编者按：上海宏润博源学校刘同学在大学录取的早申请阶段获得了伦敦艺术大学，芝加哥艺术学院，普瑞特艺术学院，加州艺术学院，纽约视觉艺术学院等多所国际顶尖艺术院校offer，并获得了高额奖学金。她认为，考上心目中的大学算是给高中学业生涯画上一个圆满的句号，开启人生的新篇章。通往成功的道路漫长且遥远，不过她坚信只要努力保持自己对艺术的虔诚，才有可能去接近自己的梦想。
Editor's note：In the ED process of her college application, Emily Liu, a 12th grader of our school, won the favor of many top international art colleges, including University of the Arts London, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Pratt Institute of Art, California Institute of the Arts, and School of Visual Arts in New York, and was also awarded high scholarship. She believes that getting into her dream college is the best way to bring her high school years to a successful conclusion and open a new chapter in her life. Although the road to success is long and endless, she firmly believes that if she remains dedicated to arts, she will get closer to fulfilling her dream.
●刘同学自述Emily’s story●
我从小到大，经历过很多次选择。当我还在公办学校的时候，我对自己的未来很迷茫。我感觉自己没有足够的时间和精力去追逐梦想，每天摆在眼前的是成堆的作业，我像是坠入了深渊中，我无法做自己喜欢的事情，好像人生唯一的目标就是中考，高考，以及大学。当我的父母发现我并不适合体制内的道路，感谢他们毅然帮我重新更换了赛道，选择了国际学校，也让我重新有了选择自己人生方向的权利，可以重新审视自己上大学的意义。我也逐渐变得乐观，开始思考自己的未来。在国际学校就读一年后，我又陷入了迷茫，不知道自己今后想要做什么。幸运的是学校有丰富的校园活动帮助我们探索自我，挖掘潜能，让我慢慢看到自己。我是一个富有想象力的人。从小，我就有许多奇思妙想，在绘画领域有些天赋，所以我坚定地选择了艺术这条路线。
I made a lot of choices while I grew up. When I was at a public school, I was very confused about my future. I felt that I didn't have enough time and energy to pursue my dream. I was faced with tons of homework every day, and I felt as if I had fallen into an abyss. I couldn't do what I liked, and the only goal in life seemed to be working on the high school entrance examination, the college entrance examination and getting into a university. Thanks to my parents who realized that public school system did not suit me, and I was transferred to an international school and given the right to choose my own life path. Being able to reflect on why I should attend university, I gradually became optimistic about my future. A year later at the international school, I was at a loss about what I would do in the future. Fortunately, the school organized various activities on campus to help us explore ourselves and tap our potential, so that I could came to understand who I am. I am an imaginative girl. Since childhood, I have had many fantastic ideas and some talent in the field of painting, so I decided on taking up art.
我对艺术设计感兴趣,其实是有多种原因的。第一个原因是家庭因素。我的父亲,是一位艺术老师兼设计师。他也是一个非常热爱艺术的人。在我很小的时候,他就不断地向我传输艺术思想,鼓励我多做艺术创作, 激发我天马行空的想法。有一次,我在家中的墙上乱涂乱画,被父亲发现后,他并没有生气,反而表扬了我, 并放任我去画,因为他不想拘束我的想法。等我长大点,我的父亲就会教给我一些专业的美术知识。让我在有着创意的同时,又能够夯实基础。第二个原因就是学校因素, 我有幸遇到了非常专业的美术老师。宏润博源学校美术双优项目让我发现设计是一件非常有趣的事情, 也接触到各种形式的设计。每当我设计完一份作品并且发现它是独一无二的时候,我会感到非常的自豪和满足,从而让我越来越有信心。还有一个因素是得益于我成长的城市和这个时代。我几乎可以随时随地接触到很多富有艺术气息的设计，比如，繁华的街头，琳瑯满目的橱窗设计，多如牛毛的艺术展，又或者通过网络搜索了解艺术家的最新动态。有趣的设计，给我注入了灵感和启发，也带给我前进的动力，我也希望能和这些艺术家一样，为大家的生活注入美！
There are many reasons why I am interested in art and design. The first is my family background. As an art teacher and designer, my father loves art very much. When I was very young, he kept giving me artistic inspirations, encouraging me to create my own artworks, and stimulating my fancy ideas. One day, when I was scribbling on the wall at home, he didn't get angry. Instead, he praised me and encouraged me to draw because he didn't want to restrict my ideas. When I was a bit older, he taught me some professional art knowledge, which improved my creativity and helped me lay a solid foundation. The second reason is my school. I was very fortunate to encounter very professional art teachers. The art double excellence program offered by our school has made me realize that design is very interesting, and I have been exposed to various forms of design. Whenever I complete my unique design, I feel happy with it and proud of myself. Thus, I become more and more confident in myself. Another factor is that I benefit from the city and the era I grew up in. I have access to a lot of artistic designs almost anywhere and anytime, such as busy streets, shopwindow displays, numerous art exhibitions, or searching the internet to find out what the latest artists are doing. Interesting designs keep inspiring me and motivating me to move forward. I wish I could also bring beauty to everyone's life just like those artists.
不知不觉，高中生涯只剩下短短的2个多月。回想在宏润博源的这几年，我觉得收获最大的是我通过选读很多有关艺术与设计的课程打下了扎实的绘画设计基础。记得在美术基础课上,老师会教我们画素描,水粉以及丙烯画的技巧,并且还会带我们到校园里写生以练习构图能力, 还会让我们制作一些模型,比如火山模型,房屋模型等等,以提高我们的动手能力。11年级的时候,我开始挑战做一些更高难度的设计项目，为作品集做准备。一个项目所需要的时间少则一周,多则一个月。这些项目包含logo设计,产品包装设计,书本设计以及服装设计。我需要反复改进，制作无数手稿，购买各种各样的材料，思考如何让作品更有创意。除此之外，每当学校需要做活动宣传海报的时候，举办艺术展览的时候，我都会主动申请制作，并且帮助老师们去布置展览，把同学们的作品以最好的方式呈现出来，让整个学校充满艺术气息。在我们学校，如果遇到大型的节日如圣诞节，中秋节，端午节等等，学校会通过把节日元素装饰在校园中的方法来让大家感受到温暖的氛围。比如说，在圣诞节的时候，我会粘一些雪花贴纸在窗户上，还会做一些圣诞树的模型放在学校里，我还会在礼堂和食堂里挂满彩带和气球。对于我来说，我所处的社区就像一个大家庭一样，我很喜欢做自己力所能及的事情这个社区变得越来越美好。
How time flies! My high school years will come to an end in just 2 months. Looking back on these years at SHBS, I find it the most rewarding to be able to lay a solid foundation of painting and design by attending many courses related to art and design. I remember that in my basic art class, our teachers taught us the skills of drawing, goufa and acrylic, and took us to campus so that we could practice sketches. They also instructed us on how to make some models, such as volcano models and house models, so as to improve our hands-on ability. During my Grade 11 year, I began to challenge myself to do some more difficult design projects so that I could prepare for my portfolio. A project could take as short as a week or as long as a month. These projects included logo design, product packaging design, book design and clothing design. I had to keep refining my designs, make countless manuscripts, buy all kinds of materials, and think about how to make my work more creative. In addition, whenever the school needed to make posters for activities and hold art exhibitions, I would offer to make posters, and help teachers to arrange exhibitions, so that we could present students' works in the best way and make the whole school artistic. In our school, every time we have a large festival such as Christmas, Mid-Autumn Festival, Dragon Boat Festival,etc., the school will decorate the campus with festival ornaments to make everyone feel the warm atmosphere. For example, on Christmas day, I would attach some snow stickers to the windows, and make some models of Christmas trees in the school. I would also hang ribbons and balloons in the auditorium and canteen. For me, the community I live in is like a big family, and I would love to do what I can to make it better.
●总结●
我认为在人的一生中，能够做一件自己所喜欢的事情，并且通过自己源源不断的努力而成功，便是一件幸福的事。我也会一直为我的梦想而奋斗！最后，我想感谢在我的申请阶段，为我提供源源不断帮助的人，感谢学校给予我的支持，学业上的帮助，让我感受到了温暖。我也感谢我的父母，他们指导我做了无数次正确的选择，把我从深渊里拉出来的也是他们，并且一直支持我的梦想。最后我希望我身边的同学们，都能在申请季顺顺利利地拿到想要拿到的offer！
I think that if one can do what he likes in his life and succeed by working hard on it, he will be a happy person. I will always keep working hard to chase my dream. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to those who have helped me during my application process. I would also like to express my gratitude to our school for the teachers' support and academic assistance. I would also like to thank my parents for instructing me on how to make the right choices time and time again. They pulled me out of the abyss, and support my dream. Finally, I hope all my 12th grade schoolmates will be able to get the offer from their dream colleges in the application season!
文 | Emily Liu
翻译 | Dawn Xu
排版 | Jang