05-26-2026
This admissions season, Huitong Class of 2026 graduate Annie Yang received offers from University of Cambridge (Education), Barnard College (Sociology+Education+Dance), UC Berkeley (Education), and Sciences Po (Politics).
These offers point to one thing: dare. Dare to break rules, to make an impact, to change the world.
After finishing primary school in Thailand, Annie attended a top public school before joining Huitong. Moving between different systems made her question what she once took for granted. In Mr Cookson's history class, she learned to see the world from multiple angles.
This ongoing questioning of education's purpose led her to apply for Education. She wants to understand how different education systems shape people - and how education can create real change.
At Huitong, her research stayed grounded in real social contexts. She spent a year studying how citizenship issues among ethnic minority children in northern Thailand affect educational equality - winning a Global Gold Award (top 3%) at the Harvard National Review writing competition. She also joined a research project in Shenzhen's urban villages on migrant children and the point-based school admission policy.
She founded a cross-border non-profit, Global Teens Unite, organised a US-China youth education summit, and sent a 3,000-word proposal to UNESCO. She also organised a TEDx event on campus – themed ‘Dare’.
Annie became one of only a handful of Chinese students admitted to Barnard College. She wrote in her essay: ‘Criticising any of them for not being radical enough imposes a context-blind standard.’
Unlike her UK personal statement – which directly expressed her passion for education – Annie's US essays took a different turn: dance. She wrote about how 13 years of training in Thai dance and Chinese dance helped her bridge cultural gaps. She refuses to be defined by a single label.
Now, standing at the crossroads of Cambridge, Barnard, Berkeley and Sciences Po, Annie says: ‘I want to explore how I can use my own educational journey to light the way for others – not to settle, but to create more possibilities.
With courage as her blade and action as her proof, Annie is redefining the meaning of education in her own way.
