Yipeng Lu is 16, and grew up with his parents in the city of Qiming in Southeast China. As a kid, he really liked to bike and hang out with his friends. But he didn’t have much free time. His parents pressured him into studying for most of his waking hours.
“I was 13 or 14, right? And Middle School, the workload is crazy. I have to study 12 hours a day,” he says. “I was really exhausted every day. I just don’t feel like that stuff, learning, because I’m a Middle School. I’m supposed to be having fun with [my] friends.”
Yipeng arrived in Maryland in 2021 during the covid crisis. Struggling to adjust to his new home, he was often alone studying – but with less pressure than in China. In the beginning, he faced challenges because of the language barrier, and had a hard time making friends.
“I couldn’t understand, because American has a lot of slang,” he says. “My first month is most difficult. I don’t get many friends for sure. Because they don’t want to talk with me [at] my English level. But I still keep on my work. I try to remember memorize more words so I can talk with some more better. Much better.”
For his first year of high school, Yipeng attended Parkville High School. In class, he was surrounded by international students, but most only spoke Spanish. Eventually, Yipeng decided to change schools, partly because he didn’t fit in, and partly because of the level of education at the school. He says his counselors didn’t realize how smart he was.
“When I initially came to the US, I feel like my counselors underestimated my ability to learn and chose the easiest classes [for me],” Yipeng says – classes Yipeng felt were more at a middle school level.
He began his search for a better education. The next year, Yipeng enrolled in Community College of Baltimore County and took eight college courses.
Classmates often ask Yipeng why he went to college before his junior year of high school. He says the reason was strategic.
“I knew I need to study. I knew that I was going to stay in the US and that I was going to apply to a private school. So I really needed to challenge myself,” he says. “At my old school, I had all A’s, but it doesn’t mean anything because it is standard level.”
All his studying paid off, and Yipeng joined Friends in his junior year. He says he has enjoyed it. Teachers say he has fit in well.
“[Yipeng] seems very comfortable and understands everything” in class, says science teacher Hoa Cost.
Yipeng says he notices many differences between the styles of education he received in China and America.
“I don’t know how to say it. Like, students are much more smarter, but they don’t know how to study,” he explains. “That’s a point in Chinese education system, right? [If students] want to do maths problem, [American students] will try to solve it using our logics, while Chinese students are just trying to memorize the steps of how to do it, because [it] helps them save more time on the test. [But] here, you’re understanding the material and also [solving] it using my own logics, not just trying to memorize how to do this problem.”
Yipeng says he prefers the American approach to education – not just because of school, but because of everyday life. Because parents push kids to study so much in China, he says, no one can ever have fun. He says everybody is always tired when they go to events, and barely have any time at all. In America, he has time to spend time with his friends, play sports, go to parties, and be free.
Nowadays, English isn’t a problem anymore. Yipeng has made lots of friends easily, and become very involved in school life at Friends. Forming the Badminton and Sneaker Design clubs are just two of the many ways Yipeng has changed the Friends community.
“Yipeng is lots of fun,” says classmate Connor House. “He adds lots of funny remarks to our conversation, and also a point of view that I might’ve not seen.”
Currently, Yipeng is staying with the family of Hudson Holmes ’24 and Lincoln Holmes ’26. He spends much of his time outside of school at the Loch Raven Badminton Club. When he first came to America, badminton was very important to him, and helped him improve his English and make friends.
“It was influenced me a lot, because every time I went to badminton club, I feel so happy because I got to really got a chance to talk with some,” he says. “And you know, they’re pretty good boys.”
Yipeng is now the junior officer, and is involved in coaching and tournaments. He wants to go back to China eventually, but in America he has a mission.
“I just want to spread the influence of badminton to America. That’s kind of one of my missions,” he says. “I just want to become a master of badminton.”
