The "big boys" in Beijing are the established international schools that arose in the 1990's to cater to foreigners who wanted a Western education for their children while they served out their posts in the capital. The first was the Western Academy of Beijing, still one of the city's most expensive schools. Principal of its high school for the last four years, Rena Mirkin had neither a charitable nor a business mission in mind when she came to China. Rena was in her last year as principal of Wellesley Public High School in Massachusetts, and while serving on the search committee for another private school in Boston mentioned that working overseas was her next goal. The headhunter's ears pricked up. In 2004 the Mirkins had taken 10 high school students to a partner school in Suzhou, and to Xi'an, Shanghai and Beijing; they were determined to come back to China. Rena was interviewed for WAB and got the position; her husband happily left his business behind to make fulltime work out of soaking up Chinese culture. Neither had ever lived outside of Greater Boston or worked overseas before. To top it off, WAB's high school had to be built, grade by grade under Mirkin's guidance; it has only recently graduated its first complete cohort.

The buzz is that international students, Rena's 500-plus charges included, are privileged, coddled and carefree. Here, they must all hold foreign passports, and they are usually the offspring of diplomats and other embassy staff, financiers or big business operatives – some of whom appear in the world press. Mirkin rejects the view that these children are a homogenous group with no serious challenges, pointing out, "The expatriate family is without their extended family; they have to replace that with colleagues and friends." On WAB's sprawling campus with its lotus ponds and sports fields, many opportunities are provided for people to form collegial groups and communities of friendship. Over 40 kinds of social and sports clubs cater to every interest and provide ample opportunity for child-to-child and parent-to-parent bonding. The school is home to China's first Roots and Shoots program, Dr. Jane Goodall's brainchild.

Complexity is another challenge. "Our K-12 student body represents 50 different countries and 40 different languages." Some are from Hong Kong or Taiwan. WAB teaches Chinese as a foreign language and all other subjects in English – chances are that's not a WAB student's mother tongue. As for challenges, she notes, WAB's principal is most proud of its commitment to learners with disabilities: "We don't just accept them and later say 'sorry it's not working out.' We see them through." Elegant and accomplished, Rena Mirkin sums up her new mission this way, "In America our job was to shape healthy, contributing citizens for a democratic American society; here our job is to shape citizens of the world."

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