UN meet offers Carol a dream

SINCE her early school days, Carol Cheung Nga-lai's life has been one of constant adventures and challenges.

The 19-year-old has headed a series of fund-raising events, won a $260,000 scholarship and recently returned home after representing Hong Kong in a United Nations conference in New York.

'As a Form Two student at Heep Yunn School, I realised that it made more sense to initiate things that would benefit myself and others, rather than just devoting all my time to specialising in one area,' said the second year student from Li Po Chun United World College (UWC) of Hong Kong.

To fulfill this aim, she organised a variety of activities, such as a fund-raising walkathon for World Vision, which attracted over 3,000 participants and raised $300,000, and a charity concert for ORBIS, which attracted donations of over $30,000.

After scoring five distinctions and four Bs in the HKCEE, Carol beat hundreds of applicants to win the UWC scholarship for study either in Hong Kong or Canada.

She opted to stay in the territory.

'The study environment in Hong Kong boils down to the four fundamentals - 'no sex, no drugs, no alcohol and no smoking' - which give students the maximum freedom for academic and personal development.' In January, Carol learned that Cambridge University had offered her a place to read Economics.