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Learning action at Keystone Academy doesn’t just stop when classes call it a day. Students continue exploring their passions and hobbies after school; some use these to launch initiatives that enrich and engage many others in the community.

The Keystone Activity Program (KAP) is Keystone’s co-curricular component featuring a wide variety of afterschool activities, campus clubs, and hobby groups in which students can participate to explore their capabilities further. The program currently has more than 250 courses organized by teachers and staff, 40 groups led and managed exclusively by students, and about 150 activities provided by third-party professional organizations.

“Students can pursue academic topics, as well as athletics and arts—we want them to experience and discover different hobbies that they will be interested in,” Director of KAP and Math teacher Sarah Firestone said.

At KAP, quantity has quality: the breadth of choices allows learners to freely pursue hobbies, gain a deeper understanding of themselves, and experience a broader world together with friends. Mrs. Firestone added that KAPs fit in with the school’s other curricular components, and often, students find connections between their projects and initiatives and “have the chance to show leadership and Keystone’s five shared values”.

In this story, we feature several KAPs whose student leaders explore and create possibilities for others. The leadership opportunity and learning process open ways for them to create lifelong memories through the friendships they forge with classmates and younger students.

In Good Company: Clubs with students from different grades learn together

When it comes to climate action, students have the most laudable ideas. What’s exciting is their proposed solutions teem with creative vision and hopeful aspiration—and discussions about these plans are a regular fixture in the Environmental Creativity KAP. This playhouse organizes sessions where nearly 20 students from Grade 2 to Grade 5 can express their arguments about climate change and put forward solutions to pressing environmental issues.

Eighth grader Mac Ding finds being one of the club’s leaders rewarding because he can interact with younger students and share his knowledge of environmental science, something he did not experience back in his previous school. When he joined Keystone several years ago, he met many upper-grade students who helped him and other younger students. Through this KAP, Mac wants to return the favor, this time to lower-grade students.

Mac and his co-leaders Sophie Han, James Zhu, and Jeremy Ji share presentations with explanations of climate topics so detailed that it is hard to imagine eighth graders created these. In front of young members, the KAP leaders are “big siblings” who remind them that they can always do something for nature.

“Primary school students are imaginative and creative—they also have a constant supply of enthusiasm for the world,” Sophie said. “Our team believes that with our help and encouragement, these students will become more aware and active in protecting the environment than us in the future.”

Environmental Creativity KAP leaders have made their afterschool sessions more interesting by setting up many activities such as trivia quiz games and craft-making, inspiring members to bring their learning out of the club. Sophie recalled seeing many members participating in simple tasks such as garbage sorting, which, for her, was already a big step.

“As long as Keystone students become aware of environmental protection and take steps toward change, our community and the entire society will improve,” Sophie added.

Mrs. Firestone says KAPs not only allow students to pursue activities they cannot do during regular school days but also give them a chance to experience leadership and learn life skills.

“These student leaders have to think about their commitments, balance their time, and be very organized,” she added. “[Leading KAPs] challenges their communication skills because, for a lot of them, it’s their first chance working with students who are younger or at their age.”

Another club emphasizes the value of companionship in learning. The Reading Friends KAP is led by high school students who recruit middle school volunteers every week to accompany primary school members in reading picture books or explaining lessons in popular science books. Previously led by teachers, Reading Friends is now organized by tenth graders Terry Wang and Jack Wang.

For Terry, Reading Friends develops the habit of reading and allows its young members to discover their fields of interest through books. More importantly, he said, the club brings “the joy of reading” and a “kind of support and companionship” to children.

“And actually, the feeling is mutual,” Terry added. “Primary students bring a good time to their middle school companions. These volunteers find it relaxing, especially when they feel tired of schoolwork. And this experience has truly given me that sense of responsibility and a mission.”

One for the Record Books: Keystone’s moments captured by writers and poets

For Sophia Chen, countless moments in the Keystone community deserve to be remembered. In the past three years, Sophia has taken on a big project to collect these memories and turn them into what is now called the Keystone Yearbook.

Like many similar annuals, this Keystone publication features class photos and records important events on campus. But since 2021, Sophia and the Keystone Yearbook KAP have attached to the publication a subject that captures the defining atmosphere in the school during the year. The most recent publication came with a theme of “change”, inspired by the disruptions caused by the pandemic, and the transitions happening in the school. It also contained pages dedicated to school department teams, operations workforce, cleaning personnel, cafeteria staff, and security guards. This year, the Keystone Yearbook KAP follows the schoolwide theme of “Soaring to New Horizons”.

“Our yearbook is more than just a record,” Sophia said, “because it allows us to reflect on how Keystone means to us as we see the changes that have happened throughout our community.”

Producing such an important publication is no easy task for Sophia, who has co-managed nearly all its creative aspects. She and her small team have juggled their daily academic work with collecting and arranging photos, gathering and editing textual details, and designing and revising the book layout. Their hard work pays off because many Keystone community members consider the yearbook a centerpiece publication and a must-have year-end memoir.

“The Keystone Yearbook is something that Keystonians can read again and again after many years,” Sophia said, adding that the feedback they have received over the years has filled her and the KAP team with satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment. “Not only it carries the Keystone campus culture, but it has also become part of it. I hope that this culture can be passed on forever.”

The yearbook is among the growing list of student-led publications that have made an indelible mark in the school. Another club captures Keystone’s rhythm through the written text: the Keystone Poetry Club.

Every year on the Double Ninth Festival, this campus society of young poets holds a gathering of literature enthusiasts who recite verses and read other short publications. In addition, they organize poetry-related events and participate in various campus-wide events organized by teachers or other student groups. By doing so, the club allows members to immerse themselves in an enchanting world of the written text and the spoken word.

Junior student Annie Ling, who joined the club in Grade 9 after returning home from Canada, says it strengthened her Chinese foundation and understanding of Chinese poetry. She recalls the day she received an email from Chinese language teacher and club advisor Li Haiyan, inviting her to participate in the Double Ninth Festival poetry recital and “feel the atmosphere of poetry together”. That charm eventually enveloped Annie, who has improved her knowledge of literature and looked at poetry as a “kind friend”, a “psychological counselor”, and a “magical power” since joining the club.

Annie took over the club leadership last year. Since then, she has trained younger members to manage the group and their annual publication. Currently, eighth grader Alicia Chai and ninth grader Steven Ren are the club’s co-leaders.

The Keystone Poetry Club has also extended the power of poetry beyond their group through Whispers from the Stones, a collection of original short- and long-form verses written by members and contributors from the Keystone community. The anthology has tapped into the beauty of poetry to create a visceral connection between students of different ages, and even Keystone employees from different cultures. So far, the club has published five editions of Whispers from the Stone. For the latest collection, the club will hold a charity sale to benefit Sishui Elementary School.

“I feel we are warming the community in a poetic way,” Annie said. “We hope to help students in Sishui to establish their literary clubs and pass on the power of poetry to their communities.”

Need for Speed: Young engineering team is ready to make a breakthrough

If something drives Martin Ding crazy, it’s Formula 1 racing. He’s always hooked to the race broadcasts, not only to see how drivers speed to the finish line but also to observe how teams modify race cars to their optimal level. Wowed by the top-level innovation in these teams, Martin turned his passion into a group that welcomed like-minded students who wanted to satisfy their need for speed.

In Grade 9, Martin established a small KAP where he and other members assembled remote-control race cars. Sometime in the two years of leading this group, he heard about the National STEM League (NSL), where participants simulated the operation of a high-tech racing company and designed and modified their own RC cars to join the competition. Inspired by the NSL, Martin transformed his small KAP into its current form, the NSL Radio Control Racing Team. The newly formed KAP attracted race car fans and engineering enthusiasts at Keystone. And instead of assembling RC cars, Martin and his club followers are designing their own radio-controlled vehicle.

The seven student members of the club have each been assigned tasks to transform the parts of their RC vehicle based on the blueprint provided by the NSL. In turn, the club has become an exemplar of interdisciplinary learning and cooperation.

Ninth grader Justin Liang, a member of Martin’s previous KAP, is currently a developer of the new club’s mechanical team, researching and optimizing the parts of their RC vehicle. Engineering team member Daniel Fan puts into use the experience he has gotten from robotics competitions. Junior student Tony Zhou uses his knowledge of static model designs to produce the vehicle’s body. He modified transparent plastic pieces into what is now a robust frame of the car. Another junior, Alex Chatzithomas, is the team’s race driver—truly not far from his hobby of playing video racing games. In addition, he designed the frame that Tony produced, painting it with a phoenix pattern in homage to Chinese culture. The car also has the flags of China and Alex’s home country of Greece, expressing the cooperation between the students who made the vehicle. Meanwhile, eleventh grader Alex Luo and eighth grader Andy Zhao produced the team’s promo posters and publicity plans. They even tried to find sponsors to help the team expand.

“In our club, we apply so many lessons from our classes, including the design process, the scientific method, the basics cost control and efficiency, and many others,” Martin said. “Keystone has also provided us with great support and help. We are able to use our laser cutting workshops and 3D printers as we modify the frame of our car. Our KAP instructor and design teacher Mark Hobbs is also very supportive of us. Since he was young, he has watched F1 races. He’s also played with RC car models, so he designed and produced one especially for our club.”

For Martin, the club isn’t just about realizing their passions, but also about achieving a breakthrough as a team of friends.

“We are trying to win Chinese racing competitions, together,” he said. He referenced the world-renowned Williams Racing team and their early and recent victories where they went past their limits to institute bold innovations and ideas. “We also want to be like them. We have a good opportunity to try, so why not break through ourselves?”

This is the impetus that Martin and his teammates want to pass on to the community; through their club, they hope to bring a “maker atmosphere” to Keystone.

“If one day you come up with an idea to solve a problem using technology, don’t hesitate to take action,” Martin said of other students who have great ideas in mind, but don’t know yet how to bring them out. “You can start your own research to bring changes to the community and even more people. Isn’t that what science is all about?”