Hard work pays off for Wash High student

Hong Jie Chen moved to Washington from China when he was in eighth grade, knowing little English.
Now a senior at Washington High School, Jie is excelling and even taking Advanced Placement courses. But it took a lot of hard work.
For his hard work, Jie was honored last year with the Pencil for Excellence Award by his AP European History teacher, Jeff Bunner. Jie excelled in the class, even though it was given in English.
Jie said that moving here was a shock. His family moved to this area to help his uncle, who owns a Chinese restaurant in Washington.
He said schools are different in China.
“Everything was strange, like a fantasy,” he said of schools here.
Chinese schools don’t have computers in every class, only a computer lab, he said. Students ride bikes to school instead of taking buses. They go home for lunch and then come back for classes in the afternoon, he said.
Jie had 50 to 60 students in his class there. Here, his largest classes have between 25 and 35 students.
That allows him to get much more help from teachers at Wash High.
“American teachers are so nice, like a friend to you,” the 18-year-old said. “Anytime you need help, they help.”
In China, there were so many students in each class that they could not get that kind of help, he said. He also described Chinese teachers as more strict and said they taught directly out of textbooks instead of using additional materials.
He said sports are not emphasized as much in Chinese schools, where they have only basketball and ping pong teams. Here, he is on the bowling and tennis teams.
While he lived in China, Jie took English for about 11⁄2 years. He said he learned basic phrases but hadn’t yet learned complete sentences when he moved to the United States.
That made taking classes here tough, especially when he started high school.
“At first, I did not understand the books,” he said. “It took a lot of time to do assignments.”
Jie was classified as an English as a Second Language student, which meant he was eligible for services to help him in a classroom. He had an ESL teacher help him until this year.
“He devotes a lot of personal time to doing the right thing to excel,” said Jeff Bunner, who teaches some of the Advanced Placement classes that Jie is taking.
Jie’s been taking high-level classes during his high school career and plans to attend Penn State University with a major in engineering or architecture. He will be the first in his family to go to college.
That’s one of the reasons he is taking Advanced Placement classes.
When he started AP European history last year, his answers were short and general, Bunner said.
“Now his essay answers are some of the best I’ve ever seen,” said Bunner, who teaches the AP U.S. history class that Jie is taking this year. “He’s becoming one of the best students we’ve had in this school.”
Jie took the AP test for European history last year and was convinced he failed because he couldn’t get through all of the questions. He was not permitted extra time or a translator even though he was an ESL student.
However, Jie was wrong.
He passed the difficult test, given only in English, which means he will get college credit for the class.
“He was able to pass the test because of his hard work,” Bunner said, adding that Jie earned the most improved student award in his class last year.
Bunner said that led Jie to take even more AP classes this year. In addition to U.S. history, Jie is taking AP calculus and AP chemistry.
“He doesn’t shy away from hard courses,” Bunner said. “He takes the toughest courses.”
Jie described the AP European history class as “cool.” He said it took much more time for him to do well in that class.
“If you give me a higher level, I will try harder to reach higher,” he said, adding that it will lead him to a higher goal.
Jie said his teachers have helped him a lot, as have his friends. He said students have not treated him differently because he is Chinese.
“They just look at me like an American,” Jie said.