Fordham Prep

In 2004, 14 of the Chow family went to China for a tour. Ruby wanted to show her children and grandchildren the landmarks of her childhood. We flew into Beijing, then Hangzhou to view the West Lake, a very historical site in China. It was the end of a heat wave, and there were masses of tourists. From there we drove to the Yellow Mountains, which were picture beautiful, but the Chinese tourist crowds were so thick that it was like 5th Avenue at Christmas time. We left early - after getting some beautiful pictures.

From the mountains we flew to Shanghai, which is where Ruby had grown up. We tried to find her mother's old house in the French quarter, but Shanghai was growing rapidly, there was construction all over, and the house site was now a shopping plaza. Then we went to see Ruby's old school, the McTyeire School (now Shanghai No. 3 School for girls). This is a very exclusive school in the heart of Shanghai, with a long history of providing a western education to the daughters of the Chinese elite. It is a beautiful green campus in the middle of a very large urban landscape, reminiscent of Fordham University in the Bronx. As we stood in this oasis in the middle of Shanghai, 14 year old Kyle announced that he had changed his mind about his high school, and he would like to attend Fordham Prep that Fall. We had another week traveling around China, and then we flew home through San Francisco. As we pulled up to our gate in San Francisco, Joseph turned on his cell phone and called the admissions director at Fordham to let him know that Kyle would accept their offer (a few months past some important deadlines); Joseph also determined Kyle's freshman year schedule, and his teachers that day on the tarmac. Ray and I had nothing left to do but to pay the check!

Joseph was so pleased that his younger brother was following his path to a Jesuit education, and so proud that he was a role model for Kyle.