Third culture kid Lives a life of exploration

A third culture kid from birth, Anaïs Gallet joined the Shanghai Community International School family in 2008 and graduated in 2013. She is now participating PwC’s graduate program in London in pursuit of her passion for accounting. During an interview, she shared her wonderful journey and the impact of living internationally on her life with Mikael Masson, SCIS marketing officer.

Ti Gong

Q: Where are you from? How has your international upbringing affected you?

A: With my dad being German and my mum French, I grew up surrounded by multiple cultures. I moved to Shanghai with my family in 2008, the first time I lived outside of my “home countries.” I am so grateful for my international upbringing which means you are not bound by the values and ideals of a smaller, local society. The variety of people that you meet and all the cultures you are exposed to teach you open-mindedness, curiosity and acceptance like nothing else can. You understand that everyone is different and strives toward a vast array of goals, and it encourages you to consider what you want to achieve in life, even if that is different from what people in a “fixed location” consider to be a success.

Q: Did you always envision yourself working in the field of accounting?

A: I hadn’t even heard of accounting before coming across it at university! After graduating from SCIS, I went to the University of Bristol, UK, to study Mathematics. Through a career fair I was made known to it and found it very interesting. So I applied and managed to get accepted for audit at PwC in London in the summer of 2017. My international upbringing had taught me to always keep exploring and learning, so that’s what I did. It’s a field that allows me to stay in the international world.

Q: How did the IB at SCIS prepare you for life after school?

A: The IB allows you to have a well-rounded education that exposes you to many different subjects. As such, it gives you a better chance of finding something that you might be passionate about and would like to study further. The high level of learning and independent studying that comes with the IB also really helps to prepare you for university-level studies, which were less of a step up for me than for other people who had not done the IB. SCIS was a great place to study the IB because the teachers were all supportive and invested in our education, they cared about our success.

Q: What advice can you give to students that you wish you had received when you were at SCIS?

A: Make the most of where you currently are in life, learn as much as you can, follow your passions, and don’t stress too much about your decisions, you can always make changes down the line.

(The article is contributed by Mikael Masson, SCIS marketing officer.)