The energetic, talented teenager in the photo is the protagonist of our interview. His name is Michael. A few months ago, Michael transferred from an American high school in Minnesota to Pegasus because of the pandemic and became an 11th grader s at Pegasus. 
During the whole interview, Michael showed us the stability and confidence beyond his age and what moved us most was that he has a pure desire for knowledge and practiced his moral belief in life at a young age. 
"If describe myself, I will use my motto:" honor is temporary, quality is eternal'. 
Also as a young overseas student early on a trip to another country, he was resigned to returning to China, visited many schools and finally met with Pegasus. He has a very different life experience with the seemingly same track——what resonance and inspiration can the difficulties and challenges, the joy and rewards Michael had while studying bring us? Today, let's look at the story of Michael, Pegasus “seeking knowledge "youth and find out!


Michael’s parents resolutely sent Michael to an American high school for him to have a different life experience and exploration.
As many young overseas students, Michael was still preparing for the senior high school entrance examination step by step. Going abroad was his parents' advice: 
"First of all, my family put forward the idea of studying abroad. In fact, I was not very mature at that time. After all, going abroad is a relatively big thing for the family. We did a lot of inquiries. My family considered that a different learning model is more conducive to my development and they focus on my spirit of being independent, enduring hardship and facing some life challenges and exploration earlier, so I was sent abroad."
Living in an international student apartment, poor English and encountered unprecedented difficulties in learning and life.
A child who is only fourteen or five years old grew up in a Chinese language environment and has never left his parents. He suddenly went abroad and had to face a completely strange study environment alone. Perhaps only he himself knows the difficulties he has experienced. This is how he introduced the experience: 
"When I went to the high school in the United States, Chinese people did not live together. The students were from eight countries in my school and we all lived in the same student apartment, so my roommate might be a Korean or Vietnamese or even a Mexican." 
"Therefore, we will encounter a lot of conflicts and frictions in many aspects including culture and living habits. At that time, to tell the truth, I had no idea about everything. I spoke poor English and could not understand the friends around, so in the first semester my academic performance was not very ideal. Until the second semester, the school gave international students some opportunities to participate in competitions, which made me having interest in participating in some activities. I slowly adapted to the surrounding environment."

Rewards and growth. Studying abroad makes Michael independent earlier.
 A person's growth, especially for a child, often comes not from the difficulties themselves, but from their own understanding. Michael is such a child who can face himself and reflect on himself. When it comes to the growth and rewards, he seems very excited: "After gradually adapting to the environment, I found that my autonomy and independence in life began to mature. Before I went to an American high school, I was a person with a severe difficulty of making choices. After studying abroad, I suddenly became particularly independent. I can have my own ideas about everything, not rely on others in everything." "In addition, I dare to try a lot of new things. For example, I may not dare to go to another city by train alone before going abroad. That is because I was afraid that I would not do well. But now no matter how difficult, I will try to solve the problems. For me, I feel that all this spiritual wealth is even more precious than gold."



Is all in the textbook really right?" Studying abroad, Michael has gained a lot not only in the personality but also in learning habits and ways of thinking:
"In terms of academics and knowledge, first of all, he has broadened his horizons. I found that there were many things in the world that I have not seen before. In addition, compared with the previous learning ability, I have improved a lot. I will take the initiative to explore and think about the things different from before in China. I will think about the question that all the text is it really right? This is the kind of critical thinking we've been talking about." 
"Therefore, I will be more active in learning habits I used to be pushed you to study in China before. In foreign countries, although teachers will try to help you improve your grades, it is far from enough to rely on teachers. For example, for foreign students, the teacher often gives you an article and let you do the worksheet, he will immediately test you. You have to search for information and actively learn this knowledge."




As a result of this year's global outbreak of COVID-19, foreign students have been deeply affected in many countries, Michael is not an exception. Michael tried many schools after returning to China. What is the reason for Michael to finally choose Pegasus? 
Pegasus has a complete American teaching system.
"I believe that I tried many schools in Jinan or those all over Shandong Province when I returned to China like many students with the similar experiences. Finally I chose Pegasus because her teaching system and teaching methods are very close to American high schools and her American teaching system is also very complete while other schools may have some similarities, but not so complete. Abundant club activities are available at Pegasus and the school facilities were particularly good." 
"Furthermore, in terms of course selection and language, first of all, here is English only teaching environment at Pegasus. Second, Pegasus has the same system of course selection as American, high schools, such as AP courses and common courses. Pegasus teaches give lessons in the same way as American teachers, and even the teaching materials I used at Pegasus are what I used in America."
"I like Pegasus club activities very much, which are abundant. I participate in the club activities in most of my time after class. I mainly participate in Badminton Club. Although there were a lot of activities in my American high school before, they did not attach importance to badminton, which I am keen on playing. Here is a Badminton Club at Pegasus, which is a pleasant surprised to me." 
Pegasus classmates and teachers are also very nice, especially the teachers whose classes are very funny. As a senior, I often help some junior classmates, which is actually a way to improve myself."

You must look at the example sentences of the vocabulary book. 

The course must be reviewed

Finally, Michael, as an 11th-grade "senior ," he also has some valuable learning experience for Pegasus younger siblings: First of all, in English, we all know that the fastest way to improve oral English is to speak more, communicate with teachers boldly and try different topics. Secondly, I will also see that some students memorize vocabulary in word books every day. I want to say that even if they are memorized, but not used in practice. It is easy to forget them. So I suggest that if you want to continue to use the word book, you have to look at the example sentence and try to use the word in daily life. For everything we encounter in life, if we don't know the words, we need to look them up, even if we forget them once, we can look them up again. Gradually our vocabulary will be enlarged." 
"As for academics, if we feel that the course we chose is relatively difficult, we must review it after class. We can prepare a notebook to write down the contents of the teacher's lecture at any time, or we can write down the contents of the teacher's lecture with a recording pen. I think this is a very effective learning method."

 

Michael not only shared his study experience, but also expressed his expectations and plans for his future life at Pegasus, which reminded him of an interesting past event.
I took part in a national competition in the United States by accident and won a prize “out of expectation".
I am going to take part in one or two big competitions in the next year or so. When I was in the United States, I took part in a competition. But I didn't know it was a competition. I just thought it was a project for the semester and I did it well out of my expectation and I was awarded. Then I knew it was a national competition. 
Because I didn't take part in any big competition at that time, I didn’t have much confidence in myself, so I just wanted to have a try. I got the fifth place in our state. It was a very satisfactory result for me."
Setting a high standard for my study 
"For my future learning goals at Pegasus, I have always been setting a high standard for my study. I strive to get straight A in every subject at the end of the semester. The most important thing is not only improving GPA, but also really master the knowledge, keep them in my mind and put into practice the things I learn."