All boys. All boarding. Grades 9-12.
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Young Alum’s Asian Odyssey Has Roots at the Forest
“Before I arrived at Woodberry,” says Daniel Japhet ’16 of Houston, “I didn’t think much about the world outside of Texas.” Though he had been to Latin America and other places, it was at Woodberry that he truly began to make friends from Asia and to appreciate the travel opportunities that expanded his boundaries far beyond the Lone Star State. That's why he spent his first summer as a Woodberry graduate interning alongside Chinese and international college students at global real estate firm DTZ Cushman & Wakefield in Shanghai.
Already fluent in Spanish — though he’s not a native speaker, his mastery was at such a high level by his sixth-form year that he took an independent study with Spanish teacher Drew Collier ’03 and was awarded the Spanish Award at graduation— Daniel became interested in learning Chinese when his Woodberry friends invited him to visit them in South Korea and China. His summer stay, with the family of his friend Mark Wu ’19, was his third trip to China since March 2015.
He worked in the real estate company’s research office analyzing data, creating papers and slide shows, designing informational guides, and writing investor news feeds. “I’ve had several projects that required me to solve problems,” Daniel says. “Woodberry taught me to take a difficult project apart, make a plan of attack, and finally conquer a challenging assignment.” His internship supervisor, Catherine Chen, notes his attention to detail, honed under his Woodberry teachers. And living on his own at Woodberry helped him build the independence and self-reliance he needed to thrive 9,000 miles away from home.
But though he was on the other side of the globe from Houston, he regards his Shanghai family, including Mark’s mother and grandmother, as a second family. “I am thankful to Mark and his family for encouraging me and treating me like another son,” Daniel says. “And I thank Mark for being an amazing friend, being supportive even when I have the roughest day, and for putting up with my horrible Chinese.” And to his family back home: “I thank them for letting me travel so far away and for so long, so I could enhance my knowledge and gain a unique experience.”
He’ll put his experience with Chinese and his work with DTZ Cushman & Wakefield to good use this fall as he enters Davidson College, where he plans to study economics and Chinese language and culture.
And as one who fully comprehends the advantages of a Woodberry education — he received the Admissions Service Cup in recognition of his efforts as a student tour guide and the Mrs. J. Carter Award for the most improved student— he knows he’s exhibited grit and become a hard worker. “What I learned in high school didn’t end the minute I was handed my diploma,” Daniel says. “Many alums told me that things learned at Woodberry carry over, and now I know they were right.”
Read Daniel's Chinese translation of this article.
Read Daniel's Chinese translation of this article.
Woodberry Forest School is an exceptional private school community for high school boys in grades nine through twelve. It is one of the top boarding schools in the United States and one of the only all-boys, all-boarding schools in the country.
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Woodberry Forest admits students of any race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, and national or ethnic origin to all of the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, or national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic or other school-administered programs. The school is authorized under federal law to enroll nonimmigrant students.