I have often said that no matter where one travels, one is likely to bump into LPCUWC students or graduates.  Indeed, I made this same comment in my blog just a few weeks ago when I met two of my students by accident on the streets of Shanghai.  It has happened again - twice - this week.

I spent four days of the past week in Seoul.  This was my first visit to South Korea, and my main purpose was to deepen my understanding of the contrasts between North Korea (which I have visited five times) and the South in preparation for my forthcoming 6th visit to North Korea with 20 students next month.  On my first morning in Seoul (Wednesday), I had just finished climbing  to the summit of Namsan (part of my summer exercise program!), and having just sat down for a much-needed cool drink I looked up and saw Joyce Mak and her parents.  Joyce had just completed her IB Diploma in May this year, and the obvious second question (the first being “how amazing is it to meet like this?”) was “how were the IB results”, because the results had been released by the IB just two days earlier.

This was a question that I was certainly delighted to answer, as our IB results were the second best in the history of the College.  Only in 2003 were there better results, the consensus being that as this was the year SARS hit Hong Kong, and students could not go out and socialise or perform normal community service, study hours increased by default.  Thus, the 2009 results could be seen as our best-ever ‘normal’ results.  Every student at the College passed and was awarded their IB Diploma this year, and the average grade (well in excess of 37) must place the College among the highest scoring IB schools in the world.  Over 30% of our students achieved scores of 40 or more (out of 45), compared with the global average of about 6.5% of students who earn 40 points or more.  Our pioneer group of Form 4 entrants from Hong Kong performed especially well.

My brief time in Seoul provided me with some valuable insights which I look forward to sharing with my students when we visit North Korea together next month.  Both North and South Korea are fascinating

places, in their own very different ways of course.  One of the things that surprised me was that visiting Panmunjom (the negotiating area in the DMZ on the border between North and South Korea) was in many ways more difficult on the south side than on the north.  Visiting Panmunjom from the south side meant following a dress code, signing a waiver form, not carrying hats, umbrellas or camera cases, obeying the rule not to point, being prohibited from photographing many areas, and so on - all restrictions that are not practised on the northern side (not that one could call the visit on either side ‘relaxing’).

Having returned to Hong Kong on the weekend, I was having a meal at McDonalds on Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui on Sunday evening when a smiling and articulate young lady came and sat down to talk.  Christina Tang had been a member of the first group of students I took to North Korea in 2005, graduating from LPCUWC in May that year.  After LPCUWC, she had attended Brown University in the US, from which she recently graduated.  She described in fascinating detail her imminent plans to do six months voluntary work in Kerala (south-west India) on a project to harness rainwater as a resource for rural villagers.  Details of the project can be seen HERE, and an article on Christine’s role in particular can be seen HERE.

I was deeply impressed with Christina’s enthusiasm, humility and commitment to positive action by giving six months of her time for this project.  But Christina insisted repeatedly that her initial motivation to engage in this kind of work sprang specifically from her two years at LPCUWC.  And that’s the important message I came away with after these two unexpected conversations this week.  Academic results are very important - they are the key that opens doors to the future - but which doors one chooses to unlock is the real measure of an authentic UWC education.

Footnote: My next blog may be a little later than usual.  I am planning to go trekking in the mountains of western Mongolia (near the border with Kazakhstan) during the coming week.  There is some great geography there (so I’m told), but needless to say there will be no internet access (or electricity, or running water, or beds, or ...   ).