Every two weeks, the Patriot will randomly pick a student from the directory, find out more about his or her life, and prove that every student has a story.
Sophomore international student Leo Qizhao sits in an airport anxiously waiting for his plane departing from Hong Kong, China. He is about to leave the only life he’s ever known to come to school in America. To make matters worse, the plane before him had complications taking off, causing his flight to be delayed three hours. As if the anxiety of moving to an entirely new country wasn’t enough, he now has to wait three more hours for it.
Qizhao decided he wanted to come to America two years ago in hopes that he could one day go to college here.
According to Qizhao, the “educations system is better in America than it is in China.”
Through the Cambridge Institute, he found JC.
“I liked the location of it. I like Maryland,” Qizhao said. “I also liked the AP classes and different clubs they offer here.”
Qizhao arrived in America this past summer and began his sophomore year at JC. His favorite subjects are math and Spanish, despite the fact that he’s “not very good at Spanish.”
One of the first things Qizhao noticed was that “the sky was very blue and everyone was very different. The people in America are more polite and it is very clean.”
Qizhao is only able to see his family once or twice a year. Over Christmas break, he went back to his home town in China to visit his family and friends from school.
“I miss my parents and friends but I think this will be good for my future so it’s ok,” Qizhao said.
According to Qizhao, schools in China operate differently. Students there have a two hour break in the afternoon. Some students go home and others stay at school and study if needed.
Also, students in Qizhao’s old school never change classes. “The teachers switch classrooms but we stay in one room the whole day.”
Accoring to Qizhao, traveling has been a big part of his life. Not only has he moved from China to America, he has also traveled to South Africa and Fiji.
He visited South Africa with his mom for a ten day vacation. While in South Africa, Qizhao visited the National Park to look at the wild animals.
“I was in an open car without anything to protect us so it was scary when we were looking at the lions,” Qizhao said.
Fiji was less of an enjoyable experience for Qizhao. While there, he faced flooding, a minor earthquake, and a small fire.
First, after a snorkeling trip on a small island of off Fiji, he came back to his hotel flooding. He was forced to move to a different one where he spent the remainder of his trip.
Shortly after that, an earthquake and tsunami warning was issued. According to Qizhao, a minor earthquake occurred, but, thankfully, there was no tsunami.
Finally, while getting ready to leave, a small fire started in the airport in Fiji due to a person smoking in the bathroom. “Everyone started running away and shouting,” Qizhao said.
Qizhao also participates in Music Ministry and plays the piano during Mass. He has been playing the piano since the age of six.
“My mom wanted me to learn piano because I was always moving around and she thought maybe it would calm me down,” Qizhao said. Qizhao hopes to one day go to New York University and study finance.
Caitlin Wolfarth is a News Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.