Celebrating the 10^th anniversary of the relationship between Peddie and the Shanghai High School No. 2 affiliated to East China Normal University, 11 Peddie students and four teachers traveled to Shanghai this past spring break.

This marked the fifth  time Peddie students have traveled to Peddie’s  sister school. During their time at EFZ,  the students experienced a diverse set of classes prepared for them, ranging from kungfu martial arts classes to Chinese painting classes. Students were given the opportunity to listen to a lecture given by a Fudan university’s lecture on the Sino-US relationship. They also visited Microport, a Chinese medical research company. Headmaster Peter Quinn  also visited EFZ to plant a friendship tree with the presence of each school’s faculty and students.

“The biking was absolutely unique this year, we were able to export Mr. Clements’ legacy of biking from Peddie to Shanghai!” Yuan Gao, director of Asian studies, said.

“We wanted to have an impact on their school as well, so we had Mr. Clements teach them about poetry, Ms. Aisenson teach about art and Mr. Harris teach about the history of lacrosse,” Gao said.

This trip incorporated not only academic exchange, but the development of the students as well.

In conjunction with the celebration of Peddie and EFZ’s long relationship, Peddie’s first long term exchange student, Chaofan “Daniel” Tao, returned home to EFZ on March 4^t. Tao’s two-month stay ended after he finished his winter final exams, marking his completion of a regular school term.

During his stay, he  participated in winter track, and took classes like other Peddie students. His immersion into Peddie’s community and schedule facilitated an introduction into an American high school experience. During an interview with The Peddie News, Daniel responded that he found lots of cultural differences in his initial transition. For example, he said “It’s difficult to understand the slang that students in Peddie use. Acronyms like “PFS” for Peddie Food Service were hard to understand at first. Also, sports were really challenging for me at first. Almost every day, I would fall asleep at 8 p.m.”

Tao highlighted the differences between Peddie and EFZ, noting that the level of dedication to sports was initially very surprising to him. At EFZ, only two hours per week are dedicated to sports training, while two hours per day are the norm for Peddie students. Shortly into his stay at Peddie, Tao injured his ankle, and was introduced to the training room facilities for his recovery.

During his stay, Daniel was able to continue his long hobby of playing piano in the Swig Arts Center and its practice rooms. In addition, he enjoyed reading a lot, and was amazed at the number of volumes in the Annenberg Library.

Tao’s visit to Peddie allowed him to experience the education and culture of America and also have a feel for whether or not he would enjoy having a future here. He also remarked that one of his favorite subjects at Peddie was Intermediate Programming, with Tim Corica. Daniel described the hands-on, working nature of the class, where the entire term was dedicated to completing a partner project.

In a final addition to the exchange student program this year, Elliot Waxman ’16 will be spending his final spring term at EFZ, returning just in time for graduation.