Currently the borders are closed to international students so we felt it would be ideal for our King’s community to know a little bit more about our current international students.

We were fortunate prior to COVID to welcome many boys from around the world including students from Switzerland, Germany, Vietnam, Thailand, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, and Fiji. Some students choose King’s because of their sporting interests, academic studies and or to build on their English.

The international students teach us so much about their culture and ways of being and add to the positive vibe here at King’s. I look forward to sharing some of their stories over the next few weeks.

Introducing Tommy Chen

Hi, I’m Tommy Chen and I’ve been studying at King’s for nearly 3 ½ years. I started in Year 10 in 2018 from Beijing, China.

My family wanted me to come to NZ to study, to build on my English and to gain University Entrance. They also felt it would be a great opportunity for me to experience another culture and way of living.

In my second year my father came to visit, and we managed a road trip around the North and South Island. This helped me to learn a lot more about New Zealand. I like the natural environment, it's peaceful and less crowded. Dunedin is a good place with good people. They have a positive way and show good will to others.

Studying in China is very different to NZ schooling. In China, I start school in the morning at 7.40am and finish at 6pm. The style of teaching is more repetitive and more like an exam style which can feel like we are always being selected as ‘top or bottom’. Since being at King’s I have found the learning and way of studying much easier because there is less pressure, it is very different to what I previously experienced. I have been successful with my studies at King’s and my parents are very proud of me. This year as a Year 13 I am Studying Scholarship Calculus, Scholarship Physics, Scholarship Chemistry, Scholarship Statistics and Earth & Space Science.

My interests are anything to do with ‘Science’, but I love food and I love to cook especially trying new recipes in my homestay. I enjoy watching videos of my cats back home which I miss. I enjoy fishing, but I haven’t had the chance to do that since Year 10 Camp which was so much fun – although we didn’t catch any fish!

If I was explaining Dunedin and King’s to my friends back in China, I would say the teachers are dedicated and professional, the school encourages me to take opportunities such as Scholarship classes and I would tell them that Dunedin is a safe environment with nice people and a good place to study. I like the changes of weather, but the mornings are sometimes quite cold!

My ambition is to choose a profession where I am ‘solving problems’. My aspiration is to be ‘super clever’ and hopefully to stay in New Zealand.

Thank you to King’s High School for giving me the opportunities I have had so far.