Dulwich College Suzhou Alumni return to share their university experiences

On Wednesday 12 June, Dulwich College Suzhou hosted an Alumni Day where Old International Aleynians came in to share their experiences of university with current students.  Topics with Year 12 students covered post-secondary planning, university applications and university experiences to date.  The discussion was lively, fun and insightful for those students in Senior School who are beginning to plan the next stage of their learning journey. 

Alumni also visited classes in Years 7 to 10 where they shared experiences about their specific choice of study at university and what their thoughts were on their career outlook.  DCI Alumni were also on hand to provide input in to the planned evolution of the Alumni network going forward. Dulwich College International is committed to developing a unique alumni experience that will provide opportunities for personal, social, and professional growth. The infrastructure and resources for an official launch of the network will be put in place over the coming months. With the input of alumni the network will hopefully become what they envisage and desire.

Sarugi Magandran (class of 2016), a former Head Girl, is at St Andrew’s University in Scotland studying Management. Sarugi was keen to emphasise the importance of following one’s passions when considering university “Major in something that you are passionate about since you will quickly become immersed in that subject matter”. She also pointed out the step change towards greater independent learning compared to a school environment and the importance of understanding your own pace at which you can independently research and study.

Janani Ramesh (class of 2016) is presently at Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Canada studying Interaction Design commented “it is important to know that you are not just good at one thing.  University opens your eyes to a breadth of possibilities. I initially applied to study graphics and illustration and now I am really enjoying the transfer to a subject which focuses much more on technology, coding, user experience and interface design”. 

Lucien Giordano, Dulwich College International’s Director for International Outreach and Alumni Development remarked, “it was inspiring and heartwarming to see how much these past DCSZ alumni care for the current generations of DCSZ students. Questions, answers, and conversations emanated from both sides and the sense of belonging to each other was evident, even spanning ages gaps of up to five years. This is the culture we want to see develop within each school’s alumni association, but also across the entire DCI schools’ network.”

Also in attendance and who made sterling contributions were:

Sarugi Magandran ’16 – St. Andrew’s University (Scotland)

Janani Ramesh ’16 – Emily Carr University of Art and Design (Canada)

Alex Byun ’18 – University of Hong Kong

Chris Bonner ’18 – University of Liverpool (England)

Chloe Kim ’18 – University of Hong Kong

Helen Ting ’18 – University of Toronto (Canada)

Kaitlin Netel ’18 – University Colorado Boulder (USA)

Jasmin Yeh ’18 – University of Birmingham (UK)

Darvina Magandran ’18 – University of Exeter (UK)

Leo Rodriguez ’18 – EDHEC (France)