At 7:30 a.m., the biology lab in the High School is already alive with quiet conversation. Ms. Alan is adjusting a microscope, while a small group of students gathers around, ready to begin a new day of observation. The sleeves of her white lab coat are casually rolled up, her gaze is focused and clear.
This is Ms. Alan’s everyday life as a biology teacher, but it is only one facet of her work as an educator.
In Ms. Alan’s biology classes, students become “detectives of life.” Rather than following textbooks page by page, she leads her students directly into the living world of biological science. PCR technology is no longer just a term in a book, but a key to decoding genetic diseases; an ecological bottle is not merely a handicraft assignment, but a window into understanding life as an interconnected community.As the head coach of the high school biology competition team, Ms. Alan has guided students to numerous awards in international competitions over the years. Certificates on the school’s honor wall continue to accumulate. To her, it was even more heartening that the youths who had peered into microscopes with unwavering focus in the lab are now studying at great universities worldwide, including Cambridge and Oxford, where they carry forth their quest to unravel life’s greatest secrets.
A Guardian in the Late Hours
At 6:00 p.m., as the teaching buildings gradually fall silent, Ms. Alan’s footsteps turn toward another building. As the coordinator of the girls’ boarding team, she accompanies and supports 370 boarding girls.The lights in the duty room often stay on late into the night. Sometimes she offers a cup of warm milk to a student with a stomachache, and she listens patiently as some new students share their homesickness in a soft voice. The “Late-Night Study Corner” that Ms. Alan initiated is not only a place for studying—it has become a safe space where girls feel comfortable sharing their worries and thoughts.
“At last year’s graduation ceremony, a student cried while thanking the boarding teachers,” Ms. Alan recalls. “In that moment, I felt that all the companionship was worth it.” The boarding program has grown from an initial 48 students to 370 today. Behind this growth lies the day-to-day dedication of her and her colleagues in the boarding department.
This year, Ms. Alan has taken on another new role, G12 tutor. When asked how she manages to switch between her many responsibilities, she says frankly, “Since I’m already responsible for the boarding program, I also want to understand student management from a tutor’s perspective.”During the day, she designs intensive training programs for competition students. In the evening, she leads life-skills workshops in the boarding department. Late at night, she may still be replying to students’ emails. Each role requires a different kind of wisdom, “It may look like different jobs,” Ms. Alan says, “but in fact, they are all about doing the same thing: accompanying students as they grow.”
Education as Concrete Companionship
As Ms. Alan’s colleague, I can affirm that she embodies a kind of “gentle resilience.” She is always willing to share her educational philosophy with others and is deeply committed to grounding education in specific, everyday moments—whether it is a word of encouragement after a failed experiment, a heartfelt conversation with a sleepless student, or persistent efforts to secure an opportunity for a student to shine.
“Real education happens in moments that seem ordinary,” Ms. Alan often says. And it is precisely because of this belief that she moves calmly and gracefully between her many roles each day, fulfilling the same mission in different ways.
As dusk settles, our interview comes to an end. Ms. Alan checks the time—it’s time for her boarding duty. Laughter echoes through the hallway as students pass by, and the setting sun casts a long shadow behind her. On this campus, there are many educators like her, moving between dawn and dusk, taking on different roles, and writing the same warm and enduring story of education.
