understand herself and maintain clarity.

"In the process of voicing and expressing oneself, one must consider what their voice truly is. If you haven't thought about it beforehand, what you say will be meaningless." For Doria, the school's environment cultivated the desire to speak out, prompting her to think about what she wanted to express and achieve. This process of thinking subtly helped her develop a clear understanding of herself and her surroundings, as well as a deep sense of reflection.

This is also why Doria stopped participating in student organizations at university. At UCL, she joined the academic department of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association. Members were primarily responsible for inviting academic experts to give lectures. Although the department head often encouraged members to come up with ideas and organize events, she soon realized that this was not suitable for her.

"The way to find experts is through the network of academic department members. Changing members every year means that most will leave after a year, making it hard to maintain these connections long-term. Ordinary members find it difficult to gain psychological growth and satisfaction." More profoundly, Doria's definition of university differs greatly from high school, "University is not a place where I need to grow with the environment. I want to absorb nutrients from it to aid my personal growth. If high school is the last stage of foundational education, then the first year of university is like elementary school in higher education. When entering this new stage, I'm not in a hurry to achieve anything, nor do I think I would do better than those who have been immersed in it for years."

To Doria, holding a position and leading others is a narrow view of leadership. True leadership exists in all aspects of life, whether it's being serious, meticulous, disciplined, humorous, sociable, or emotionally intelligent. As long as someone's presence inspires others and makes them want to follow, that's leadership.

Even though Doria is not actively involved in various organizations and corners of the campus, this does not prevent her from exuding a positive attitude and abundant vitality in her actions. She wakes up at five in the gloomy UK weather to enjoy a moment of sunshine and quiet reading, "to combat the complex world with a heart in order." She explores different libraries on campus, marveling at the one designed like a sci-fi movie set and another like a greenhouse. She has also fallen in love with writing novels, seeing it as a vessel for storing emotions and thoughts, always keeping her senses open, ready for the moment inspiration strikes. 

She is grateful for the past four years at a comprehensive school, where she was able to engage in activities beyond learning, complete an initial exploration of herself, find her strengths and passions, and cultivate an open mindset while adhering to self-discipline.

无论是Doria本人还是曾经陪伴这届学生两年之久的唐老师，都能感觉到属于狄邦华曜学生身上一股独特的气质，唐老师将其概括为“淳朴”，一种不假修饰的真实。在听完Doria申请季的经历后，“淳朴”来自哪儿其实很容易得出——“我们可以做任何感兴趣又想做的事”后面或许还能接上一句：“我们不必为功利的目的去做不感兴趣、不喜欢做的事”。

对于彼时有完美主义情结的Doria而言，写文书是一个值得反复思考推敲的事儿，始终琢磨不出无瑕的构思，Doria就迟迟无法动笔，甚至产生了逃避情绪，最终和唐老师玩起了“躲猫猫”。

“我会一整周不回Karen（唐老师）微信，我也没办法回，因为我确实没写。但她后来让我明白，这样也没关系，她会一直找我，但从来不会生气。”Doria回忆道。她把那段时间的自己比作收缩很慢的弹簧，是唐老师的陪伴与鼓励帮助她慢慢复原。如今她很难调动出一个具体的记忆，但印象里是许多和唐老师的谈话，话题从文书变为学习外的关心与问候，原本默认“只有成功和优秀才可以被接受”的Doria逐渐感受到理解和包容，最终转化为动力。

那段时间，为了调动起大家的积极性，唐老师时常组织学生们一块儿改文书，文书改到多晚，唐老师就陪到多晚。“付出的陪伴和精力是不会说谎的。Karen愿意倾听，不打压不逼迫，让我感到自己是被理解的。”Doria说。对比之下她越发感觉校外升学机构“只想把人套进模板，没有温情可言”，不愿以失真的姿态面对大学招生官的她终止了与校外机构的合作。

这些发生在校园的难以量化的细节对学生产生了深远影响。在UCL，Doria时常跟新朋友们介绍自己的高中，更有人为了翻看过往关于她的报道而找到并关注了学校公众号。“虽然没有时不时问候一下，但确实有一些难以言喻但真实存在的特殊连接在潜移默化中产生。”Doria说。

申请夏校时，Doria仍会请求唐老师帮忙把关文书。看到她依然在用申请高校的思路写文书，唐老师痛快地给到了建议：“去了解课程大纲，把重点放在自己为什么要申请这一夏校，以及你能为课程带来什么？请记得自己已经是高等教育的一份子，往事莫提。”更出乎Doria意料的是，在得知自己的实习需求后，唐老师竟直接牵线搭桥，引荐她认识了领域内专家。

此次回校进行分享，看到许多熟悉的脸孔，Doria深感如同“回家”。于学弟学妹而言，相较升学指导，优秀学姐的经验分享显然更为亲切、贴近。这也是当唐老师和Doria在校园内重聚时，一致决定帮助创建狄邦华曜校友会的原因。以唐老师为代表的学校教师们能够为校友提供留学生活乃至职场和各方面的支持，而以Doria为首的校友即使毕业了也仍愿意反哺学校社区。相信假以时日，校友会必定能联结成Doria口中的那张“网”，触及并支持狄邦华曜社区内的所有人。

无论如今身处的校园有多大，于从狄邦华曜走出的学子而言，归属感不会消失。

Both Doria and Ms. Tang, who had accompanied this cohort of students for two years, can sense a unique quality among Huayao Collegiate students. Tang sums it up as "simplicity," an unpretentious authenticity. After hearing about Doria's application season experiences, it's easy to see where this simplicity comes from. "We can do anything we are interested in and want to do," might also be followed by, "We don't have to do things we aren't interested in or don't like for utilitarian purposes."