As a current student at the University of Toronto, I am not worried about what lies ahead. My years at NFCI prepared me well to the university life.

In China, you need to get a good education to be successful in life. This is why my parents looked for international schools outside of China in hopes of a better education and greater opportunities for me. After careful consideration, my parents decided to enroll me at NFCI to complete my secondary school education.

Nothing can fully prepare you for the transition from living at home with your family to living in a new country where there isn’t a familiar face in sight. I was afraid I might not be able to make the adjustments needed to validate my parent’s hopes for me.

Today and I can proudly say, my family’s decision to enroll me in NFCI was worth it. My parents’ primary goals for me at NFCI was to complete my secondary school diploma and gain entrance into a Canadian university.

At first, this seemed like an insurmountable task for a foreign student whose native language wasn’t even English. Nevertheless, the education provided at NFCI not only helped me to become a better student but also a greater person. Looking back at my time at NFCI, I can definitively say that the knowledge I acquired has a significant impact on my life at university. I almost completely forgot gas laws and fractions but I use daily learning procedures, time management, and other studying tools taught at NFCI. For these reasons, I am thankful for the education I received at NFCI and will continually implement into the rest of my adult life.

Clearly, I will never forget my time in Niagara Falls Collegiate Institute.

Niagara Falls Collegiate Institute has truly been my pillar of strength. What set NFCI apart is the concept of understanding. The teachers understand the needs of the students; rather than “force-feeding” students with knowledge, the teachers become familiar with the needs of each student and find ways to help them based on said needs. There is a strong teacher-student relationship, which results in more effective teaching, and ultimately, higher academic achievements. Teachers at NFCI also keep parents informed of their child’s progress as well as being open to parental concerns (a reason why my parents love this school so much).

NFCI has also helped me a lot in terms of course selection and post secondary plans. When the course selection period approached, I was becoming more confused as to what courses to take. Solution: dropped by the student advisor’s office afterschool in middle of the week, and spoke to James for over an hour in regards to course selection. That just shows the extent of how much this school does for its students.

P.S. 2014 was my third consecutive year writing the Waterloo Math Contest. I was in the top 25%, 20% and 10% Score Band respectively in the last three years I participated. I would like to share my success with NFCI and my parents.

I came to Canada and became a student at NFCI in October 2015 and I’ve just graduated. I’ve been accepted by McMaster University for the the Engineering program.

Quite frankly, I wasn’t really a good student back home, neither did I like school in general. I found it much less stressful to study at NFCI than in China. Learning is quite different. At NFCI, teachers didn’t strictly focus on the examinations. I was very stressed before every exam before, but now I feel so much more confident. I acquired studying techniques such as task prioritization and time management, which allow me to work in an efficient way. Teachers also stressed the importance of teamwork and presentation skills since these two qualities play a significant role in a workplace.

From my point of view, the reason of my success is persistence. While studying at NFCI, I was in a 100% English environment. At first, it was quite difficult but with work and motivation, I was more at ease towards the end of the academic year.

It was an amazing to receive the acceptance letter, which is the result of hard work. I know that I will have to work really hard next year at my future university but I am confident that these 8 months at NFCI gave me enough skills to succeed.