Himeri is in Year 10 this year.

She has a passion for sports. In and out of school, she has tried eight sports: jiu-jitsu, judo, football, volleyball, touch rugby, frisbee, swimming, and track and field. Jiu-jitsu and judo are her main sports, the first from the age of six, the second from Year 3. She now trains jiu-jitsu five times a week, nearly two hours a session, in addition to four hours of judo training a week. Meanwhile she plays for the school's ultimate frisbee team. 

Himeri earned a gold medal in October at the Abu Dhabi Jiu-jitsu Pro Grand Slam

It was a friend who first took her along to jiu-jitsu. “I nearly gave up,” she says. “Then a really good coach came, and I fell in love with it.”

Frisbee is a team sport, and it is where she learned the difference between playing in a team and playing on her own. “In a team sport you have to understand the people around you and trust them. In an individual sport you only have to focus on yourself and do your best. Understanding each other is the hardest part of playing in a team.”

Asked how she gets her homework done with a training load like this, Himeri says she had worried about it too.

“But I later found that if I didn't train, those two extra hours would not have been very productive anyway. I wouldn't necessarily have spent them on schoolwork.”

In her view, training has not taken time away from her studies. It has helped her manage her time better. “Training does put limits on my time, but those limits are exactly what keep me focused when I am working, and what make me use my time wrners.”

This year she earned her Judo black belt and is still competing. Himeri says she loses more than she wins. A jiu-jitsu black belt once said something she has remembered ever since: losing is not the end of the world, it only means your opponent was better that day. What matters is what you take from a match, and whether you can use it in the next one. “A competition lasts a moment. Sport lasts a lifetime.”

Beyond training, she has taken on two new activities this year, both for the first time: a medical society CCA recommended by a friend, because she wants to connect sport with the science behind it, and a public speaking club. The topics she has spoken on so far include what makes us competitive, and human-wildlife conflict, the second of these drew from a family trip to Nepal. At weekends she works with a guide dog programme, raising funds and spreading the word to the wider international community.

Himeri says she was surprised when she learned she had won the YCYW Professional Talent Award Scholarship in sport for the 2026-2027 academic year, because she had never trained with an award in mind. “But it has given me more confidence, and made me want to keep going.”

At YCIS Shanghai, academics and co-curricular activities happen side by side. Time outside the timetable belongs to the students themselves, and the freedom to choose is what turns it into a place to test new ideas and keep figuring out who they are.

“The school has given me opportunities in both academics and co-curricular activities,” she says. “The people here are kind. Teachers give you the help you need, and classmates encourage you to do what you want to do. That is what has made me who I am.”

Learning to find what you love, stay with it, and manage your own schedule well: that is where the value of holistic education really shines.

These are also the things YCIS Shanghai scholarships continue to reward.

Madam Tsang Chor-hang Memorial Scholarship (Overall Achievement Award)

For students with outstanding overall academic achievement, with a 50%–100% tuition fee waiver for up to two years.

Yew Chung Yew Wah Professional Talent Award (Sports / Technology / Music / Arts and Design)

For students with exceptional talent in sports, technology, music, arts and design, with a 25%–100% tuition fee waiver for two years. Depending on the level of expertise, additional funds support the awardee's professional development in the designated field. The Arts and Design award is open to both external applicants and current students.

Yew Chung Yew Wah Academic Award

For students who excel in Lower Secondary, IGCSE, IBDP, A Level or HKDSE programmes. Lower Secondary and IGCSE recipients receive a 15%–50% tuition fee waiver; IBDP, A Level and HKDSE recipients 25%–100%. Support lasts up to three years.

HKDSE Scholarship Programme for New Students at YCIS & YWIES

For academically outstanding students from outside our schools who wish to join the YCYW HKDSE Programme, providing a three-year or two-year scholarship to help students secure places at the top three universities in Hong Kong, China.

Applicants from outside our schools may submit applications at any time of the year; those specially recommended by the Head of Admissions and/or Co-Principals may still be considered after the standard deadline. For details, please contact YCIS Shanghai Admissions on 2226 7666.