Dear teachers, students, parents, and friends: 

Greetings to you all!

On bidding farewell to 2023, we are filled with reflective sentiment for the past, great expectations for the future, and best wishes for everyone, and are welcoming 2024 with our open arms. 

The flames of war make us cherish peace and prosperity even more. While mourning for the unfortunate individuals who have lost their families, homes, and even lives, we can’t help but sigh: we are not living in a peaceful era but in a peaceful country.

This year, we have been awed by many significant events: the zest of the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou still burns brightly, the ten-year anniversary of the "Belt and Road" initiative continues to bring joy, and the swift response in earthquake relief efforts continues to warm our hearts.

This year, our community, like a large ship, has been breaking waves with high spirits. The outstanding application results of the 2023 graduates earned us the title of the "most surprising dark horse in the most competitive application season for Ivy League colleges." It also proves the correctness of the path we have always adhered to, namely "run the school according to the laws of education." Additionally, our school has been awarded the "Excellence in Teaching and Learning" Award by ACT GAC China. Furthermore, our community received the "Outstanding Student Outcomes to International Higher Education" award at the International Higher Education Annual Summit held by US News Global Education and British Council IELTS. Both are professionals’ recognition of our school's talent cultivation model.  

This year, we have made big breakthroughs in our international academic exchange. In July, General Principal Bowen Chen, Foreign Principal Chris Moses, and Academic Director Chuman Lin went to the United States to attend the 2023 AP Annual Meeting and the International Association for College Admission Counseling Global Annual Meeting respectively. They also visited several universities to get the latest information on studying abroad and college admissions, strengthening connections with universities to better assist our students in their growth and college admissions. In October and December, we respectively carried out our German Cultural Exchange Program and our Morocco World Leadership Program, allowing our students to expand their worldview through observing the world and enabling our community to have a deeper connection with the world.  

This year, we have steadily advanced our "Building Shanghai" project, consulting experts across fields to gradually expand the scope of our explorations and deepen our understanding of various industries. Students have not only gained deeper insights into areas they are interested in, but also grown through hands-on practice.  

This year, we have consistently promoted high-quality community service projects for society, even though they were challenging and exhausting. Our "Hongrun Education Salon" has been held for fifteen sessions, in which we integrate social resources to help alleviate difficulties of parents and students in education. We joined hands with two special schools, "Gansu Jiuquan Special School" and "Qingpu Zhujiajiao Special School," to participate in the "Special Olympics Play Unified " event, using our efforts and enthusiasm to help special children integrate into society. We also successfully hosted the "Cycle for Love" event, where our beautiful campus served as both the starting point and our original intention.  

The approval of our high school credentials is the most exhilarating achievement for our community this year. This not only affirms our school's results, but has also propelled our community's development into a new stage and onto a new platform.  

Thank you all for your contributions to our community's growth over the past year, for your own efforts towards excellence, and for the strength you have gathered for our shared bright future.  

In 2024, we will still stand heart to heart and hand in hand, building a warm and harmonious community; we will still adhere to an educational philosophy aligned with the laws of education, to be a school that commands respect; we will still persevere in doing what is right no matter how difficult it is, to bring about the metamorphosis and growth of our students.  

Please believe in the power of believing!  

Best wishes for our own growth and our children's!

May there be peace and prosperity for the nation and the world!

Happy New Year to you all!

Dear friends of SHBS,

Happy New Year, and greetings from Morocco!

I am so happy to start the new year amidst a group of our students having such an incredible experience as part of a World Leadership School program—observing how they’ve challenged themselves, engaged with an unfamiliar culture, developed self-awareness, built relationships, and grown into greater self-confidence.

Our program has four pillars that define “why we are here:” to understand new perspectives, to explore the world, to communicate across differences, and to take action. I believe our students do so well with the World Leadership School curriculum—and why we’re one of the very few schools outside the US with whom they partner—because it reflects so profoundly what we do day-in and day-out at SHBS.

In our sixth year, I feel pride in how our fundamental commitment to students’ learning and self-discovery has proven itself through myriad successes. From our differentiated curriculum to the amazing, immersive experience of Building Shanghai, from our rich engagement with Chinese language and culture to the astounding display of talent we just saw at our end-of-year Arts Festival, SHBS embodies a fantastic diversity of potential that brings students together to create in new and inspiring ways.

When we think of success, a school may often point to college admissions results—and indeed we should be proud of the many tremendous offers our students have received, quickly distinguishing SHBS as a “dark horse” amidst hundreds of international schools in China. Yet when I think about success, I imagine something both smaller and bigger.

For me, small success is the excitement I see in students' faces when they’ve discovered something new, the puzzlement in their eyes when they grapple with a challenging problem, or the carefree joy they reflect when walking with new friends on our beautiful campus. I’m so thrilled when I get a WeChat message asking about a topic we’ve discussed in class—or even when I get one from a student complaining about something, because I realize it’s a sign they truly care about our community.

I see big success when—as I’ve been so fortunate to do this year—I get to meet our graduates once they’ve commenced their higher education abroad. From January to December, in London, Boston, New York, Washington DC, Atlanta, Los Angeles and San Francisco, I met with SHBS alumni who have adapted dynamically and seized upon a spectacular array of new opportunities. I’ve loved hearing their stories about courses and connections with professors and classmates, how they’ve tried new experiences, the smart ways they reflect upon cultural differences, and their considerations for how they will transform their learning into future careers.

These successes—small and big—come together to create a legacy for SHBS that will continue to shine brightly into the future. 

Indeed, we have emerged from three challenging years of Covid with a fuller perspective and a stronger sense of purpose. While that brings relief—and I am truly so grateful to be writing from Rabat, again abroad with students—I know that many, many challenges remain. This has been the hottest year on record, as climate change accelerates; devastating conflict has again emerged in the Middle East; and while many geopolitical relationships have shown signs of improvement, tensions still remain. We will need steadfast commitment to meaningful education in order to help ensure that these challenges are met, to know subsequent generations will have all the more opportunities to create a better future: to understand new perspectives, to explore the world, to communicate across differences, and to take action.

I have full faith that the learning in which we engage at SHBS will enable our students to do just this—to assure beneficial stability and moderate prosperity for all—while building bridges that share a wellspring of Chinese culture and knowledge in ways that benefit all of humanity.

Thank you as always for your trust and support, and I wish everyone a happy, healthy, and joyous 2024!

Sincerely,

Chris