 | IntroductionHi, my name is Bill Xiong. I was born into a big family with seven other siblings as a middle child. I was born in Wausau, Wisconsin and I moved to Willows when I was six and have been around this area since 1990. SchoolI had to repeat the 1st grade because of video games and was also placed in an ESL class. By third grade I was able to clean up my act and would also take a class after school where they taught me how to read and write in Hmong. Even during the summers I would volunteer to take summer school and so that really boosted my motivation for academics. I was always a chubby kid but once I hit puberty, boy was I on the loose! In grades 5th-8th I always getting either straight A's or close to it. The wonderful state of California was more financially stable then so the school would take us to visit colleges while we were 8th graders. Back then I really wanted to attend either Berkley or UCDavis. I remember my freshman year a lot because that's when my parents didn't really care about my academics anymore. I would show them my report card and they would just simply respond with something like, "Oh cool, good". That's when I realized they didn't care and so I started hanging out with the wrong crowd. I would ditch school and go hang out on weekends drinking and messing around with girls. I went from getting good grades to almost not passing my classes. I had to do packets of homework, in school suspension, and Saturday school just to catch up with my classes. Luckily I had a teacher who was new to the school and taught in a constructivist style of classroom. He wasn't all about take notes and learn everything. He wanted each individual to recognize their own potential and push themselves to their maximum. I went to school everyday looking forward to his class. That was the main focus of my senior year and it got me through graduation easily. |
