Confessions of a Cat-holic (56)

Overlooking the historical development of Hong Kong since 1869, my alma mater was the oldest of them all. We had the history and traditions that none of the Central district schools could compare.

Statistically speaking, my alma mater was made up of 40% local residents from Wanchai, out of which half resided on the mountain such as Bowen Road, Borrett Road or Kennedy Road and another half in areas such as Queen's Road East, Johnston Road, Hennessy Road and the Star, Moon, Sun Street area. The rest of 60% would be evenly distributed among Fortress Hill, Happy Valley, Wong Nai Chung Gap Road, Tai Tam, the mid-levels such as Robinson Place, Clovelly Court, MacDonnell Road, Caine Road, Tai Hang, Jardine's Lookout, Tai Koo, Kornhill, Lei King Wan, North Point, City Garden, Tin Hau, Heng Fa Chuen, and South Horizons. Obviously, I was not considered rich or wealthy in any standards but no one had ever mocked my residence with such bizarre comments about the way they looked at Hong Kong's geographical landscapes.

If you randomly picked a student from SFCC and SPCC, I would say without a doubt, SFCC would surpass SPCC. Even if you compared the richest student of the year from both schools, it would be a draw. Actually, I would certainly say that this trend of wealth distribution could extend to many other schools in the band 1 circle as well.

It didn't take me long to come to conclusion that SPCC was a magnet for mediocre nerds who just wanted to shine by attaching onto the school's premium brand. The urban myth that SPCC attracted many blueblood nobles turned out to be a sugarcoated lie that kept people coming for the mirage in hope of an intellectual oasis. It was obvious. There could have been some rich tycoons who went to the school, but not when I went there. By the time I got in, they were already gone, or maybe they had never been there even. Even if there were a handful of rich bachelors who happened to have attended their elementary school, the ratio of them versus others would not be any higher, if not worse, than other band 1 schools, such as La Salle, Ying Wa, St Joseph, St Mary's, Good Hope, DGS, King's, Queen's, Raimondi or St Paul Boys. Academically, no doubt, it was transcendent. I wouldn't say the other band 1 schools were as driven as these maths geeks. But that was it. All they had was just esoteric knowledge in physics and maybe some gratification and contentment from telling themselves that they were better and smarter than everyone else in Hong Kong, and maybe in the entire world too.

Students like Clairol at the tip of the curve at SPCC still had an astonishing profile but it was the majority of the students that dragged down the overall average networth of the school community.

I did get to befriend with some "rich" people in the SPCC alumni circle, though I didn't meet them in school. It was usually through a mutual friend from a band 1 school when I studied abroad in the United States. Sylvia was one. Sylvia Ho owned and ran the building M88 on Wellington Street in Central and she lived on Bowen Road in Wanchai. She was a few years above me but we never crossed path in high school. She had already left by the time I went there. We were introduced to each other through Karina Hon, who was the beloved daughter of a La Salle alumnus. Karina went to just community college in New Jersey, the Garden State which many New Yorkers poked fun of. Her father was the owner of a Chinese restaurant in their neighborhood. Karina, Sylvia and I became good friends in my junior year at college. I liked hanging out with people from community colleges. It reminded me that an examination transcript with flying colors would not give you wings. I always seeked company with them when I felt overwhelmed by New York City's hectic lifestyle and the cut-throat competition on campus.

Sylvia said she didn't like SPCC at all and complained to me that she had eating disorder when she was in middle school. Therefore, her parents sent her to an all girls' boarding school in England for a few years before she attended Cornell University to study food science. Same as my intended major!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0n5McA-jxY