Could you imagine moving to a new school? How about a new country? Yanzhi Lai has done both.

Yanzhi came to America from China on August 2015 and attended Bob Jones throughout this school year as a senior. Now, as her exchange program is coming to an end, she’s decided to return for college.

Yanzhi had been taking English classes since she was in first grade, as it is mandatory in the Chinese school system. She said, “I had the best grades in English when I was in China, so that’s probably a reason why I was chosen as an exchange student.” She believes that being an exchange student was one of the wisest choices that she’s made.  

Recently she has been accepted into two colleges, SCAD and Parsons School of Design. They both offered her scholarships, but she decided on Parsons, which is based in New York City. She explains, “I don’t have a specific job in mind for after college, since as of the moment, I don’t know what I want to go into. I know that I do want to work for a top design company after I graduate from college, but I’m not sure what type of design.”

At Bob Jones, along with other classes, she took art 3, advanced art, and attended a few basic fashion design courses. She took a few classes in her Chinese High School, but it offered very little art education compared to Bob Jones.

Yanzhi states, “My favorite thing about art is there is no restriction to create it. I can express my imagination in any way I want too.” An Australian artist, Kelly Smith, has inspired some of her artwork, with soft tones and the way she expresses a positive attitude towards life.