Chapter 141 – International Summer Camp
The Soviet Union had four internationally renowned universities, namely, Moscow University, Leningrad University, Kiev University (Ukraine) and Belarusian University (Belarus).
This top university sending an invitation to Bing City’s Third High School? Could it be they wanted to recruit the 2 top students who had achieved good results in the International Olympic Mathematics competition last year? But those 2 students were already year 3 students and had been recruited by Huaqing University.
The Principal opened the envelope, and there was the letter written in both Russian and Chinese. The Principal was surprised that out of the students invited, he had only heard of one and there were even a few empty spots.
The Principal massaged his temples and looked at the Vice Principal: “Old Sun, is this Feng Yu from year 1, the brother-in-law of that Mr. Li who donated the sports complex for the school?”
Vice Principal Sun nodded: “That’s right. There are 2 students by the name of Feng Yu in the school. One is a girl in year 3, and the other is in year 1.”
“Look at this invitation letter. What is the meaning of this?”
Vice Principal Sun took the letter from the principal and look at it carefully. . The title of the letter was very long but was very clear. Usually, summer camps organized by universities would only invite year 2 students and the students invited were typically outstanding students who had won international awards. Universities attract these students to the summer camps in a bid to recruit them.
If this Moscow University wants to recruit students, they should invite the Year 2 students. Feng Yu was still in Year 1 and why was this invitation limited to Year 1 students only? This was too weird!
Could it be that these Soviets wanted to flaunt their education system and that’s why they invite Third High School? Then they made a mistake. China’s high school had high standards and could even be ranked high internationally. Bing City’s Third High School was one of the best in China and had a triple-A rating. Even a Year 1 student would not lose to anyone.
But the students invited by the university were Feng Yu and his friends. These 4 students were the students Mr. Li told them to take special care of. Could there be some sort of connection?
Vice Principal Sun looked at the name list, and the first name on the list was Feng Yu, followed by Li Na, Wen Dongjun and Liu Kun. The remaining 6 spots were blanks, and there were 5 spots for teachers to accompany along.
Vice Principal Sun could immediately tell that this must be the work of Li Shiqiang. He decided to call Feng Yu over to ask him about this. If there were no problems, he wanted to lead this team to the camp. This was a great honor. If he could be the leader of this team and the team gotten good results from this camper, he could be the next-in-line after the Principal retires in 2 years’ time.
“Principal, let me handle this. This is a good thing. If possible, I want to be the person-in-charge of this team for the Summer Camp.”
The Principal looked at Vice Principal Sun: “Teacher Xiaofang is not bad. She should be one of the participants.”
Vice Principal Sun nodded: “I feel that she is suitable as well. How would we decide on the remaining places?” Teacher Xiaofang was the Principal’s niece, and he knew about this.
“Hmm, let the education ministry decide on the remaining places. I will contact them. You go and contact the students and pick the good students from the year 1.” The Principal wanted this credit. This invitation happened when he was the Principal, and he might even get promoted to the Education Ministry before he retires. If this happens, his retirement welfare would be significantly increased.
The form teacher was teaching Feng Yu and the rest of the students on the crucial points to take note of the exams in class.
Suddenly, there was knocking on the door. He hates being interrupted in the midst of his teachings, especially from the students’ parents. He opened the door and wanted to lecture the person who had interrupted his lessons. But his angry look changed when he saw the person.
“Vice Principal Sun, why are you here? Are you going to sit-in for my lesson?”
Vice Principal Sun waved his hands: “I am looking for your student Feng Yu. Call him out.”
Feng Yu again. He was really related to the Vice Principal.
Feng Yu was called out of the classroom, and he knew what happened when he saw the Vice Principal. It must be about the invitation letter. Brother Ki was so reliable.
Feng Yu kept telling his family that he would be admitted to one of the best two Beijing Universities. Beijing University, many of the nation’s top scholars studied in this university. The other was Huaqing University, where many future China Leaders studied at. Of course, there were also many China’s future billionaires who studied in these 2 universities.
Feng Yu wanted to enter these 2 universities because he wanted to fulfill his parents’ dream and to fulfill his own dreams. His parents only wanted him to be a university grad from a reputable university, whereas, Feng Yu wanted to enter these 2 universities to recruit the ones who looked familiar! Even if these people do not want to work for him, he could also invest in these people’s dreams. The end results would also be him earning lots of money.
But how would he enter these universities? Feng Yu thought of an idea which was to let these 2 universities look for him and “recruit” or reserve a place for him.
“Recruitment” of students had been criticized, but Universities would still specially recruit high school students they like. These students were guaranteed a place in the university if they fulfill the conditions imposed on them.
Guaranteed places in universities were generally reserved for top students who had gotten awards in national competitions or excellent results in school. Recruitment was usually used for students who had exceptional performance in specific areas like getting an award in an international competition.
What sort of good performance could Feng Yu get in school? Other than his brother-in-law donating money to rebuild the basketball court, there was nothing else. His reputation among the students was also terrible!
So, Feng Yu thought of a way to create credentials for himself, which was to participate in an international summer camp and was still specially invited by the organizing university. Coupled with his brother-in-law’s help in networking during his year 3, the 4 of them should be getting guaranteed spots in the university they wanted. Maybe this was only for the 3 of them. The top student, Liu Kun should be able to get into any university he wants with his results.
If this still doesn’t work, Feng Yu could also look for University Professors and sponsor their research, for them to “recruit” them to the universities. Feng Yu believed that there will be professors that were willing to do this.
Vice Principal Sun chatted with Feng Yu for a while and knew that this was arranged by his brother-in-law. This was great! Next year, their school would be more famous and the name of the person-in-charge of the team to participate in this camp would also be published in articles nationwide. This was an invitation by the Moscow University!
Feng Yu asked Vice Principal Sun to add Zhang Han’s name. When Feng Yu requested Kirilenko to make this arrangement, Wen Dongjun and Zhang Han were not together yet. Vice Principal Sun looked at Feng Yu, and even if Feng Yu did not make this request, he would also add Zhang Han’s name. Even the Principal would also do that.
Vice Principal Sun needs to think carefully about the remaining 5 places. He needs to reserve one spot for the Principal, 2 for himself, and the remaining 2 spots for the secretary and the deputy secretary. This was to please the secretary and gain their support when he was to be promoted to Principal.
Vice Principal Sun was still smiling when he returned to his office. He had made the right choice when he met Li Shiqiang and recruit Feng Yu to the school!
Author’s notes: The Moscow University was ranked between 8th and 12th, and Leningrad University was ranked 28th. Kiev University used to be highly rated, but its ranking dropped. Rumors said that most of the Professors were poached by Moscow University. The highest ranking for Belarusian University was the 9th place.