《亞美導報》青少年教育版小編輯介紹

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May Lin
I have always been a studious, involved, and hard-working student. I have received straight A’s in all the most rigorous classes available for as long as I can remember. I am proud to say that I am ranked in the top 10 of the freshman class of 591 at Lawrence Central High School. On top of my academics I also enjoy music and athletics. I played violin and piano as a young child. I quit piano later on to focus on violin and am now one of only four freshmen in the most advanced orchestra at my school. I have also been dancing since a very young age. My main focus has been ballet but I also really enjoy contemporary and modern dance as well. I have performed many solos over the past few years in the national and prestigious YAGP competition. I enjoy being active in and outside of the school environment.

I have always been interested in my mom’s involvement with the newspaper and I’m excited to finally be included in it. I hope to contribute as much as I can and reach out to other Asian American teens. Being the same age, I think it will be easier to connect with them and understand their concerns and day-to-day dilemmas. As Asians, we are sometimes classified as a stereotype in school and we are put under too much pressure by our parents and even our peers. If we try to help Asian parents and their children understand each other, we may be able to relieve some of this pressure. It’s great that we are finally taking action and I’m proud to take part in it.

Edward Zhang
My name is Edward Zhang, and I am a freshman at Carmel High School in Indiana. As a member of the student government there, I often get glimpses of the issues that stir up action among my Asian-American peers, especially when it concerns academic life as a student.

By being a part of this newspaper, I hope to provide insight not only into the dilemmas Asian-Americans face in their respective communities but also into the unique relationships they have at home with their parents.
For example: one day I talked to my friend about homework; he mentioned that he was going to bed at around midnight because of extra, academic classes he was attending after school. What was important was that I could understand some of the hardships he was going through because, like him, I also had experienced the pressures of extracurricular-activity time management.

Should this be acceptable for Asian-American students? More importantly, should parents condone such activities?
Every day, Asian-Americans need to cope with implicit, cultural differences, and the courses of action Asians take are rarely uniform throughout the population. It is my goal, as an editor and columnist of the Junior Asian-American page, to present different viewpoints of the Asian-American response to daily dilemmas and to better allow you, the reader, to generate new opinions on the influences that define life in an Asian-America.

Michael Wang
My name is Michael Wang. I am an eighth grade student that attends Kennedy Junior High School in Lisle, Illinois. I am in the PIP program which is an advanced learned program and this is my third year in PIP. I live in Naperville, IL with my parents, my brother and my two pets. My parent’s names are Lily and Larry and my brother’s name is Sky. My family owns two pets, a cat and a dog. The cat’s name is Ares and the dog’s name is Riku.

At school and with friends, I participate in many extra-curricular activities. I play many sports such as wrestling, basketball, and break-dancing. Also, my friends and I make duct tape creations such as wallets and bags for other people. I love spending time with friends, my family, and especially my pets. I enjoy listening to music and playing videogames in my free time. My favorite type of music is drum and bass or pop. On the weekends, I play basketball and other sports with friends at the park or at each other’s houses.

My week is usually packed with sports, homework, friends, family activities and going to church. I spend most Friday evenings and Sundays at my church with my Youth Group. Being a Christian has helped me so much through life and continues to help me daily. Also, on Tuesdays, I go to Boy Scout meetings because I am a Boy Scout of America in troop 501. I go every Tuesday with my friends and we learn a lot from being a Boy Scout. Overall, my week is pretty packed with many activities and friends.

My contribution to the Asian American Today Youth Education Column is bridging the gap between parents and their children. Many of my friends have trouble with their parents and in my perspective, I can easily identify their problem because I have a very close connection with my parents and I also know have many friends that have close connections with their parents and by comparison, I can identify their problems. What they are lacking is usually fairly simplistic but the children don’t have a true way to let their parents know how they could increase their relationship. That is why I want to participate and I think that I will contribute well in this article.
Also, I think I will contribute by helping the column help be a voice from the parents and from the kids because kids and parents will not always listen to each other’s “side of the story” and by helping them express their opinion through a newspaper column will help strengthen the power of their voices and help lead to less altercations between the child and the parent.

Overall, I think I will have a great contribution to this column. I know many ways and reasons that can help shorten the distance between having a perfect relationship between the parents and their children and this column can really help them have a better relationship.

Amy Zhou
My name is Amy Zhou, and I am currently an eighth grader at Sycamore School in Indianapolis, Indiana. I live in a very traditional Chinese family. I work hard and excel in academics. I receive all A’s every year. I have been consistently among the top in the gifted class. Among all subjects, my favorites are mathematics, history, and chemistry. I took Geometry Honors in 7th grade and I am currently taking Algebra II Honors. I am good in leadership and am involved in community services. Besides school work, music is also a large part of my life. I have been playing piano since the age of five and began playing viola at age ten. I have received a gold medal in Division I at the State level of ISSMA for piano and viola. I also passed Level 10 (out of 12) AIM (Achievement in Music) this year for piano. I have been a part of the New World Youth Orchestras in Indianapolis since 2009. I am one out of the three middle schoolers in the New World Symphony Orchestra. I also have played piano for a local church for three years. In my free time, I enjoy spending it with my family and friends.

One major issue between teens and their parents is the pressure that the parents put on the child. I am very close to my family. My parents support me and set high goals for me in everything I do. I have found that although getting motivation from my parents pushes me, a combination of both motivations, from both my parents and me, often yields the best results. I believe encouraging children to improve does work. However, parents must first help their children find an activity in which the child is self-motivated. I also believe teens should not only focus on their studies. Instead, teens should be well-rounded. This means that teens should be studious, but also have extra-curriculars, such as sports or music. Teens should also be allowed to have time to relax, but this must be to a certain extent. I think this new column in the newspaper is great because we will be able to discuss current issues involving teens and their families. Hopefully, with this new column in the newspaper, we junior editors will be able to give a teen’s point of view on many common problems and misconception