We are Wellington | Flourishing and thriving, Scarlett '21

"One of the main ways that Wellington helped me was just with my self-confidence in everything — sports, academic subjects, my choice of career path. Before I came here, I attended a state school in the UK, and things were very different there. In the UK, my favourite subject was always English. Then I moved here, and I encountered all of these people who were a lot more well-read than I was. They were getting better grades on essays, and I was already a bit behind because I had to move through IGCSEs. I would go into lessons and see that my fellow pupils had a deeper understanding of the text than I did. That was when I realised that I need to work harder because my peers were just as good as I was if not better. I quickly learned that it does not matter how smart you are. If you want to be successful, you have to work hard for it."

"I think I would be a lot shyer if I were still in the UK. This was the first time I had ever moved schools. I was moving to a completely different continent. I did not know anybody here — no pupils, no teachers. It pushed me to step out of my comfort zone, to talk to people and make new friends. But I think the culture of Wellington, and most international schools, is that people come and go. They are used to welcoming people in. This made the transition easier for me."

"A lot of the opportunities here helped as well, like sports. I had the opportunity to go to Singapore to compete in a netball tournament. That helped me improve my skill level and my confidence. It compelled me to put myself forward for things that I might not have in the past because it looked like too much work, or I might not do as well as I want to."

"I became much more engaged in charitable work at Wellington. At my previous schoool, we did not have that many leadership positions available, much less a head of charity. In year 12, I joined the charity committee because I had never held a leadership position before, and then in year 13, I was able to carry that through and become head of the charity committee. It was a challenge because you are trying to organise fun and interesting events to raise money, but the experience helped me to develop my leadership and organisational skills. Also, the work was just very rewarding. The main charity we worked with was Heart to Heart, a Shanghai-based organisation that pays for heart surgery for young children. Just being able to see the success stories of these children and knowing that we played some small part in them — that we made some kind of impact — made it all worthwhile."

"I am deciding between Kings College in London or Bristol University. I plan on studying business management because I like how it combines logic and creativity. Also, I studied business here at Wellington through the IB Programme and I really liked it. I am most interested in going into fashion; it excites me. I am especially fascinated by how fashion is marketed. I have experienced it first-hand as a consumer. I have been marketed to; we all have. I want to see how it works from the marketer's point of view because I have witnessed how effective it can be."