Daily Bulletin

LAST DAY TO APPLY!
Send a short email of your interest to Mr. Kharismana at bennykharismana@nanjing-school.com

Deadline: Monday, Nov 16, 2026 (today!)

I am excited to share that we are looking for students in Grade 9 – 12 to represent NIS at the next GCD Up! in Bangkok. 

The trip will happen in March 21 – 27 and be hosted by the wonderful team at NIST. 

If you are interested in finding out more, we will have an information meeting during Tuesday Lunch Recess next week (Tuesday 17 November at 11:30am) in LGR 2. 

You can also come and chat with Mr Corbett if you any questions.

University of Reading, Thursday November 19, 12:00-13:00, D207b

University of San Francisco, Wednesday November 25, 10:10-11:00, D207b

Please join the session if you are interested in learning more about the university. RSVP link is in the poster. Thank you.

Please find the attached list of 10 students in Grade 6 to Grade 10, they will be absent from school all day on Friday November 20 to attend the ACAMIS Cross Country in Shanghai. Thanks for your understanding.

Here is the name list.

The Odyssey Years

When I came to school this week, I did not expect to engage with Ancient Greek stories. I received a great Substack post from Mr Corbett and Ms Chow called “The Odyssey Years” and was present at a Grade 11 English class where students were reading and discussing Euripides’ Medea. I have been to an IMAX cinema to watch the latest movie version of Homer’s Odyssey, but I have never put it into a Chinese context, and I have not watched a dramatisation of Medea as I don’t think I could handle horrifying content.

The New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote back in 2007 about his view on the established perspective that there are four stages of life: childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age, which needed to be amended to include two more stages. One of these he squeezed in between adolescence and adulthood, which he called “the Odyssey Years”. In the Odyssey, Odysseus spends 10 years of challenge and hardship before returning home. This is symbolic of a time when a young person moves to adulthood through a journey of self-awakening. In our modern times, this would generally be between the ages of 20-30.

It is amazing how imagery from one context and one culture can resonate across time and place. Ancient Greece to modern USA and now to modern China, the story has resonance and leads to profound questions. Being in a place where a young person, or an older person, for that matter, asks profound questions is a space of reflection, thought and self-analysis. This is a healthy place to be. It will be little surprise to many parents that the term ‘The Odyssey Years’ found its way into Chinese popular culture through RedNote (小红书).

There are changes for young people all over the world, as the opportunities for post-high school and then post-university are different from what they were for my generation and for most of our NIS parents. Young people in their 20s are more likely to have many jobs, move from one place to another, marry later if at all, and seek clarity about their future. These are now the buzzword ‘Odyssey Years’. I do not see these as wasted years; although they may be challenging, they are formative. Schools need to support our students to be resilient, cope with change, and be prepared to try more than one path before finding their path.

As for Homer and Euripides – hats off to them for standing the test of time and creating messages and ideas that can cross borders and travel through time.

Have a Navigable November,

Laurie McLellan

奥德赛岁月

本周入校时，我并未预料到会和古希腊故事产生交集。我收到Corbett老师和Chow校长发来的一篇非常精彩的Substack文章，题为《奥德赛岁月》；随后我走进11年级英语课堂，看到学生们正研读、讨论欧里庇得斯的《美狄亚》；我还专程前往IMAX影院观看了荷马史诗《奥德赛》的最新改编电影。但此前我从未将这些内容放到中国的语境下思考，也从未看过《美狄亚》的戏剧改编版本——我想我大概承受不了其中极具冲击力的情节内容。

《纽约时报》专栏作家大卫·布鲁克斯曾在2007年写道，传统认知里人生分为童年、青年、成年、老年四个阶段的观点需要修正，应当新增两个阶段。其中，他将夹在青春期和成年期之间的这个阶段称为“奥德赛岁月”。在《奥德赛》的故事中，奥德修斯历经十年的重重挑战与磨难才最终返回家园，这恰好象征着年轻人走向成年的那段自我觉醒的探索旅程。放到当下的现代语境中，这个阶段通常对应20至30岁的人生区间。

一种语境、一种文化中的意象能够跨越时空产生共鸣，这实在令人惊叹。从古希腊到现代美国，再到当下的中国，这个故事始终能引发人们的深度共鸣，并引出深刻的问题。身处这样一个年轻人（或者任何年纪的人）都愿意去叩问深层命题的环境，本身就是一个充满反思、思辨与自我剖析的成长空间，这是一种非常健康的状态。不少家长或许早已发现，“奥德赛岁月”这个概念早已通过小红书走进了中国的大众流行文化。

如今全球年轻人的成长环境已经发生了诸多变化，高中毕业后、大学毕业后的发展机遇，和我这一代人、以及NIS绝大多数家长当年所处的环境早已截然不同。二十多岁的年轻人更倾向于尝试多份不同的工作、在不同城市间辗转流动，选择晚婚，甚至不婚，始终在不断探索中厘清自己未来的人生方向——这正是当下被热议的“奥德赛岁月”。我从不认为这些岁月是是虚度的光阴，即便这段旅程充满挑战，它也恰恰是人格塑造的关键时期。学校需要做的，是支持我们的学生练就强大的韧性，学会应对变化，做好准备在找到真正属于自己的道路前，勇敢尝试多条不同的人生路径。

最后想向荷马与欧里庇得斯致以敬意，他们的作品历经千百年时光考验，创造出的思想与哲思能够跨越国界、穿越时间，至今仍在给我们带来启发。

人生最重要的不是我们置身何处，而是我们将前往何处。——荷马《奥德赛》

Laurie McLellan

APPLY NOW!
Send a short email of your interest to Mr. Kharismana at bennykharismana@nanjing-school.com

Deadline: Monday, Nov 16, 2026

University of Reading, Thursday November 19, 12:00-13:00, D207b

University of San Francisco, Wednesday November 25, 10:10-11:00, D207b

Please join the session if you are interested in learning more about the university. RSVP link is in the poster. Thank you.

Please find the attached list of 10 students in Grade 6 to Grade 10, they will be absent from school all day on Friday November 20 to attend the ACAMIS Cross Country in Shanghai. Thanks for your understanding.

Here is the name list.