The daughter of a couple who ran their own business, Zhefei grew up in Zhejiang province, China, for all her young life until she ventured out to Singapore in 2019 to further her studies. She joined St Francis Methodist School in March 2020. While the International Baccalaureate programme in the school was already deep into its first term, Zhefei was undaunted by the amount of work she had to catch up with and the adjustment to new friends and a new school. With her perseverance and her intellectual capacity, she not only caught up with her studies, but she also formed strong bonds with her classmates and surpassed all of them in her academic performance!

Brushing up on her English language was her biggest challenge when she first arrived in Singapore. She spent most of her time studying English and overcame the difficulties through reading many English articles from different resources and practicing writing and speaking to improve her composition and oral presentations. “From my experience, I think self-discipline and persistence are the key factors of success,” she says. In fact, she improved so much that she became elected by her peers as the valedictorian at their Graduation Service where she eloquently shared her SFMS experience.

Zhefei enjoyed the multicultural environment in Singapore – the food, the festivals, the languages, and the people! Such a vibrant city and she also appreciated the greenery in this tropical island.

She is grateful to the teachers in SFMS. She says they are not only responsible and professional in their work, but they are also kind and friendly. In her valedictorian speech, she thanked the teachers for their dedication that “shapes us into mature and all-rounded individuals”.

“I hope that I can get into NUS as I want to continue my learning journey in Singapore,” she buoyantly declares.

She has currently applied to universities in the UK, including Oxford, local universities NUS, NTU and universities in Hong Kong.