Written by Roseline Yang, Parent Relations Officer
In addition to commemorating when Madam Tsang Chor-hang opened the doors of the first YCIS school in 1932 with an early years’ Kindergarten, YCIS Founder’s Day celebrates the unity of all Yew Chung and Yew Wah schools across China.
Did you know that it all started with the dream and the courage of a young 16 years old who believed in the role of education and decided to maintain a school that was supposed to close? She stood up for children’s rights to learn by building a team around her to run a small kindergarten…and this is why we come together on Founder’s Day to remember that time and continue to hold the flame, live the spirit, and share this inspiring story of courage, grit, and perseverance with the younger generation.
On October 11, every Yew Chung and Yew Wah school across China and Silicon Valley in the US, connected through a live-feed transmission of the 20th Anniversary ceremony taking place at Yew Wah in Yantai. All the schools got the opportunity to share in the annual tradition of showing their school spirit by waving to each other via video.
Celebrations are always an exciting and happy time for everyone, because people with shared values and strong connection come together. Therefore, every school organizes fun activities for students to connect with each other. At YCIS Pudong, our teachers organized various team activities for ECE and Primary students to enjoy that special day. The highlight of this year were the House Colors T-Shirts for all year levels from K2 to Year 13 students, in addition to the annual Founder’s Day fun run at both Regency Park Campus and Century Park Campus.
Our Physical Education Teacher at Regency Park Campus commented: “This year we wanted the focus of the run to be on ‘Team Spirit’, as the students participated in team colours, representing their House group. We decided to organize a fun run with no individual medals, mixing boys and girls together. All students participated and gained a house point for completing the run. Our competitive and talented runners had the opportunity to win extra house points, if they finished in the top 10. Students were encouraged to cheer for teammates, and just enjoy taking part in a fun community event, and being active!“ Kirstie McLeod, PE Teacher.
“Sport is about community, team and collaboration and Founder’s Day is the one of the major events in the school calendar where every child from Year 5 to Year 13 gets together. Therefore, in order for everyone to get some exercise, it has been a tradition to do a run in Century Park. It is fully inclusive and students can choose to run or jog with their school mates. We even had some parents jogging along this year! Also for those that want to compete, we keep a record of the course and points can be earned for the houses they belong to.“ Matt Uffindall, Athletics Director
If you want to see a snapshot of Yew Chung’s history, please check the video below shared during Founder’s Day Assembly this year. This video was created by Baek Jiwon, a student of YCIS in Beijing.
Discover the heritage and legacy of Yew Chung on this link: http://www.ycef.com/en/about/history/
If you want to know more about Yew Chung Foundation, please contact Rachel Zhao rachel.zhao@sh.ycef.com, our new Director of Advancement and Alumni Relations in Shanghai.