Recent Harrow Beijing (HBJ) graduate Karina Ng knew she wanted to be a doctor at the age of 8. At that time, her grandfather was diagnosed with prostate cancer, but her family had just moved to Beijing, and thus couldn’t provide help or support in person. That’s when Ng understood that the role of a doctor is not simply to heal, but to also be compassionate, “someone who patients and family members can trust.”
She continues her story: “My grandfather was able to spend his last few weeks with my family peacefully despite not being cured. Then, during summer last year, through observing the incredible doctors on my work experience in a cardiology clinic and a hospital, I saw the opportunity to work in a multidisciplinary team and through patient contact and the doctors’ own experience, come up with a personalized treatment plan for each patient, which are aspects that appeal to me a lot. Studying medicine will also allow me to delve deeper into both the sciences and the human side, which I am excited to explore more of. Being able to be a small part of someone’s life and being able to help them with one of the most precious things we have in life – our health, is the most rewarding role I can think of.”
It’s that human side of her studies that Ng feels has greatly benefitted her time in the classroom, as well as the extracurriculars she was able to take alongside her traditional academic courses. In fact, Ng has found that music, in particular, has helped her learn a deeper form of communication and teamwork, which could aid her future career. “Music is a language, and being able to communicate this language using my instrument helps express my emotions and feelings that may not be said with words,” explains Ng. “With my ABRSM Diploma in Piano Performance and exposure to different instruments, such as violin, trombone, steel pans, and drum kit, I was able to use these skills to lead and conduct my House in the annual House Music competition, as well as the school choir. This has helped improve my communication, teamwork, and leadership skills that are extremely helpful as I enter the medical field because we all work as a team every day.”
As music is such an abstract language, her science and technology studies also helped move her music theory forward. She used these skills directly – patience, medical knowledge, communication through abstract language – when she volunteered at Alenah’s Home, an orphanage in Beijing, and worked closely with a 4-year-old with spastic cerebral palsy, congenital heart disease, and mild autism. “Emboldened by the challenges faced by the orphans,” Ng says, “I participated in the 2020 Brainbee Neuroscience competition to gain deeper insights into what children with the disorder experience. Being able to spend time with these children every Saturday was very meaningful and rewarding, and this has also contributed to helping me choose to devote my life to the service of others.”
Harrow fosters four core values in their community: courage, honor, humility, and fellowship. Ng sees each of these as integral to her growth at the school, preparation for university, and understanding that medicine is a lifelong commitment to serving others. She’s already thinking ahead to the advancements that medicine has not yet made. “In the last five years, scientists have discovered new and better strategies to help patients improve their health. Recently, there have also been new technological improvements in the medical field that helped with heart transplants. Being a doctor is a lifelong learning career. As an aspiring cardiothoracic surgeon, I will have to keep myself up-to-date with all the new discoveries!”
Ng embodies the ideal of a well-rounded student, and we should all be so lucky to have a doctor as caring and gracious as she is, to be in charge of our own care.
Hear Karina Ng speak live on Jun 20 at the Jingkids International Education Graduate Summit. If you can’t attend the event in person, catch the live stream on our sister platform 菁kids’ WeChat Video Channel.
To attend the event, please scan the QR code in the poster below.
We have invited 12 recent graduates from international schools all around Beijing to speak in a TEDx-style summit and host three sessions of round-table panel discussions.
It’s a chance for incoming high school students and their families to gain insight into a successful high school career, from the perspective of students who have gone through it all. In no uncertain terms, these students represent the finest manifestation of every school’s greatest academic achievements. At the same time, as the recipient of international education, these students have gleaned countless valuable insights and experiences over the years; insights that are worth sharing with their peers and parents alike.
In one day of both in-person and live-streamed discussion, we’ll be covering topics such as what an international education means to these students, the good and bad aspects of an IB program, the challenges faced and memories made during high school, what they learned during their college application process, what they wish they could have done differently, and the real insights into high school life that no parent or admissions brochure could – or would – ever tell you.
KEEP READING: Graduate Summit 2021: Truth, Justice, and the International Way
Images: courtesy of Karina Ng
