Students from Pao School's high school campus have performed admirably in a number of large international competitions this spring. Two of our teams competed in the global finals in the United States in May. Team Pegasus, which is made up of Year 10 students, won third prize in the Knowledge @ Wharton High School (KWHS) Investment Competition Global Finale. This was the first time a Chinese team from Region 1 (including China, Korea, Japan and Mongolia) placed in the global top three. Further more, in the United States Academic Decathlon (USAD), a team of Year 11 students won 3 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze medals, as well as fourth place international in Division 3 and the third place in the Super Quiz.
Knowledge @ Wharton High School (KWHS) Investment Competition
Global Top 3
YK Pao School's Team Pegasus performed exceptionally well in the KWHS Investment Competition, prevailing over nearly 2,000 other teams and advancing to the Region 1 Finale along with one other Unicorn Team from Pao School. Team Pegasus went on to the Global Finale in May as the top team in Region 1, and competed with nine other outstanding teams from the United States, the UK, India, Brazil, and China. Pao School's team made history with its outstanding presentation, becoming the first Chinese team from Region 1 to place in the Global top three and the youngest winning team in the Global Finale.
▲ Team Pegasus
The Team's Comments
"It is a brand new challenge for all of us. We faced more rigorous judges, tougher opponents, and a more intense atmosphere than in earlier rounds. In a very limited amount of time, we re-evaluated our client's requirements, reorganized our investment rationale and strategy, and did more meticulous research to prepare for the Q&A session. This may sound a bit cliché, but our key takeaway from this competition is that hard work pays off. We spent a lot of time perfecting every element of our presentation. In the lead-up to the competition, all of our team members spent all of their free time reading up on investment so that we would be well prepared. In our final Q&A session, we were very honest about what we do and do not know, and in the end, we won this precious award."
▲ Global Top 3
As they prepared for the competition, members of Team Pegasus even personally used the app developed by the client company, and searched and analyzed the client's social network footprint to better understand the client and his needs. Team members also thoroughly
analyzed the operation of the client's corporate to better understand its asset structure and status.
Ray, the team captain contributed the team's success to Pao School teachers. "Over the summer, our Business Studies teacher David Lin began to help us brush up on our basic investment and financial management knowledge. During the course of the competition, the University of Pennsylvania graduate, Ms. McKay Novak, served as a mentor, providing us with incredible support in terms of the language we should use in our presentation (how to communicate our ideas effectively to the judges) and how to think about the subject matter. Every team member also brought something unique to table, was a great team player and worked hard. The synergy we achieved as a team is our greatest triumph."
▲ Excerpts from Pegasus' Investment Proposal
High School Business Studies teacher, Mr. David Lin commented: “Being one of the global winners in this Wharton investment competition is just the beginning of Team Pegasus's journey in the financial world. " He hopes that they will be leveraging on this success to manage the investments of other people and their own much better in future while making it a mission to further spread financial literacy in China among the young generation.
▲ Team Pegasus
United States Academic Decathlon
Individuals Award: 3 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze
Group Award: Top 4
Super Quiz Award: Top 3
From April 23 to April 29, seven Year 11 students from YK Pao School went to the United States to participate in the United States Academic Decathlon (USAD) Finals. The participating students were Carolyn, George, Leon, Susie, Selina, Vicky and Yolanda. This year’s Global Finals had nearly 600 participants from around 70 teams, among which around 50 teams came from the US, 20 were from China and the rest came from the UK. Pao School's team made history as this year marked the first time that YK Pao School participated in the competition. Overall, the team has performed very well, not only reaching the Global Finals, but also winning fourth place in the Group competition and third place in the Super Quiz. In terms of individual awards, George took the gold medal in mathematics and science, Selina won the gold medal in social sciences, Carolyn won the silver medal in mathematics and economics, and Susie won the silver medal in the interview round. Vicky earned a bronze medal in science.
▲ Great Performance at USAD
The United States Academic Decathlon Competition (USAD) focuses on ten areas: literature, social sciences, science, economics, mathematics, music, art, speech, interview and writing.
Mathematics and Economics Silver Medalist, Carolyn recalled and said “it was a wonderful and unforgettable experience.” Yolanda, music contestant regarded it as “an invaluable opportunity to learn outside the classroom.” Moreover, “this has been a big inspiration that's already having a positive impact on my studies” said Selina who won the gold medal in Social Sciences competition. George, Mathematics and Science dual gold medalist said that he would love to go back to those stressful days when the team pulled all-nighters and crammed for the competition but didn't have to worry about anything else.
▲ The Team
When talking about this experience, every team member expressed that they were fully dedicated to it. Leon told us that it was really intense. They even spent most of their flight to the US practicing for the competition. “We kept prepping right up until we entered the testing venue to make sure we had covered everything. But it paid off when the judges announced YK Pao School had won the Fourth Place International in our division, ” added Leon. “I am truly grateful to have ended up so much further along this journey than I even dared to imagine when we first started out last December. It certainly has been an incredible experience.” commented by Susie, the silver medalist of the interview competition.
▲ Leon and Susie in the Super Quiz
Bronze Medalist in Science, Vicky reflected on the team experience. "For me the best part was meeting my teammates, who are such wonderful people. Despite being under pressure from IB and the SATs, we persisted and gave it our all."
▲ Vicky at the Awards Ceremony
High School Mathematics teacher Mr. Yingkai Li and the mentor Ms. Dream Xia summarize for the team, “If a competition broadens your horizons, making you know at which level your peers from other schools, cities and countries are; if a competition can give you an unforgettable memory that is produced by mutual help during preparation or cheers at the awards; if a competition enables you to learn something, either new knowledge, or more importantly a learning method, then it is worth participating in it! We are very glad to see that the students are able to achieve all of the above in USAD. Compared with winning the medals, it is a greater success in our eyes.”
▲ The Team
Thanks to the information provided by the teachers and students.
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