Ever Animated Ambition

Sometimes, when I was walking by myself in the hallways, a teacher I was not at all familiar with passed by. She is most recognizable by the special smell of intense floral fragrance that lingers wherever she goes. At every encounter, she puts on a radiant smile and waves to me, “Hello! Have a nice day!” I replied, “Hi? You too!”, always bewildered by these encounters.

Months later, I realized that this particularly stylish and somehow always-spirited teacher is Ms. Gregory.

A photo of Ms. Gregory taken from a photoautomat in Berlin

On our interview day, a Thursday afternoon, under the dazzling early evening sunshine, I was on the field playing pickleball. Ms. Gregory approached in her usual red and black fashionable outfit and in her usual radiant smile that has always lit up my day.

As soon as we sat down, the talk ran on like a gentle and smooth rivulet as if we were long-known friends.

Ms. Gregory loves red, which can be easily deduced from her clothes, laptop, and even her nails, infusing the element in every aspect of her life. “It’s pretty, full of brightness and vitality!” she answered when I asked her the reason she loved this color so much. This color, in my opinion, truly is a direct resemblance to Ms. Gregory herself.

She told me she always likes to make “a word for the year”. For 2024, she said, “I chose the word ‘ambition’.”

In the spirit of ambition, Ms. Gregory chose to move across the globe. “It’s my first time in China, and my first time in Asia.” She recollects the moment stepping onto this landscape for the first time, “It feels like I’m stepping into the future. It’s a megacity.” Shanghai is by no means alike with her hometown – Cheshire, UK.

In the slow-paced, rural English life, Ms. Gregory spent her childhood. “I liked performing and did drama productions when I was at school. I played Ebenezer Scrooge once in A Christmas Carol.” And that was the ambition of the younger version of Ms. Gregory – being an actress.

Traces of childhood dreams certainly hint at their presence in everyone’s future lives. Now, as a teacher, she recalled this memory and claimed, “Teaching is in so many ways similar, where students are like the audience that listens to you and like casts that you get to work with. It’s super interactive.”

“The teachers I had at school were my biggest inspiration,” she nods, “My English teacher at high school, Mrs. Eaton, was the most amazing teacher I ever had. She was inspiring and really academic. I remember being in her class and thinking, ‘I just love your lessons!’” Inspired, Ms. Gregory completed a degree in English Literature. She added, “If I could be half the teacher that Mrs. Eaton was for me, then I’d be a very happy and fulfilled individual.”

In the UK, Ms. Gregory was a teacher in a boys’ school. According to her, teaching at Pao is a decision driven by ambition - and a great choice from hindsight - allowing her to embrace the new experience of working in a different context, filled with exciting possibilities. This ambitious, cross-continental journey is certainly a very fascinating experience for her fresh and indefatigable soul.

In the first six months of her stay at YK Pao, every single second on campus has been enjoyable. “There are a lot of staff and students who are incredibly kind and funny and welcoming, I feel very happy and settled here.”

I asked her what she likes to do besides teaching. She paused, her gaze wandering towards the cafeteria window to the field plated golden by the dusk light, and called out, “PICKLEBALL!” without a single hesitation. We burst into laughter. “Everybody knows I play pickleball now”, she emphasized. Indeed, I can spot Ms. Gregory on the pickleball court in CCA times laughing and running around almost every week, even in her busiest days. Meanwhile, besides pickleball, Ms. Gregory also loves to travel, read, exercise, and explore Shanghai and her new home. 

As an extrovert, Ms. Gregory finds joy in conversations with different people. When I asked about her best friend at school, she joked, “I might upset people if I answer! I am very fortunate to have met a lot of really lovely people who have made me feel included and welcomed into the community. I am very grateful for that.”

Ms. Gregory and her friend Ms. Wilson travelling in Beijing.

Not only does it enable her to bring her passion to more young people, but interacting with students also inspires her. “You’re aspiring and really hard-working students, and I really hope I can be a positive influence on you guys.” Upon hearing this, I could sense warmth tickling up my chest. 

Talking about us students, I confided to her how I am worried about my already burning schedule and the terrifying IBDP courses impending in just one and a half years. She replied, “Of course, it’s completely understandable to feel like that. But even like that, there’s always something to smile about, even on the tougher days.”

“The future is exciting”, she nodded, “sometimes there are days of school where it feels tough and overwhelming, but it’s okay to feel like that. All that hard work will be worth it, I promise you.”

Every time we think of the future, it always seems too broad and vacant. But it is the uncertainties and changes that shape where and who we are today – just like how you were in Cheshire one day, and suddenly appeared in Shanghai the next, or like how you were enthused to become an actress but unanticipatedly become a teacher later. Perhaps we don’t know specifically what our future is going to be like, but keep on running, and we will ultimately reach our unique destinations, amazed at how far we have got.

“Just keep being ambitious.” Her smile shone brilliantly.