2018 is a very important year for San Diego Chinese Academy because the Academy has turned 30 years old. On February 11, 2018, we immensely celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Chinese Academy. There were wonderful performances on that day. The scale of the school fair was lively and impressive. There were lots of guests, food stalls, and game booths at the event. The food was delicious and everyone had a great time. We also edited and published a special edition yearbook for the 30th anniversary. It contains the major historical events of the school, the words from previous principles, precious historical photographs, and the wishful messages of friends from the local overseas communities. On the day of the event, Director-General Hsia from Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles, Director Yang from Culture Center of T.E.C.O. in Orange County (Santa Ana), and San Diego oversea community leaders all celebrated SDCA’s birthday with us. It is worth mentioning that ALL previous principals were gathered and many former chairmen of the board also joined us to celebrate on this remarkable day.

I have always been proud of San Diego Chinese Academy. Apart from our school activities, we also support other events within the community. In October, our school had a total of more than 130 teachers, students and parents attended the performance presented by Taiwan Chiu-Tian folk drum and art tour delegation. On April 29, 2018, our school co-organized for the International Tour of Taiwan Cuisine. We were able to mobilize more than 20 volunteers for this event. Our schools were also enthusiastically involved in groups such as San Diego Chinese American Science and Engineering Association and many other cultural associations.

In addition to the grand celebrations, we continue to celebrate annual traditional activities. In November and December 2017, we had our school’s traditional culture festival, where parents of the student got together and made rice balls. The children attended classes and enjoyed rice balls in groups during class hours. Through this activity, our children also learned about traditional Chinese festivals and that rice balls are traditional food for the winter solstice. Since November was the Thanksgiving holidays, our school combined the two major Chinese and American festivals at the same time together.

Furthermore, we also had the school speech contest in December, the poetry recitation contest in March, and the karaoke singing contest and writing competition in April. In each class, there were storytelling competitions, typing competitions, and character recognition competitions.

In May, there will be the graduation ceremony and the teacher’s banquet. Every graduate who has studied at our school for many years will use their fluent Chinese for their graduation speech. We would also thank the teachers for their hard works.

In addition to the school-run activities mentioned above. the intense learning in the classrooms every Sunday afternoon is the real focus. Every teacher, for thirty weeks, has been vigorously preparing lessons, teaching, grading homework, and revising exam papers. There are really hard works. The students also study very hard. Each of our students has progressed and grew exponentially in the past year. I believe that every parent is as proud of our children as I am.

I want to use the words “thank you” to express the emotions within my heart. I am very grateful to the excellent team led by the board of directors. Each member of the board of directors is doing his/her duties with due diligence while supporting school affairs. I also sincerely thank all the previous principals, vice principals, and board members for their hard work over the years, and for tirelessly mentoring and assisting me. In addition, to every teacher who has contributed their time, I would like to thank you all for your hard work and dedication towards the education of our children. Of course, we must also thank the parents for their trust in the teaching team, as well as the help and support. It is a blessing for the Chinese Academy to have you all.