A Dream beyond the Pacific—An interview with Mr. Paul deMena, founder of Wuhan Yangtze International School

By Cheng Guo

Walking onto the campus of Wuhan Yangtze International School (WYIS), a few neatly arranged teaching buildings were in sight, as well as a large stadium beside the playground. Although it was a hot summer day, the quiet campus was filled with a vigorous atmosphere. At 10 am, I met Mr.Paul deMena as scheduled. Greyhaired as he was, he looked very energetic and healthy. When I met him, he worn a broad smile and his forehead was slightly beaded with sweat. As he patted the dust off his pants, he told me that he was helping his colleagues carry some musical instruments for the school band being formed next year that had just arrived, and he nearly missed our appointment.He led us to a conference room and began to chat with us heartily.

武漢長江國際學校國際日主題活動 WYIS International Day

Fifteen years ago, under the influence of his wife, Paul decided to come to Wuhan to help his wife set up a Western clinic for the local expats. Later, as more and more expats were coming to Wuhan, Paul learned that most of them were on a four-year or fiveyear contract and their family also moved to Wuhan with them.However, due to the language barrier, the education for these children became a problem, which inspired Paul’s thought of running a school.

At the beginning, he ran a home school with only four or five students each year. The courses were tailored to the students and taught in English.The curriculum model was well received by the foreign children.In the second year, he had tenodd students. With more students joining his school, the tuition was a considerable figure, so he had more money to recruit teachers who were familiar with international education, and his school was officially named South Lake International School in 2003. Two years later, Paul and his students moved to Zhuankou,and the school was renamed Wuhan Yangtze International School.

“The first step is always the hardest. When I first started the home school, the efforts I spent were tremendous. For example,I had to understand what the children needed to learn and how to set up a systematic curriculum,and I also need to convince the parents to trust us. It was so challenging for someone who had no experience in the education industry.” Paul sighed with emotion when he was recalling the bittersweet memories more than ten years ago. And then he shared the milestone moments of the school with me, and what impressed me most was that he knew every student who graduated from his school.

He told me that he would never forget his first batch of students,everything happened in those tutorials and the feedback of the students. All the memories were still vivid in his mind. He was filled with great passion when recalling them.

He was proud of the progress of his school. At present, the number of students has expanded to 306, and there are ten-odd interest groups that hold all kinds of extracurricular activities every year, such as a robotics competition, tree planting, and volunteer work. Paul showed many pictures to me, one of which was his daughter taking part in an activity.

“Education should always be the first priority, and this is the general rule in other parts of the world as well,” said Paul. He had a dream—that is, to give all the expats’children in Wuhan a happy childhood and proper education. But the key to fulfilling the dream lies in the students. He must help them develop all sorts of skills and good qualities, set an individual study plan for them,and cater to their hobbies.

Paul is still on his way to realizing the dream. According to him, with the increase of enrolment, the school would form its own music band to enrich the campus culture, and in the future,they might also recruit Chinese students, so as to pass their education philosophy on to more families.