Reflections on AALEAD

To give you all a chance to get to know me a little bit better, I'd like to share a part of my story with you…

I immigrated from China when I was 7 years old. My language barrier made me stay back a grade, I had to attend first grade again even though I finished first grade in China. This is the reason why I am a year older than everyone else in my grade. Because of the age difference, many people thought I repeated a grade because I was stupid, but that was not the case. Honestly, even when my friends joke about it, I feel somewhat uncomfortable, but I’ve learned to just accept it. As a kid, I barely had any friends because I couldn’t speak English. I still remember when I was the only Chinese student in my elementary school. At that time, I honestly wished there was something like an AALEAD for me.

I was introduced to AALEAD during my freshman year in HS. The reason why I joined AALEAD was funny. So, the summer before I transferred to high school, my cousin said there were free movies from this organization called “AALEAD.” Obviously I didn't really care about AALEAD because I didn’t know what it was. All I heard was “free movies.”

Throughout my three years in AALEAD, I’ve had the chance to meet new people, discover different places, embrace new adventures, and contribute to community service. I cherished every AALEAD field trip and workshops. I am thankful to AALEAD for nurturing both my personal and academic development, and for its support to students who need and can benefit from it.