我们学校的中国之行 (Our School Trip to China)
October 5, 2026
Last May, I had the great privilege of traveling to China with a group of Seven Hills Upper School students and teachers. What an adventure we had! Exploring the megalopolises of Shanghai and Beijing, hiking a stretch of the Great Wall, volunteering at a panda reserve — it was a whirlwind tour that immersed us at every turn in Chinese language and culture.
Again and again, I found myself thinking, “I’m so proud of these kids.” Our Upper Schoolers were brave, responsible, and fun-loving. In their interactions with the many people we met on our journey, they served as goodwill ambassadors and as exemplars of the Seven Hills values.
The tour of China is one of several international trips and exchanges that Seven Hills offers. We run one for each of our world languages (Chinese, French, Latin, and Spanish), as well as a science trip to Costa Rica and a cultural exchange with a high school in Denmark. The 22 students on our trip all studied Chinese, and I loved seeing them put their classroom knowledge into action. It was also touching to see their close relationships with their Chinese language teachers, Mia Wu and Nanyue Zhu, who planned and led the trip.
To get the most out of the experience, I took Chinese classes myself for the year leading up to our departure. I found the language to be challenging but fascinating. As I traveled the country, I was glad to be able to cobble together some basic sentences, and I had all the more admiration for our students, who could carry on in-depth conversations in the language.
Even though we saw so many amazing sites, some of my favorite memories of the trip will simply be the meals that we shared together. Not only was the food itself delicious, but we also had such a great time talking, laughing, and comparing travel notes over these family-style meals.
Many of the seniors on the trip had been in my ninth grade advisory or my 10th grade English class, and it was a gift to reconnect with them on the cusp of their graduating and heading off to college. I was so impressed by the young adults they have become. I also loved spending time with the sophomores and juniors; I found myself wondering whether I would have been brave enough to travel around the world at their age.
In Beijing and Shanghai, Seven Hills young alumni joined our group for a day. Tony Wang ’26 and Ethan Hu ’25 were international students in the Upper School, and I was grateful that they took the time to show us their respective hometowns. Stinger Pride knows no borders!
(L-R) Matt Bolton, Tony Wang ’26, Mia Wu, and Nanyue Zhu
We also connected with Chinese counterparts by spending a day embedded in a Beijing high school. It was fascinating to see the parallels and differences between our two schools.
Seven Hills’ mission statement calls on us to prepare students to play a meaningful role in a rapidly changing world. Watching our students thrive during the 10 days we spent in China, I was struck by how prepared each of them really is.
