嘿！“孩子王”回来了 袁汇校长与曼校的教育之约

最近，在深圳湾实验室工作的我家领导，收到了一份意外的邀约——出任深圳曼彻斯通城堡国际学校的中方校长。这对她、对我，都是一件意料之外的事。

从履历上看，她确实从未在正式学校担任过校长，甚至连校长助理也没做过。但在我眼里，这却又是情理之中——她天生就是个领袖（born leader）。从小到大，从少先队大队长到大学学生会秘书长，她一直走在带领别人的路上。后来出国读书、结婚，从某种角度来看，其实是打乱了她原本的发展节奏。

婚后，她“领导”的范围一度缩小到我们这个家：起初只管我一个，后来增加到三个。我常觉得，这是大材小用。

这些年来，她跟着我在国外东奔西走，事业刚起步就因搬家而中断，语言环境也不占优势，但她从没停止发光发热：担任过印第安纳大学华裔中文学校校长、印第安纳州汉语教师协会会长，还是澳洲昆士兰黄金海岸汉语教师协会的创会会长。做“一把手”对她来说，似乎总是举重若轻。在我这个旁观者看来，她的领导力来自于主动、积极、大度、无私、不计得失、敢于担当。

喜欢孩子、对孩子有天然的亲和力，是我家领导最神奇的特质。她是个真正的“孩子王”。还记得我们第一次见面时，她就能和刚认识的孩子们玩成一片，那种温馨的场面让我一下子有了“家”的感觉，也让我对她一见倾心。后来，我哥哥姐姐家的孩子也都特别喜欢她。

而我自己，内心始终住着一个没长大的孩子——也许每个男人都是如此。大学毕业时曾有一位女生，因为我“像孩子”而拒绝了我的追求，那时我还颇受打击。现在回头看，也难怪我会被我家领导深深吸引：一个在家听话、没什么主见的“乖宝宝”，遇到天生就会带领的人，怎么能不心甘情愿被“领导”呢？虽然她年纪比我小，但直到今天，好像还是她在“罩”着我。

她在国内读的是青岛大学国际关系专业，1995年去美国后转读MBA，后来先后在哈佛大学出版社和汇丰银行美国总部做会计——工作安稳，也正是在这两个阶段，我们迎来了两个女儿。

2006年，我从布法罗大学调至印第安纳大学，举家迁至印第安纳。要不是后来她遇到一位苛刻的上司，她可能不会决定重返校园，去读教育硕士——这个选择不仅让她靠近“孩子王”的梦想，也让她有更多时间陪伴女儿。

临近教育硕士毕业，她主动拜访了我们孩子所在美国公立学校的校长，成功说服校方开设汉语选修课。汉语对外国人来说是最难的语言之一，但她用英语辅助记忆发音、场景沉浸（比如去中餐馆实践）等生动的方式，第一年就吸引了80多名学生。

到第二年，汉语已成为仅次于西班牙语的第二受欢迎外语课，她也从半职教师转为全职。第三年，因为选修人数持续增长，学校又增聘了汉语老师。等我们2013年离开美国时，这个项目已有300多名学生和三位老师。她别具一格的汉语教学深深影响了许多学生，甚至有人大学后选择去中国深造。她几乎年年获奖：新星奖、最具影响力教师奖、卓越领导奖、年度教师奖……但对她来说，最重要的荣誉是获评“学生心目中最具影响力的老师”。

她第一次真切体会到：自己可以正面影响甚至改变学生的人生轨迹。在美国教汉语的那段时光，她找到了事业挚爱，发挥了天赋，真正 made an impact。

2013年，因我决定去澳洲发展，她的事业再次中断。但她没有犹豫，考取澳洲教师执照，重新开始。在黄金海岸，有汉语课程的学校寥寥无几，她不得不跨学段教学，从幼儿园、小学、中学到大学都教过，连调皮孩子的管理也积累了丰富经验。是金子总会发光——她陆续获得格里菲斯大学“优秀导师奖”、连续多年入选顶尖4%优秀教师，还拿到昆士兰现代语言教师协会“钻石禧年杰出教师奖”和“澳洲本土学生演讲比赛优秀召集人奖”。

最让她自豪的是，她指导的澳洲学生成功晋级“汉语桥”比赛，冲入全球15强。而我们两个女儿也很快适应澳洲环境，开阔眼界、精进学业，最终以IB满分及出色的奖项和社会活动表现，被哈佛和麻省理工录取，先后于2017年和2021年重返美国求学。

 2021年，就在她在澳洲如鱼得水之时，我又决定回国加入深圳湾实验室。她毅然来深与我团聚，却因疫情、年龄因素以及没有国内教师执照，找工作屡屡受挫。但她没有气馁：隔离期间，她主动为同楼孩子们志愿上网课；2022年初寒假，见员工子女无处可去，她又自发组织公益课堂，从课题组扩大到全实验室。

她那份与生俱来的教育热情与能量，很快被领导注意到，专门为她设立岗位，负责员工子女教育服务。她推动实验室与多所公立、国际学校建立“家校社协同育人”合作，后来又拓展至科普领域，担任科普中心执行主任，做得风生水起，在光明区乃至深圳市都形成了初步影响。

原以为这将是退休前最后一份工作，没想到曼彻斯通城堡国际学校的邀约再次唤醒了她“孩子王”的梦想。她一直告诉我，最令她兴奋的，莫过于见证孩子在她的影响下成长。自己家的孩子长大了，还有别人家的孩子呀！于是，在转为深圳湾实验室兼职的同时，她决定迎接新挑战。

 二十年的教育经历和我们两个女儿的成长过程，早已让她形成一套“若有第三个孩子”的教育理念。她坚信，亲情、传统与礼节教育才是根本。缺乏亲情，即便成名校大才，意义何在？没有礼貌与尊重，又如何行远？换句话说，要做事，先学做人。我认为她最成功的，不是把孩子送进名校，而是直到今天，我们和女儿之间仍保持着无话不谈的亲密关系。

我们也深深感谢女儿在澳洲获得的教育，让她们自信、开朗、友善、乐于奉献。她更相信每个孩子都有闪光点，教育要因材施教，挖掘兴趣、发挥长处。她觉得深圳曼彻斯通城堡学校的教育理念与她高度契合——事实上，之前正是她促成了深圳湾实验室与曼校的合作，希望激发学生们成为“小小科学家”的兴趣。

 新岗位无疑是一次全新的挑战。但对一个拥有从小学到大学全学段教学经验，长期担任教师协会领导、获奖无数的她来说，我相信这依然会是“小菜一碟”。果然，刚到任，她就宣布自己要成为几百个孩子的“校长妈妈”。

 嘿，“孩子王”回来了。

本文作者系深圳湾实验室资深研究员、系统与物理生物学研究所副所长周耀旗教授。

"Hey, the 'Queen of Kids' is back."

These warm and powerful words were written by scientist Professor Zhou Yaoqi about his wife—our very own Ms. Wendy Yuan, the National Head of Shenzhen Merchiston International School.

Through Professor Zhou's narrative, we see not only a seasoned educator with rich teaching experience across the United States, Australia, and China, and recipient of numerous awards, but also a natural-born "queen of kids"—a teacher with a sincere passion for education and boundless care for her students. Her dedication, from community volunteer classes to promoting the "Collaborative Education by Family, School, and Community" philosophy, aligns perfectly with Merchiston's ethos of holistic education and nurturing principled global citizens.

We firmly believe that National Head of School Wendy Yuan's warmth and wisdom as a "Head Mom" will bring new vitality to the Merchiston community. Now, let us get to know the "Head Mom" to all our children through this affectionate account from an observer's perspective.

Recently, my wife, who works at the Shenzhen Bay Laboratory, received an unexpected invitation—to become the National Head of Shenzhen Merchiston International School. This was a surprise for both of us.

On paper, it's true that she had never served as a principal in a formal school, not even as an assistant principal. But in my eyes, it made perfect sense—she is a born leader. From childhood, from being the Captain of the Young Pioneers to the Secretary-General of the university student union, she has always been on a path leading others. Later, studying abroad and getting married, in a way, disrupted her original trajectory.

After marriage, the scope of her "leadership" once shrank to just our family: starting with just me, later increasing to three. I often felt this was an underutilization of her talents. Over the years, as she followed me moving around abroad, her career was repeatedly interrupted just as it started due to relocations. She didn't have the advantage of the native language environment either, but she never stopped shining: she served as the Principal of the Indiana University Chinese Heritage School, President of the Indiana Chinese Language Teachers Association, and was the founding President of the Gold Coast Chinese Language Teachers Association in Queensland, Australia. Being the "person in charge" always seemed effortless for her. From my perspective as an observer, her leadership stems from being proactive, positive, generous, selfless, not caring gains and losses, and having the courage to take responsibility.

Liking children and having a natural affinity for them is my wife's most magical trait. She is a true "queen of kids." I still remember when we first met, she could immediately blend in and play with children she had just met. That warm scene instantly gave me a feeling of "home" and made me fall for her at first sight. Later, the children of my older brothers and sisters also adored her. As for me, I've always had a child living inside me—perhaps every man does. When I graduated from university, a girl once rejected my advances because I was "too childlike," which was quite a blow at the time. Looking back now, no wonder I was so deeply attracted to my wife: an obedient, somewhat indecisive "good kid" at home, meeting someone who is a natural leader—how could I not willingly be "led"? Although she is younger than me, even today, it still feels like she's the one "watching over" me.

She studied International Relations at Qingdao University in China. After going to the United States in 1995, she switched to an MBA. She later worked in accounting successively at Harvard University Press and the HSBC US headquarters—stable jobs, and it was during these two periods that we welcomed our two daughters. In 2006, I transferred from the University at Buffalo to Indiana University, and our family moved to Indiana. If she hadn't encountered a demanding supervisor later, she might not have decided to return to school to get a Master's in Education—a choice that not only brought her closer to her dream of being a "queen of kids" but also gave her more time to spend with our daughters.

Nearing the completion of her Master's in Education, she proactively visited the principal of our children's American public school and successfully persuaded the school to offer Chinese as an elective. Chinese is one of the most difficult languages for foreigners, but using lively methods like English aids for pronunciation memorization and immersive scenarios (e.g., practicing in Chinese restaurants), she attracted over 80 students in the first year. By the second year, Chinese had become the second most popular foreign language after Spanish, and she transitioned from a part-time to a full-time teacher. In the third year, due to continued growth in enrollment, the school hired additional Chinese teachers. By the time we left the US in 2013, the program had over 300 students and three teachers. Her unique approach to teaching Chinese deeply influenced many students, with some even choosing to pursue further studies in China after college. She won awards almost every year: Rising Star Award, Most Influential Teacher Award, Leadership Excellence Award, Teacher of the Year Award... But for her, the most important honor was being rated the "Most Influential Teacher in the Eyes of Students." For the first time, she truly experienced that she could positively influence, even change, the life trajectories of her students. During her time teaching Chinese in the US, she found her professional passion, utilized her talents, and truly made an impact.

In 2013, because I decided to move my career to Australia, her career was interrupted again. But she didn't hesitate, obtained her Australian teaching license, and started over. On the Gold Coast, very few schools offered Chinese language programs. She had to teach across different levels—from kindergarten, primary, and secondary school, all the way to university—gaining extensive experience even in managing mischievous children. Gold always shines—she successively received the Griffith University "Excellent Tutor Award," was selected for several years into the top 4% of outstanding teachers, and also received the Queensland Modern Language Teachers Association "Diamond Jubilee Distinguished Teacher Award" and the "Australian Local Student Speech Competition Excellent Convener Award." What made her most proud was coaching an Australian student to successfully advance in the "Chinese Bridge" competition, reaching the global top 15. Our two daughters also adapted quickly to the Australian environment, broadened their horizons, excelled academically, and were eventually admitted to Harvard and MIT with perfect IB scores and outstanding awards and social activities, returning to the US for their studies in 2017 and 2021 respectively.

In 2021, just as she was thriving in Australia, I decided to return to China to join the Shenzhen Bay Laboratory. She resolutely came to Shenzhen to reunite with me. However, due to the pandemic, age factors, and not having a local Chinese teaching license, she faced repeated setbacks in finding a job. But she wasn't discouraged: during quarantine, she voluntarily offered online classes for children in the same building; during the winter vacation in early 2022, seeing that employees' children had nowhere to go, she spontaneously organized public welfare classes, expanding from our research group to the entire laboratory. Her innate passion and energy for education were quickly noticed by the leadership, who specially created a position for her to be responsible for educational services for employees' children. She promoted collaboration between the laboratory and several public and international schools to establish "Family-School-Community Collaborative Education," later expanding into science popularization, serving as the Executive Director of the Science Popularization Center. She did exceptionally well, creating a preliminary impact in the Guangming District and even across Shenzhen.

We thought this would be her last job before retirement. Unexpectedly, the invitation from Merchiston International School reawakened her dream of being a "queen of kids." She always told me that what excites her most is witnessing children grow under her influence. Her own children have grown up, but there are always others' children! So, while transitioning to a part-time role at the Shenzhen Bay Laboratory, she decided to take on this new challenge.

Twenty years of educational experience and the upbringing of our two daughters have long since led her to develop a set of educational philosophies, as if for a "third child." She firmly believes that family bonds, tradition, and etiquette education are fundamental. Without family affection, what is the point of becoming a top talent from a prestigious school? Without courtesy and respect, how can one go far? In other words, to achieve things, one must first learn to be a good person. I believe her greatest success is not getting our children into prestigious universities, but the fact that even today, we maintain a close, open relationship with our daughters where we talk about everything. We are also deeply grateful for the education our daughters received in Australia, which made them confident, cheerful, kind, and willing to contribute. She strongly believes that every child has their own shining points; education should be tailored to their aptitudes,interests, and leverage their strengths. She feels that the educational philosophy of Shenzhen Merchiston International School highly aligns with her own—in fact, it was she who previously facilitated the collaboration between the Shenzhen Bay Laboratory and Merchiston, hoping to inspire students to become "young scientists."

The new position is undoubtedly a fresh challenge. But for someone with teaching experience across all levels from primary school to university, who has long served as a leader in teachers' associations and won numerous awards, I believe it will still be "a piece of cake." Sure enough, shortly after taking up the post, she announced that she would become the "Principal Mom" to hundreds of children.

Hey, the "queen of kids" is back.

The author of this article is Professor Zhou Yaoqi, Senior Researcher at the Shenzhen Bay Laboratory and Deputy Director of the Institute of Systems and Physical Biology.