Kim Braunbeck, Class of 2015, Century Park Campus

I’m originally from Germany, but I moved to Shanghai in 2004 and I started attending YCIS in Year 3. I was fortunate to have had classmates and teachers who were there with me all throughout my time at the school, and I can say that I truly “grew up” with them. Since many of my teachers knew me for such a long time they really understood how I learnt, which provided me with a much better learning experience overall. The school environment at YCIS is great because there are so many students and teachers from different parts of the world. Learning about new cultures and getting to know my classmates from all over the world was something that I enjoyed very much.

My greatest achievement at the school was the IB Art Exhibition, which I completed this past spring. Two years of work went into this huge gallery exhibition, and it was really wonderful to show everyone that I knew, including my teachers, family, and friends, the results of all of my hard work during my time in IB Art. Being able to showcase my accomplishments through the exhibition was something I was extremely proud of.

During my time at YCIS I participated in a lot of sports. I started playing football in Year 6, which was a lot of fun because I love the sport and we had a fantastic team. I also played on the volleyball team for a few years. In addition to sports, I participated in art-related activities at YCIS, such as the life drawing Co-curricular activity, which was an amazing way to explore yet another aspect of creativity.

I think that YCIS creates an environment with different teachers and students to bring a wide-range of activities to life. If a teacher has something they are good at beyond daily teaching, they have the chance to focus on that and share their interest with students by hosting a Co-curricular activity. The school also really encourages students to pursue their own interests and empowers them to open up their own Co-curricular clubs.

Now I’m moving to the UK to study computer animation and visualisation at Bournemouth University. I’m hoping that this will lead me to a career in the entertainment industry with animation and film. Although I’m excited to start college, I will miss the people at YCIS. I’ve known them for so long that they are like my family. I would say that we grew especially close after our IB Thailand trip, where we spent almost two weeks exclusively together. We have learnt a lot about each other and become one another’s support network, and that is an experience I will appreciate forever.