Maria Xu and Tina Lu attend classes, do their homework and play sports just like any other students would at the all-girls Stuart Country Day School.
By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Maria Xu and Tina Lu attend classes, do their homework and play sports just like any other students would at the all-girls Stuart Country Day School.
What’s different about them is the journey that the two 15-year-old girls took — Maria is from Hong Kong and Tina from Beijing — just so they could attend high school in America.
Tina said it was “for better opportunity” that led her to leave China to finish her education on the East Coast and live with a host family. Her aim is to attend college in America, with Princeton University being the first college she heard about when she was young.
In all, six students from China, made up of three freshmen and three sophomores, have come to Stuart this year. Stuart, interested in bringing in students from out of the country, worked with the Cambridge Institute, an agency that matches international students with schools.
”It’s better. We have more opportunity. And I want to go (to) college here,” said Maria in explaining why she left home. She had been attending high school in Hong Kong, having finished her freshman year and entered Stuart as a sophomore.
In her case, she had to persuade her parents to let her study abroad, and even then they wanted to her to go to either the Switzerland or the United Kingdom.
”They think it’s better for my brother to come, because I’m a girl,” she said.
Tina said she applied to 11 schools, while Maria said she applied to three. In Maria’s case, a former principal of hers back home had worked at the Lawrenceville School and recommended her to Stuart.
The girls had to meet admission standards and have Skype interviews with school staff. They also had to take a math placement test, the only subject that is differentiated.
Dana Day, a ninth-grade English teacher, serves as a liaison between the six Chinese girls and the rest of the faculty. She said this is the first time she had more than one international student in her class.
”It’s been a lot of fun trying to figure out different ways of communicating content, different ways of assessing things,” she said.
Stuart students have embraced the newcomers, peppering them with questions, Ms. Day said. Tina and Maria play sports, another way to get exposed to other students.
”Stuart is such a small school. It would be hard for them just to stick together. They’ve really integrated into the community with the other girls, Ms. Day said. “So I think it’s been a really good opportunity for everyone.”
Both girls said it is common for Chinese students to go to school in a different country; Tina said some of her friends have gone to Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand or other parts of the United States. In both their cases, they have left densely populated cities with big school populations to attend a small private school set in a wooded section of Princeton.
”I like here better actually. It’s so natural. And the air is so good. Have you ever heard of pollution in Beijing?” said Tina.
Coming to America, they have had to make some adjustments: language being one, though some of the girls’ English is better than others. Part of the experience is to work on their English, at school and with their host families.
Tina said every-day talking is fine, but there are some academic terminology “we don’t know.”
Then there is the matter of American humor. “It’s really hard to get American jokes,” she said.
Another adjustment was going to school with only girls, as schools in China are co-ed. Maria and Tina said they like that aspect.
”You don’t need to care what you look like. It’s more focused (on) study,” Tina said.
The school day in China is also longer, Tina said. Classes begin before 8 a.m. and end at 4:40 p.m. There’s more homework in China too, she noted.

