Ben Lippen School

A warm school that deeply touched us. Due to age restrictions, the child needed to travel as an unaccompanied minor, but there were no direct flights from our country to the school. Teacher Sark learned about our difficulty and, without hesitation, sent his eldest daughter to take a 3-hour flight to the airport we could fly directly to, to pick up the child. If it weren't for Teacher Sark's help, perhaps the child wouldn't have been able to make the trip. Our dorm supervisor is also very nice; during Chinese New Year, they helped the children celebrate the festival, and the children even said it felt more festive than at home. Sometimes the dorm supervisor would also treat everyone to drinks and desserts. When the child first arrived at school, the teachers and classmates were very enthusiastic and proactively chatted with the child. When classmates saw the child eating lunch alone, they would warmly invite the child to eat with them. Classmates would also proactively invite the child to stay at their home during spring break. Upon learning the child wanted a haircut, they would invite the child to their home to have their mother help cut their hair. The touching incidents this time are countless. Grateful to have encountered Banli Peng School, and grateful to have met everyone.

The Lee Peng School is located in Columbia, the capital of South Carolina, within the campus of Columbia International University (CIU). It shares the university's teaching facilities and resources and is affiliated with Columbia International University. This school has a Protestant evangelical Christian background, offering rigorous academic programs and Christian beliefs, focusing on developing students' academic abilities, extracurricular experiences, leadership skills, and overall holistic development.

School Features:

1) The school offers a rich curriculum, including AP courses, honors courses, dual enrollment college credit courses, and more, providing opportunities for students seeking academic challenges. Additionally, the school is an SAT test center and offers SAT preparation courses.

2) Care for international students: The school arranges ESL courses at different levels for international students to help them better transition and adapt to the American curriculum system. Furthermore, when dormitories close for Thanksgiving, the school can assist in arranging local host families for international students during the holiday.

3) Special Programs: The school's special programs include innovation and engineering, introductory robotics, advanced robotics, computer networking and programming, culinary arts, pre-engineering, mechanical engineering, computer information and science, web design, business management, financial planning, visual arts, and performing arts, among others.

4) Abundant university resources in the surrounding area: In addition to being within the Columbia International University campus, nearby universities include the University of South Carolina, Clemson University, Furman University, Benedict College, and the College of Charleston.

5) The school awards students with an honorary degree certificate.

Ben Li Peng High School left a very good impression on me! I went on June 1, 2018, to attend my son's high school graduation ceremony! Teacher Stephen Sark personally picked me up at the airport, treated me to McDonald's, and arranged a convenient express hotel for me for $78 a day. My son accompanied me on a tour of the entire campus, including classrooms, the gymnasium, the cafeteria, and sports fields. Several dormitory buildings (all two-story) surrounded a lake, with a pine forest further out. The environment was beautiful, more like a high-end villa complex. The dorm supervisors for building 3A were a Japanese-American couple, very responsible, caring for the international students as if they were their own children. At 4:30 AM, they drove us to the airport, and when we parted, the hostess hugged several children, crying together! During my four-day stay, I visited a shopping center in Columbia City, which had a wide variety of goods, restaurants, and snacks. On the second evening, several teachers prepared a family party for the graduates, and I was invited. The teachers and international students got along very well, and the whole party atmosphere was relaxed and lively. The most memorable part was the graduation ceremony held in the evening. Graduates, uniformly dressed in green graduation gowns, entered two by two, then lined up on stage. School leaders and parents were seated in the audience. The principal presented a diploma to each graduate. The entire ceremony, accompanied by a band, was both solemn and relaxed! My son was admitted to Texas A&M University's Mechanical Engineering program. The following year, he returned to visit his teachers! The teachers reacted as if they saw their own child return, and that year, my son was the poster image for Ben Li Peng High School!

This is a great high school, where I've met many good friends. Daily life at high school is also very rich and fulfilling, and the teachers are all exceptionally kind to me.