Dear Givology:
My name is Shangwen Zhang. I am so excited and also happy to get letter from you! I am 17 years old and currently a high school sophomore studying science. I have a mom, dad and a sister who is in her first year of high school.
From your last letter I learned a lot about you. I know you are very hard working students, which makes me feel bad about myself. Often, when I feel tired I will just rest. Even though I know I have to work hard, my lazy feelings make me lose my drive to work hard. But from your story, I know I have to start over again and get rid of my lazy feelings.
In my class there are many kids who are also sponsored by you. In general, we get along pretty well, and they are really nice kids. We may be far from home, but whoever said this classroom can't be my home?
I heard you like reading and listening to music. I actually like them as well, especially reading. Every time I see beautiful words, I will copy them down into my notebook. And of course that’s what we need to do in order to write our essays. I like my books because they have chapters from the Four Classics: “Dreams of the Red Chamber”, “Journey to the West”, “Tales of the Three Kingdoms” and “Outlaws of the Marshes”. I think they are really wonderful and I also really like them a lot.
Other than that, my dream is to becoming a doctor. But for me, this may not be possible because my background and current situation are terrible. However, I have to work for my dream because I don’t want to feel regretful when I grow up and look back. I want to at least be able to tell myself, "I worked hard - no regrets."
Lastly, I hope you can visit our school during summer camp next year. I will be very excited to see you!
Best wishes,
Shangwen Zhang
Feb 28, 2010
