The Key to Impact: How Fellows Change Their Students’ Paths
How were Fiona and Oscar empowered to discover their Potential and go for their dream in university?
Discover their life-changing stories with our Fellows Fei Cheung and Ernest Wong and get to know how TFHK Fellows are uniquely positioned to bring new perspectives and ways of thinking to their grassroots students and broaden their exposure horizons.
Grassroots students often have similar starts to their academic trajectories.
One student, Fiona Or, says, “During secondary school, I had absolutely no motivation to study. I didn’t understand what the point of school was.” One of the problems was, she had lost her sense of direction. Her parents wanted her to work in the business sector for its practical prospects. Her teachers focused on her academic scores, laying out options based on predicted grades. Between these pressures, her own aspirations for herself got lost and she was adrift.
Another student, Oscar, recalls, “Before meeting Fei [TFHK Fellow], I wasn’t motivated to learn. I didn’t focus on studying and spent most of my time having fun, gaming with friends. So, gradually, I became influenced by my peers and viewed studying as unimportant.”
Fast forward a year. Fiona is on track to study psychology at Shue Yan University and fulfill her personal dream of becoming a clinical psychologist. Oscar has won awards in STEM competitions and is majoring in Information Engineering at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
How did things change so dramatically? For Fiona and Oscar, it happened through TFHK Fellows, who are uniquely positioned to bring new perspectives and ways of thinking to their grassroots students, as well as broaden their exposure horizons.
Unlike the other figures in Fiona’s life, Ernest Wong (Fellow 16-17) re-oriented Fiona’s focus: “But what do you want to do?”
“It was only at that moment I realised I had a choice, I have the freedom to choose my own path.” Understood, accepted and empowered, she suddenly realised that she could go for her dream degree even if she did not study in a top secondary school.
Coincidentally, Fiona’s area of interest, psychology, was Ernest’s own university major. Sharing his experience and knowledge, he unlocked the drive and ambition in her.
“I’ve worked my hardest in pursuit of studying Psychology in university. I’ve never put myself out there for something I really wanted before. Ernest made me believe that I am capable, despite the lack of academic resources and an unsupportive family.”
Ernest says, “I think one of the special, differentiating things about Fellows is our attitude and motivation for teaching. We each have our individual ideals of what teaching ought to be, and a deep desire to reimagine education.” For himself, the question driving his approach is, “What do students truly want?” This translated into his teaching, where he would spend extra time getting to know students individually, and ultimately allowed him to bring a transformative perspective into Fiona’s life.
Fei Cheung (Fellow 16-17) broadened Oscar’s horizons in an equally transformative way. As a passionate physics graduate and R&D engineer, Fei was ideally positioned to bring his STEM knowledge to his placement school. With the autonomy that the school gave him, he designed a special STEM Arduino course for Form 3 students. It was a great success. Under his leadership, students’ interest in the sciences came alive. Upper secondary students participated in even more science competitions.
Oscar remembers, “Fei was our teacher leading us to invent different products. From brainstorming the idea, to bringing it into actuality, Fei was there, leading us through every step to completing the project.” He continues, “Fei is like a friend. Someone I can open up and talk to. Thank you, Fei. You are a mentor and a guiding light to me. You brought me to the world of technology.”
Asked to talk about his approach to his role as a Fellow, Fei says something that echoes Ernest: “As a Fellow, I spend most of my time trying to understand my students’ mindsets. The greatest challenge for me is how to use the extracurricular time to connect with students, to open their hearts and allow them to understand that learning is not a fearsome activity, but rather something for themselves - to help themselves grow, to give themselves more choice and ability to complete their goals and dreams.” Beyond bringing in their domains of knowledge - psychology and technology respectively - that were previously inaccessible to their students, they showed their students a new perspective on learning that was life-changing.