Multi-lingual and Blessed
A Student’s Interest in Language and Religion Helps Him to Excel

by Alex Quan

I am very lucky to live in such a diverse, urban environment where there are many educational opportunities offered to students like myself. Chances to learn about the different cultural and lingual aspects of San Francisco are plentiful and I know that I have not missed out.

Throughout the years, I have kept myself intellectually challenged with a variety of demanding classes in many subjects. But because an education also includes different experiences along with formal class instruction, I have joined and even created a few clubs reflecting my interests.

As early as Kindergarten, my teacher, realizing my potential in learning, recommended that I be put in a GATE class, the Gifted And Talented Education program. This subsequently happened when I advanced into the first grade. At nine years of age, I was enrolled in formal instruction of the Cantonese language, in which I was expected to be proficient in elementary-level reading, writing, and speaking, upon completion of the six-year course. I completed this course in 2003.

During the same time as my enrollment in Chinese classes, I decided to learn high school-level Japanese in 8th grade while learning how to read and write Vietnamese at home. To this day, my interests in all these languages have not disappeared. I currently take fifth year Japanese at high school, while I explore the literature and poetry of all three languages as a hobby.

In ninth grade, I saw the chance of testing my Chinese proficiency under the standards of the San Francisco Unified School District. I took this test and passed with an A, which granted me course-work equivalents on my high school transcript. I had a another opportunity in December 2004 when I took a test administered by The Japan Foundation, judging my proficiency in Japanese. I tested at Level Three, showing a mastery of grammar to a point where I am able to engage in regular conversation along with advanced concepts of Japanese writing.

With Vietnamese, I found that my self-study put me in a position where I am able to comprehend anything from poetry to formal compositions. I recognize that knowing how to utilize these languages effectively in writing and in speech, along with already having an American English background, sets me at an advantage not only in college, but in life due to the fact that it realizes more opportunities for me in terms of classes, programs, jobs, and careers.

When I reached my high school years, I selected College Preparatory classes of a high caliber that ranged from American Literature Honors to Advanced Placement Chemistry. With the knowledge that excellent A.P. exam results could exempt me from taking beginner college classes with respect to the subject, I also strove to do my best on the A.P. exams that took place at the end of the school year.

While recognizing that an education is not limited to class work, I joined several academic volunteer clubs that emphasized the important balance between school and community involvement. I even founded a club at school based on my interest in Buddhism. “The Union of Students for Buddhahood” was something that helped me realize what leadership meant. And finally, in November 2005, trying to expand my understanding of leadership, I entered in the candidacy for Student Delegate to the Board of Education.

All these experiences helped build an educational foundation that I can rely on when more challenging times arrive in college and in societal life.

This fall, I will be attending a University of California institution. A UC Campus is a diverse establishment where learning and teaching both occur and I have chosen enrollment in the UC system because I know I can learn with limitless boundaries in such an environment. But I recognize the fact that it is only right to share with the community my knowledge, talents, and interests in return for the learning I gain. My proficiency and fluency in Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese and Vietnamese reading and writing are valuable contributions I wish to share with those who want to discover more.

The leadership skills that I exhibited when I founded The Union of Students for Buddhahood and when I ran for Student Delegate to the Board of Education of San Francisco are skills that I want to help incorporate into the lives of other UC students to better the educational experience we all have. And my profound interest for legal studies, recognized when I was nominated to attend the National Youth Leadership Forum on Law in Washington, D.C., and acted upon when I served as an amateur legal advisor to a relative, is an interest on which I wish to expand to promote order, justice and equality in our society.

---

Alex Quan was born to Vietnamese-Chinese parents. His involvement in Buddhism was influenced by his late grandmother. He will be attending UC Davis this fall quarter majoring in Political Science: Public Service.

[end]