When I started pre-school, I found it difficult to speak English because I spoke Chinese at home. I was distracted and frightened when I attended school in our Los Angeles neighborhood, and crime was a constant concern for us. It worried my parents to see that I was losing interest in school, so they moved me to Chino Hills after I finished 7th grade to live with my sisters, hoping that the environment would be a better place for me. The different atmosphere I was in changed my perspective on education. The students in Chino Hills are very competitive in their academic pursuits which motiv…