毕业生| 庄文祥：从“淘气包”到药剂师“斜杠”飞行员

“庄文祥可是个淘气包！时不常的就能在校长室看见他。”教了庄文祥3年小学中文的柳慧老师说。“不过，有一次我们去仁育苑（启明星长年支持的慈善机构）看那里的小朋友，我特别意外地看见他陪着那里的孩子，我从来没见过他那么安静，那么专心。”

“文祥心地善良，是个有自驱力的年轻人。他对自己和未来都有想法，但并没有被年轻人惯有的天马行空而困扰。他想要为身边的世界带来积极的影响，想要成为创变者。”庄文祥的班主任兼经济学老师Darcy Au-Yeung说。

在启明星的12年里，“淘气包”庄文祥有些改变了，有些，则没有变——

他想要往制药、医学方向发展，所以向申请的每一所高校都填报了生物学或生物化学、生物医学方向的专业。这份可能要枯坐实验室的未来和他小时候总让老师头疼的反差不小；不过他又一如既往地“主意大”——比如他拒绝了在大家看来名气响亮的伦斯勒理工学院。“我觉得学校的地点有点偏远。”

文祥已经拿到伦敦国王学院、麦吉尔大学、多伦多大学、爱丁堡大学、加利福尼亚大学戴维斯分校等英美和加拿大名校的Offer。

牛刀小试

小学1年级，庄文祥就加入了启明星，那时候整个学校还只有5、6个班级。小而美的校园里有着紧密、温馨的社区氛围，个性十足的他得到足够又刚刚好的宽容和自由。 

他当然记得老师的管教，但更让他记忆深刻的是社区的“包裹感”。

“启明星的社区感很好，我喜欢。踢足球，打篮球时，你可以和每一个年级的男生都成为朋友，每个人都是好朋友。”除去在绿茵场上和伙伴们打成一片，文祥也是学生会的积极一员。他起草了高中学生会的第一份章程，也主导会议讨论，确保重要的事情被优先讨论。

他一直喜欢科学，启明星的小班教学也方便他和每一位科学老师聊天。“比如王桂华老师给我讲过她自己的研究成果和研究经历,Mark Espinosa老师给我讲过他的风力汽车——每个老师都很喜欢自己的领域，我能感觉到他们每个人都很热爱科学，他们每个人都对我有影响。”

包容、友好的社区环境好像催化剂，让“淘气”的庄文祥放开探索自己的“热爱”。他喜欢生物、化学，也喜欢物理，从5、6年级开始阅读科学类的读物或文章。

渐渐的他发现，只要一沾上科学，自己就能“坐得住”，做科研的种子也就是在那时候种下的。

去年夏天，他前往中科院动物研究所的生化实验室实习，为昆虫免疫科研组做助手工作。

“当时课题组正在研究一个问题——在某个农场，有种对玉米有好处的益虫被病毒入侵了。课题组的工作是要通过在已有的信息库里进行比对识别，搞清楚这种病毒是新出现的还是未被发现过的已知病毒。我们通过PCR技术把病毒的DNA片段进行扩增，然后进行比对。”庄文祥说，“虽然我的工作只是帮忙配试剂，很多东西都是现学现做，但是通过这个过程，我知道自己是真的愿意做这个（科研）！”

庄文祥喜欢科研，他甚至在家里也准备了一套实验用品。“我一直都在添加些小仪器，比如显微镜，滴定套件之类的。”

对科学的执着渐渐有了成果——文祥为第一作者的一篇论文《咖啡因和茶碱联合剂量对青蛙反射活动的拮抗、叠加和协同作用》已由《国际现代医学与全球健康会议（ICMMGH 2023）》收录，将发表于会议论文集，并提交至Scopus、科技会议录索引 (CPCI)、Crossref、开放获取期刊目录 (DOAJ)、工程研究与资源 (Inspec) 和谷歌学术等数据库进行索引。

距离科研梦，文祥又近了一步。而他未来的兴趣，就是做真正的药理学研究，制作新药！

不只“坐得住”

立志做科研的庄文祥，内心里的淘气和“不安分”并没消失。有时候，IBDP的学习实在太繁重，他就会闻闻自己合成的、味道味道酸爽的嗅盐来提神，当然他也不忘“分享”给同样打瞌睡的同学！还有，他的兴趣拉出来一长串，而且真不是说说而已！

他喜欢弹钢琴、学习乐理，也做过音乐制作，接触过音乐治疗， “前美国音乐治疗协会主席来中国访问时，我还给她做过翻译。”说起这些经历，他有些小骄傲。

他的兴趣还不局限在这些需要“坐住”的领域，他还有飞得高高的梦想——航空航天。

在等待上大学的这段日子里，他正在准备考飞行驾照，在线上模拟器上训练和在Ground School（飞行学校）上学习。“我想等上大学后考正式的飞行执照，没准以后做个民航飞行员！”

文祥也曾经试过做软件工程师。因为教他编程的老师是德国人，后来他系统地学习了德文。因为对语言和语言学感兴趣，他也学习了西班牙语！“西班牙语是世界上使用人数第二多的语言，为我打开了更多‘门’：职业机会、交朋友、获得西班牙语资源等等。更重要的是，学习一门语言可以帮助我以一种新的视角理解一种文化。学习西班牙语之后，我发现比之前更能理解很多西班牙和拉美背景的事情了。我对文学不太在行，但是语言和语言学是一门科学。语言也会进化，有历史，我喜欢。”

这个孩子真有趣，他还有什么想做而还没尝试的想法？

“了解世界对我很重要，大自然，乃至宇宙对我很重要。”他说。也许就是这样的信念让他一直在努力地向身边世界伸展自己的触角。

用一种动物来比喻自己，庄文祥想了想，不出意外地给了个不那么寻常的答案——兔狲：“因为它有点怪但也挺好玩的，实际上的个性和外表看上去不那么一样！”

“Zhuang Wenxiang was a naughty little boy. We often saw him at the Principal’s Office,” said Ms. Liu Hui, who was Wenxiang’s elementary school Chinese teacher for three years. "However, once we went to Our Learning House (a charity that Daystar has supported for years) to visit the children, I was particularly surprised to see him as a devoted companion with the children there, and I had never seen him being so quiet and attentive."

“He’s a very motivated young man. He has his own plans for the future. He is not filled with ungrounded ideals but has a very grounded sense of that which he is capable. He wants to be an innovator, to make a positive difference to the world around him,” said Darcy Au-Yeung, Wenxiang’s homeroom and Economics teacher.

During his 12 years at Daystar, something has changed in him, but not everything.

He chose biology, biochemistry, biomedical science and similar majors at every university he applied to because he wanted to delve into pharmacology and medicine. It is quite a shock to his teachers that he would choose something that would probably keep him sitting for long stretches of time in a lab in the future. But it also shows that he’s very independent and he knows what will make him happy. For example, he turned down the renowned Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. “I think the school’s location is a little too remote.”

Wenxiang received offers from Kings College London (KCL), McGill University, University of Toronto, University of Edinburgh, UC Davis and several other prestigious universities in the US, Canada and the UK.

Give it a Try

Zhuang Wenxiang joined Daystar in Grade 1 of elementary school. At that time the entire school only had 5 or 6 classes. The small yet beautiful campus was a close and friendly community where his distinctive personality flourished in an atmosphere of acceptance and freedom.

He certainly remembers the discipline imposed by his teachers, but what left a lasting impression on him was a sense of belonging.

"I love the sense of community at Daystar. When playing soccer or basketball, you can make friends with boys from every grade. Everyone is friendly." In addition to playing on Daystar’s varsity soccer and basketball teams, Wenxiang also was active in Student Council. He drafted the High School Student Council’s first Constitution and he led the meetings, making sure priorities were discussed.

He has always had a fondness for science, and the small classes at Daystar enabled him to communicate extensively with every science teacher. "For example, Ms. Jessica Wang told me about her own research achievements and experiences, and Mr. Mark Espinosa told me about his wind-powered car. Every teacher loves their respective field of research, and I can feel that they all have a passion for science. Each of them has influenced me."

The inclusive and friendly community encouraged the once-mischievous Zhuang Wenxiang to freely explore his own passions. He enjoys biology, chemistry and physics, and has been reading scientific books and articles since Grade 5.

Gradually Wenxiang discovered that as long as he focused on science-related topics, he could sit still and concentrate for extended periods. The foundation for Wenxiang’s future as a researcher was established with that realization.

Last summer, he interned at the Institute of Zoology’s Biochemical Laboratory at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He worked as an assistant in the insect immunology research group.

"The research group was involved in combating a virus that had infected a beneficial insect species that played a vital role in corn production on a certain farm. The group’s task was to compare information in the database to figure out whether this was a new virus or a known virus that had not yet been identified. We amplified the viral DNA fragments via PCR for comparison,” said Wenxiang. “I only assisted in preparing reagents, and I was learning a lot as I went along, but this experience made me realize that I really want to do research!”

He enjoys scientific research so much that he even has a set of lab equipment at home. “I’ve been adding some small instruments, such as a microscope and titration kit."

His dedication to science gradually bore fruit. He already has had a paper accepted for publication on a scientific website as first author. The paper, titled “Antagonism, Summation, and Synergy between Combined Doses of Caffeine and A Theophylline on the Reflex Activity of Frogs,” has been accepted by the International Conference on Modern Medicine and Global Health (ICMMGH 2023). It will be published in Conference Proceedings, which will be submitted to Scopus, Conference Proceedings Citation Index (CPCI), Crossref, DOAJ, Engineering Village (Inspec), Google Scholar, and other databases for indexing.

With the publication of this paper, Wenxiang took another step closer to his dream of pursuing a career in scientific research. His future interests involve conducting pharmacological studies and developing new medicines.

More than just Sitting Still

Wenxiang, who aspires to a career in scientific research, hasn't lost his mischievous side. For example, he used smelling salts when he and his classmates found it difficult to stay awake due to their heavy IBDP work load. He has a long list of interests, and they are not just empty words.

He likes playing the piano, studying music theory, and has even dabbled in music production and music therapy. "When the former president of the American Music Therapy Association visited China, I even translated for her," he says with a little pride in his voice.

However, Wenxiang’s interests are not limited to activities that require him to "sit still." He also has a lofty dream of taking to the skies and even going into space.

While waiting for his university life to begin, Wenxiang is preparing to obtain a pilot’s license by training on online simulators and attending Ground School. "I’m planning to get an official pilot’s license after entering university. Maybe I’ll become a commercial airline pilot in the future!"

Wenxiang has also tried software engineering. And because his programming teacher was German, he systematically learned German. Curious about languages and linguistics, Wenxiang learned Spanish too. “Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world so learning it opens more doors for me: Career opportunities, friends, Spanish resources and stuff. But more importantly learning a language helps me understand a culture in a new way. A lot of Spanish and Latin American things make more sense after I know the language. I’m not much of a literature guy but language and linguistics is kind of science-y to me with lots of patterns and observations to be made. There’s a bit of history in there too, which I like.”

He is truly a fascinating and curious kid. Are there any more ideas he wants to try his hand at?

"Understanding the world, nature and the universe is important to me," said Wenxiang. It is perhaps this belief that has driven him to keep exploring the world around him.

When asked to compare himself to an animal, Wenxiang ponders for a while and gives an unusual answer — a Pallas's cat. "Because it looks a bit strange and also a lot of fun, but its actual personality doesn't quite match its appearance!"

祝福满格，致我们的第一届高中毕业生！Abundant Blessings for Our First High School Graduating Class!

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