SNN“前行”系列报道之二：12岁7年级美国留学 Northwood高中学生会主席 为尔湾高中沟通搭桥梁！常青藤大学Penn录取
SNN学生记者 Tom Gao & Valerie Tu 报道
他，12岁到美国读书，读过ELS语言班，迅速提升自己担任高中学生会ASB主席，创立了尔湾ASB联合会，力图打破尔湾高中学校之间缺乏交流的局面。他是一个来自中国的男孩——Kevin Zhou。近日，SNN学生记者采访到了Kevin Zhou，现任的Northwood高中12年级学生、ASB联席主席，已被常青藤大学---宾夕法尼亚大学Penn提前录取。
7年级12岁到美国留学 “初中来美国一点都不晚”
Kevin的留学经历也许可以让很多初中来美留学的父母心里减轻一些孩子在语言上的担忧。Kevin告诉SNN学生记者，“初中的时候才来到美国其实一点都不晚，因为他们可以用两年的时间来适应这个崭新的环境，这样高中的时候他们就不会太吃力”。
Kevin本身是在7年级，12岁时来到了美国，和很多刚来的学生一样，他也面临了语言的难题，对英语还不了解的他，也在ESL语言班中上过课。来美国之前Kevin没有上任何的英语补习班，但他还是在短短两学期的时间内走出了语言班。他究竟是怎么做到的呢？据Kevin介绍，他试着去跟不同的人聊天与交朋友。因为他知道如果他只跟着一群同样来自中国的人们交流，不管是中文还是英文，他不会有很大的进步。因此Kevin踏出了他的舒适区，用着他不流利的英语去跟平常人，在美国长大的人交流，然后一点一点进步。因为我们都在另一个语言环境长大，说英语的时候有口音也是难免的。Kevin来了将近有七年，可他在说话的过程中还是会含有一点点口音。
“口音代表着一个人的与众不同，并不代表他永远都说不好英文。重要的是你要有自信，不被你的口音所击败因此没有改善”。Kevin告诉SNN学生记者，“世界这么大，你总会找到愿意和你说活的友善的人然后通过每天的交流，抛掉你的口音。就算有口音随着文化的改变，大家都必须学会另外一个国家的历史和文化，不是全部，但起码要适应也要牢记美国本土的同龄小孩知道的那些”。
打破沟通障碍 创办尔湾高中学生会联合会
Northwood是一个大约两千多名学生的高中，就像我们之前介绍，Kevin能够在Northwood脱颖而出成为学生会的主席自然有其原因。
据Kevin介绍，他自从九年级就是学生会的一部分了，其实在九年级的时候，Kevin说他对学生会并不了解， 但是他还是接受挑战，努力的参与竞选。 更让人欣慰的是，当全部学生会的成员们努力地一起工作，慢慢地他们就创建了坚固的友谊。
“虽然进入学生会很艰难也要通过激烈的竞争，从中学到的东西是很珍贵的。在这四年来，你需要牺牲自己很多的时间到为同学们准备好玩又有趣的课外活动，让他们的高中生活更加丰富多彩”。也许很多人在高中想进入学生会仅仅只是因为考大学可以加分，但Kevin认为，加入学生会的真正的目的是增加自己的实践和领导经验。当你成为学校里的领导班里的一部分时，你可以学到很多那些普通生活学不到的东西。比如说领导才能和好的时间管理，这些才能都是人在一生中需要而且非常重要的。那些说进学生会为了上大学加分的就没有意识到优秀的大学只会想收优秀的人，那就是就算没有人再看，他们也会做正确的选择。
Kevin正在进行一个有创造性的计划，他正在为全部尔湾的高中学校成立了一个组织尔湾ASB联合会：把所有学生会的主席们都聚集在一起，加强学校之间的沟通一起为他们的高中作出贡献，一起为尔湾做出贡献。
申报常青藤Penn： 源自一个学姐的动力
Kevin在接受SNN学生记者采访
著名的宾夕法尼亚大学，简称宾大，有什么吸引人的吧！首先，宾大是八所常青藤盟校之一，而且是美国革命时重要领导人本杰明・富兰克林创建的。
“还是在九年级时，一个学习非常好的十二年级学姐让我了解到了宾大，到后来我一直关注并鼓起了勇气给宾大发出了申请，因为我的学姐她也给宾大Penn发出过申请”。
Kevin介绍说，”宾大强调活学活用学到的知识，这也是我自己经常做的”。Kevin就被宾大的这一点所吸引了，他也觉得这所学校特别适合他因为他可以利用他经历的一些其他人没有感受到过的东西，然后造福社会。他不仅在ASB中，而且他还是从中国来的学生，所以他知道新学生刚来到美国的困难。他也喜欢用他自己的经验来帮助他人，他后来也发现这也是宾大所强调的理念之一。因为所有这些原因，他给宾大发出了申请并且成功的收到了录取通知书。 宾大专注于利用学生所学到的东西之后再向社会做贡献。Kevin认为，这个学校其实就是为他量身打造的。虽然Kevin为他未来的工作还没有一个最终的决定，唯一肯定的就是会是关于政治或金融。
传授学弟学妹经验： 做你想做的事 你就会走向成功
Kevin跟SNN学生记者
最后，SNN学生记者们向Kevin索取一些成功的经验。“在高中的四年生活里，社团是一种特别好的方式来丰富学生们的学习环境”。Kevin给学生记者们介绍了一些他个人很喜欢又觉得有意义的，分享给大家。“首先，一个叫做舒适区的社团以野营的方式让那些失去亲人的孩子们尽早的走出悲痛”。“另一个组织则是模拟法庭。这个组织可以说更是一个比赛形式的，因为成员们每周起码付出四个小时的时间来解决模拟案件，之后再代表学校去比赛。因为每周此组织都要求练习很长的时间，里面的成员们不是家人，但胜似家人，就像一个大家庭一样”。
“接受挑战是最重要的，”，Kevin说，“特别是那些刚来美国的，他们应该走出去，尝试跟更多的人们交流。 你交流地越多，你就朋友越多。你一旦有了很多朋友，你的朋友们和其他人就会开始尊重你因为他们会认为你的人品很好，而且你也愿意去努力地进步。知识和经验是要靠自己累计起来的，唯一的累积方法就是努力与坚持。差错只是一时，如果你愿意从你的错误学到新的知识，你就会成功”。
英文版/English Version
SNN news "Go Ahead" series interview: Came to U.S. in 7 grade, ASB president of Northwood High, Building the bridge between high schools in Irvine! admitted by the University of Pennsylvania.
He, established the ASB council in Irvine! Irvine high schools now have a lack of interaction, they work together rarely. This situation might be changed by a Chinese boy called Kevin who came to the U.S. in 7th grade, when he was 12 years old.SNN student reporters interviewed Kevin. He is a senior and the current ASB president in Northwood High School. He already got admitted and decided to go to the University of Pennsylvania.
Never Give Up - Always Climb Toward the Tips of Mountains
As Kevin told the SNN student reporters, it was hard for him to overcome the language problem. He came to the U.S. in 7th grade, when he was 12 years old. Like many other newcomers from other countries he was also in the ESL program for two trimesters. “I interacted with a lot of people,” Kevin said, “because I knew that there was no way I will be able to learn English if I only stick with the Chinese kids. So I tried to get out of the circle to talked to more people and I found friends who were nice and willing to talk to me and I was able to improve my English.” When people grow up in different environments, it is inevitable that they would not be able to recognize the culture of another region and it obviously will take time. Middle school usually is a great time for newcomers to transition and blend in with the locals since there are two years to give them the preparation time before high school. No one should ever be afraid of their accents and thus holding themselves back from interacting with people, but only practicing frequently and learn off from local inhabitants can solve accent “problems.” In fact, having accents is totally normal and it should not even be considered as a problem because people grow up in different environments and learning different cultures, that is what makes them unique from others. What will make them more outstanding will be confidently presenting oneself and help people with their knowledge that others might know nothing of. If you are really struggling, try to “find people who are willing to talk to you and slowly improve your accents” through the daily usage, Kevin advised. Once again, the key is to reach out and fearlessly try as mentioned before because in front of success, people will always fail again and again, but there will be one day when they reach their goals and accomplish what they dreamed of. It is not scary to have a dream, but it is scary when you have a dream, but you do not attempt to chase your dream. Therefore, believe in yourself and do what you want to do.
The Truly Ultimate Goal
As being introduced, Kevin is currently the co-president of ASB in Northwood High School. According to himself, he had already been in ASB for four years - all of his high school years, and he spent lots of efforts into making students’ high school years as colorful as they can be. The main thing to do things and join ASB in high school is not for the purpose of getting high school credit, but for an experience and the things one learns from those experiences. ASB enables you to learn many things that is convenient and useful throughout one’s life. Some may say “oh I should go try out for ASB to further attract the college,” but what they did not realize is that excellent colleges will only be wanting to accept students who are motivated to do something out of interest instead of for the benefits. Of course, taking ASB is very beneficial since it allows people to develop skills such as good time managements, but one definitely should not aim it for credits. “When I was in 9th grade, I did not know the ASB well and under my father’s encouragements, I ran for a position and got elected. In ASB, people were very friendly to me and I received many friendships,” Kevin spoke. The essential thing is to try out what people longed for, or to chase their dreams. Of course, getting into ASB requires going through a great competition, but anything one does will always give them a valuable lesson, whether based off of good or bad behaviors. When student reporters asked Kevin about the most memorable thing he had done or been through in high school, he replied that establishing a council that gathered all the ASB presidents from all the Irvine high schools was most impactful out of all he had done during his high school years since it enabled the presidents to plan something out together and do things as a whole that will benefit this community together for the first time. At the same time, They also received help from the Irvine Public School Foundation (IPSF) to hold unity for all Irvine high schools and he felt proud to see that he had created and set the “precedent”, which is the diplomatic relationship he thinks that would definitely last and be beneficial as ASB plans the events together.
Doing What Interests YOU
Obviously, high school years are great times to join clubs or create clubs yourself that would build on the experiences that will become beneficial later in life. Although Kevin put in lots of efforts and time into doing ASB, of course, he joined clubs that interested him. One of the clubs that he introduced the student reporters is called Comfort Zone. It is in the form of volunteering kind, but mainly what it does is to set up camps for people who lost their family and relatives and help them recover. According to Kevin, as far as he knew, many “people go into the camps depressed and lonely and comes out happily because they made friends that were just like families to them.” It was, for sure, unfortunate that such things happened to those kids who had not even enter adulthood and they had to face things on their own, without anyone supporting them in their backs. Therefore, Comfort Zone is really meaningful and it encourages the passing of kindness when it gave students the opportunity to think in another person’s shoes and try to contribute to making the situation better. Although the other thing that Kevin introduced to the reporters is really in the form of going on to competitions, the Mock Trial as well gave him memorable experiences and awarded him with a group of friendly people who became more like a family. The Mock Trial is where people in the school who are interested in the current political issues or things related to that can debate about different cases, ranging from different degrees and different types. The cases are rather made up and some are related to what the world is focusing on recently.
Plan and Create Your Own Futures
Kevin said, "I decided to apply for the University of Pennsylvania because in 9th grade, a girl from 12th grade, who was almost good at everything, inspired me to really start think about UP, just because she also applied for UP." UP emphasize on an idea of learning the knowledge and use it. That is what he stands after, he is in ASB and he moved from China, so he knows the hardship of trying to blend into the society. He also likes using his personal experience to help others, he found out later that that is also what UP is stand for. Because of all those reasons, he applied for UP, and got admitted successfully.
Based on his own experiences, Kevin succeeded by stepping out of his comfort zone and tried talking to strangers who later became close friends and he encourages people to work hard to accomplish their goals. “Take patience and dedication, but it would be right if you work hard,” Kevin said, and do not worry if you do not make much friends right at the moment, because “You will always find people who understands you.” According to him, respect is earned all on your own, no one can help you to let people pay attention to you unless you make them feel it is worth it and they will start wanting to get close to you. On the whole, stressing out is not the right thing to do, but where mistakes come from, you will only get better if you learn and improve from your mistakes.
指导老师的话： 所有学生记者文章原则上主要修改标题、导语和结构，词句等一般错误一般不修改。本文是SNN前行系列优秀毕业生采访的第二篇，两名学生记者独立采访独立整理完稿，中英文文字均很流畅，作为专访文章这次采访中注意了细节的采访，抓住了几岁来美国、ASB联合会、学姐动力等细节故事。而7年级12岁来美国、ASB联合会这些其实也是Kevin给大家一些启发和启示的地方，当然一些细节还是抓得不够，例如学姐的故事。另外可以考虑以后写作中 在标题和段落标题强调吸引人的重点和故事，减少很平坦的词语，文中减少说教词语，增加被采访者的原话更加生动一些。拍摄的图片太少影响效果，后期采访文章需要注意大量增加图片供选择。
本文由SNNnews学生记者采访报道，学生记者 Valerie Tu 来自 Jeffrry Trail Middle School 8年级，学生记者 Tom Gao 来自 Rancho Middle School 8年级
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