Naomi Schanen, Class of 2015, Century Park Campus

I have studied at YCIS for 13 years, and I’m from Japan and Luxemburg. I started at YCIS in Kindergarten (K4), so I’ve been at the school nearly my whole life. It’s definitely been a great adventure for me as I’ve learnt so much and met so many amazing people. I think the school has been a great atmosphere for me to grow up in because it’s such a close community. I am really going to miss YCIS.

My greatest achievement during my time here was my personal project in Year 10 during IGCSE. For the project, we had a year to create whatever we wanted and I wrote and published a fiction book about time travel. Once I finished the book, I sold it to raise funds for charity. The proceeds went to a girl’s school in Tanzania which I had visited earlier that year through YCIS’s World Classroom programme. When I visited Tanzania, I was really touched by the people there and I decided that it was a great opportunity for me to get involved to help those in need by doing something I love, which is writing.

I love that YCIS provides a really well-rounded education, including art, music, drama, sports, and academics. Studying here has given me a lot of opportunities to express myself, open up, and find out who I really am. I’ve participated in a lot of sports at YCIS – football, basketball, netball, and touch rugby. I especially loved playing football as I had the chance to work closely with a team and we really improved together. I’ve also been very musically involved at the school, and I co-founded school bands that I played in for five years.

I am going to be studying journalism at university in the fall. At YCIS, my English teacher, Mrs Perks, was extremely supportive of my interest in journalism from the start. Every time I wrote something she would provide feedback, and she always encouraged me. It’s this type of support and the overall community that I will miss the most, and it will be hard to find this anywhere else. I have always felt that YCIS is my home and I have always loved the people here. The school has helped me to mature and grow into someone who now is ready to head off on their next adventure, though I will always relish my time at YCIS.