Each year, Trinity Prep welcomes a new foreign exchange student to its already diverse campus. Through the American Secondary Schools for International Students and Teachers (ASSIST) program, outstanding international students receive a one-year scholarship at a leading American independent secondary school. This year, Leslie Wang joined the Class of 2015 from Shanghai, China where she attended one of the top schools in China. Although already accustomed to the stress that schoolwork can offer, Wang said she had fewer tests in China than at Trinity Prep.
“However, we had final exams where students were ranked by their numeric scores,” Wang said. “Usually what gives me pressure is the ranking. But the education in Trinity is definitely up to [the] standard compared to the education I received in China.”
As a junior, Wang is taking four AP classes, and she has finished all the math classes that Trinity Prep offers.
“I have to explain this before everyone thinks I am crazy or smart,” she said. “I talked to an ASSIST student last February, and he told me that he self-studied Calculus and Statistics before he went to America. So, I just followed his advice and spent the most horrible two months studying math.”
With a wide variety of challenging courses looming over her, Wang said that so far AP U.S. History and AP English Language and Composition are giving her the most trouble.
“I am not a native speaker, and I am a really slow reader,” Wang said in fluent English. “But, I am pretty sure it’s the normal kind of pressure which will keep me alert and studying hard. There is a lot of reading to do, and I deeply regret not doing summer reading.”
Learning English has been difficult for Wang. In China, students attend many hours of tutoring to learn English.
“My advantage is that I spent a few years in Singapore, and my mom started to teach me English when I was really little,” Wang said.
So far, Wang has not experienced too much homesickness, but she said that her host family has always been there for her. Currently, Wang is staying with senior Anna Sephton and sophomore Ben Sephton.
“The best part of America is my host family,” she said. “Anna is a really cool person, and my host mom and dad have been so supportive!”
In Anna’s eyes, Leslie is like a little sister.
“Having Leslie in our family has gotten me used to thinking about someone else,” Sephton said. “Normally when I go home, I shut myself in my room and do homework, but now this is a completely new mindset.”
Anna remembers one of the many stories that she shares with Leslie. On Leslie’s first day in America, the ASSIST program gave Leslie a list of 42 questions that she needed to answer. The questions were obscure, and Anna helped Leslie answer them.
“It was actually so much fun because the questions were so ridiculous and outdated,” Sephton said. “It’s almost like the program doesn’t think of this process as two people getting to know each other, but rather this scientific experiment.”
Having only been at Trinity Prep for less than a month, Wang’s favorite experience was celebrating her birthday. On the morning of her birthday, Wang was told that Americans tied balloons to their backpacks.
“I don’t even know if that’s true, but I did it anyways,” she said. “Throughout the day, everyone who saw me wished me a happy birthday, and a few of my classes sang to me. I was very moved, and it made me really emotional.”
Wang has a long to-do list here in America, and she plans on seeing and experiencing everything.
“I have never officially traveled in America, and I really want to go everywhere. This is my first time in Florida, and I want to see all of Florida first,” she said. “I also want to go on a road trip with my host family!”
After visiting the United States twice in the past, Wang has not experienced too much culture shock. Although this is her first time in Florida, it is not the environment that “shocks” her, but rather Americans’ perception of a foreign country.
“The questions that some people asked me were really awkward. When I first came to America, a girl came up to me and asked me if Chinese people ate cats and dogs every day,” she said. “At first people get really curious and sometimes ask really weird questions. That’s when I get shocked.”
Walking with Trinity students between classes, Wang says she had a different expectation of American high school life before she came.
“The TV shows lied. All the American TV series that I’ve watched literally depicted high school life as paradise,” she said. “I already have too much homework, and I think I will be a lot busier once I start to do sports and clubs.”
Wang enjoys spending her free time playing the piano, volleyball and doing various science experiments. She has taken a special interest in the Pediatric Entertainment Program(PEP) that she co-founded in China. The PEP organization focuses on leadership and community incentives in assisting local pediatric hospitals. Wang’s goal is to spread the word about PEP here in Florida and to form a global network of “kids helping kids.”
The ever ambitious Wang is always looking for new opportunities and challenges, and she is planning on attending American colleges when the time comes.
“I am applying to colleges in America because the college education here is good,” she said. “It’s not that colleges in China are bad, but I really like the way students apply to colleges in America. It is more like an overall evaluation, and it is also more challenging.”
In the meantime, Wang is still in the process of adjusting to American teenage life, including the access to social media because sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, have been censored by the Chinese government.
“But it does not affect me because we have equivalences to these social media sites. Students in China also have strict uniforms that are assigned to each school, but we also have a dress code here in Trinity. In my opinion, life here in America is not harder or easier than in China,” Wang said.
Leslie plans on meeting everyone, and she looks forward to enjoying the beautiful campus.
