As we flip our 2002 calendar page over to 2003, the board of trustees and I would like to let you, our supporters, know that things are going great with SOAR.
We took in a record 353 new students in 2002, most of them entering junior high from elementary school, with several students going into senior high. We are also thrilled to tell you that over 40 of our students have been accepted by various colleges and universities. Your generous and continued support has really paid off!
It took us a great deal of effort, but we did it. Our first five-year strategic planning retreat took place in early January. The board and I were very fortunate to have attending with us at the retreat SOAR advisor Dr. Andrew Wang, and a member of the community --- Mr. William Fu, a repatriated executive who had spent eight years in China. After a grueling day (I wish there was more time), we arrived at some key decisions that we believe will help guide SOAR through the next five years as it continues to grow.
There might be some among us who believe that as China's economy develops, help from organizations like SOAR will no longer be needed. And others who might raise this question: why keep a large reserve; why not help as many students as we can now? In our view, it will take a long time for China's economy to reach Western standards, and no matter how much China develops, there will always be poor children who could use a helping hand. For this reason, we have decided to operate SOAR as a perpetual entity and manage our resources accordingly.
In addition, two steps will be taken to create greater impact in the areas that SOAR is involved: (1) We will gradually reduce the number of geographic regions covered so we can increase the number of scholarships in those areas that remain; (2) We will start financing the teacher training program that has long been one of SOAR's objectives, as students can't learn without qualified teachers. These steps will not only sharpen our focus but also make logistics easier. In the meantime, we have taken a hard look at the situation in Taiwan --- with its faltering economy and surfacing pockets of despair---and have decided to start accepting applications from Taiwan on a need basis.
Also, effective 2003, we will only accept new students from the 7th grade to reduce complications arising from students changing schools and addresses (causing loss of contact) and to help us arrive at better budget projections. Furthermore, we hope to establish contact with relevant Chinese government officials to minimize any potential risk of illegitimacy and protect our volunteers there. These are but two of the many measures we have decided upon in our planning.
We are really excited to face this coming year, and I wish to take this opportunity to extend our gratitude to all of you- our supporters, sponsors, mentors, and volunteers. Without you, we could not have accomplished any of these. Without you, many unfortunate children in that beautiful land of China will grow up uneducated, poor, and without hope of a better future. Please tell people you know and share with them your passion and pride in being a part of SOAR and making a difference!
Albert Hu
Please plan to attend SOAR's annual membership meeting next month on Saturday, March 8 from 1:30 PM to 3:00 PM at the Mountain View Main Library at 585 Franklin Street, Mountain View. Phone: 650-903-6887. Please read attached flyer for other important details. A workshop for mentors will immediately follow the meeting.
46 new students received sponsorships and 102 students were assigned mentors as a result of the two-day SOAR student application file exhibit held on August 3 & 4 at the Cupertino and Fremont public libraries, thanks in large part to the preparation work coordinated by Mentorship Chair Sue Tsan.
SOAR is extremely happy and proud to present its first batch of college-bound students. Bear in mind that in China, only 15% of all high school graduates nationwide are able to enter college. For rural students, the figure is even lower. Yet nearly 50% of SOAR senior high graduates got into good colleges and universities. On page 3 appears the complete list of names of these outstanding scholars, the institutions that have admitted them, and their major fields of study. Also on page 3, another exhibit tabulates the gender and geographic distribution of SOAR's new students for year 2002.
At Cupertino's Moon Festival in Memorial Park, held on September 19 & 20, volunteers took turns manning SOAR's exhibit booth and tent, distributing pamphlets, answering questions, even recruiting a few sponsors and mentors in the process ?all to publicize and acquaint SOAR to festival attendees.
On January 5, 2003, board members, joined by adviser Andrew Wong and special guest Bill Fu , convened at Fair Oaks West Complex in Sunnyvale for a day long retreat centered on the theme "Five Year Strategic Planning." As a result of that productive brainstorming session, organized and moderated by SOAR president Albert Hu, consensus was reached on a number of key issues that affect the continued successful operation of SOAR.
(Visit our website picture gallery at www.soaronline.org to view over 40 photographs taken on this trip.)
On October 7, board members George Chao, Siu Fong Huang, Albert Tso, and I, Ben Tze, joined by two SOAR sponsors, Phil Chow and Wing Lui, embarked on a 3-week fact-finding tour that took us to northern Jiangsu, Henan, Jiangxi, and Hunan.
The Chinese government provides nine years of public education, tuition free, to students from elementary to junior high. There is an entrance examination, used solely to determine which school a student will end up attending. However, there are other school fees, and this is where SOAR scholarships play a role. We interviewed 156 students from ten different localities and found that, while the economic situation has improved in certain areas (Internet bars are very popular even in small towns, with quite a few in close proximity to one another that stay open till the late hours), the poverty in many regions is painfully heart-breaking and beyond what one could possibly imagine. A case in point: One classroom we visited in Runan (Henan province) had three pupils sharing one desk. Because of desk shortage, written tests in this school had to be taken and administered out under the sun in an exercise field. In retrospect, this explains why some SOAR scholarship applicants had cited class sizes as large as 127 on their application forms.
Our fact-finding procedure on this trip typically proceeded as follows: The students would be gathered in one place by the local Nominator per our advance notice. After the hosts had introduced themselves, we make a statement of SOAR's function and the purpose of this tour. We then divide students into four or five groups, each group led by one of us Interviewers to a separate, designated location where they are interviewed individually. We ask them whether they receive their scholarships on time, how they withdraw the funds, how their families are doing, how schoolwork is like, what kind of books they read, and, if the student has a Mentor, what he or she thinks about the Mentor. We also solicit their suggestions for improving SOAR's service. Students whom we interviewed have communicated to us time and again their craving for personal contact by way of face-to-face encounters or through correspondence, one-to-one, with a mentor. Because of stressful family situations - father passing away and mother subsequently remarrying, whereabouts unknown, or estranged or divorced parents abandoning their children after the break-up - some students we talked to harbor a lot of resentment, bitterness, and pent-up feelings of being neglected and left on their own. Only extra special attention, understanding, care, and love can help heal the deep wounds inflicted on these young souls .
One of our objectives on this trip was to evaluate our Nominators. Most students we talked to do not know their Nominators, and lack the ability to tackle problems that arise, such as knowing whom to turn to when annual registration forms or scholarship funds do not arrive on time. We found many Nominators do not possess a complete roster of their students, and some are not enthusiastic or energetic enough to get to know their students first hand. But there are exceptions. The nominator in Xinjian (Jiangxi province) went out of his way to help his students. Our only quibble is that students in the Xinjian area are receiving too much attention _ biographies and essay compositions they turned in as part of their scholarship application packet had all been enhanced by the Nominator!
Some Nominators work closely with local education officials, paying them visits and getting applications through them. Both parties would like to see the quota for scholarships increased. Nominators also expressed their wish to first recruit from junior high freshmen. College scholarships in China are very limited and the funds minimal. One Nominator went as far as to suggest financial assistance for first year college students, but senior students in other places we've been to reported they had no problem obtaining college loans.
In Jiangxi, we visited a School for Teachers' Advancement and met with the local education chief and principal of that school to better understand the program facility and the costs involved.
We also had the opportunity, during this trip, to drop in and witness SOAR's operations at our Jiangsu office, the branch responsible for entering and updating our database of about 1200 continuing students annually who, through this office, receive SOAR scholarships beyond their first year. Set up to share workloads and coordinate with SOAR's Beijing and Hunan liaisons, this office is also responsible for the publication and distribution, twice a year, of our Chinese language student newsletter. Its staff of two (both of whom we found to be excellent and efficient) performs scheduled tasks such as bulk data entry and Chinese document typing, as well as ongoing tasks that range from tracking student status, to handling daily inquiries and correspondence from both Nominators and students without Mentors.
In closing, I should point out that this was a whirlwind tour that left little time for rest and relaxation. As a result, most of us suffered a combination of coughs, headaches, and diarrhea, but we found it to be an eye-opener and would strongly recommend that anyone interested in SOAR's mission and operations take such a fact-finding tour at least once, perhaps one that's more relaxed and not quite so rushed and hectic as this one!
?Ben Tze
On our way to high school #4, Mr.Tien points out that this is Teacher Peng's school. Before I left California, SOAR's Shirley and Ben had already requested from Candlelight Foundation (an organization registered in China to help the needy) a roster of BaoJing's indigent teachers, hoping they could identify for SOAR those students requiring financial aid, and also guide them in the application process.
Village school teachers are all very poor. I wonder why Mr.Peng is the only one applying for subsidy. As it turns out, he is a widower with four children to raise. Dark-skinned, teeth discolored, and wearing a Mao outfit, he is a chemistry teacher, age forty something but looking sixtyish. Perhaps my inquiries are so far removed from his daily routines that he draws a blank. Mr.Tien quickly steps in to explain to him how SOAR operates.
On our return trip to the county center, Mr. Tien, pointing enthusiastically to tangerine trees in the distance, informs me that farmers have switched to growing tangerines, following a German cannery's decision to invest here in BaoJing.
WTO will undoubtedly change the face of life in every corner of China, but in order to reap its benefits, farmers need precise recommendations from the government as to which profit-yielding crops to cultivate. Some years back, a number of local governments advocated the cultivation of chili peppers and lotus roots, but failure to regulate the market flow of these crops resulted in their oversupply. The farmers who put in the capital and the labor ended up being losers on both counts. After this devastating lesson, they reverted to rice planting. Rice they can at least use to feed themselves.
Unlike Yunnan which has abundant natural resources, convenient transportation, and a tourism industry already in place, Xiangxi attracts no investors. No one wants to pour huge amounts of money into building winding mountains roads. Without available means of transportation, there can be no economic growth. Farmers in these Xiangxi mountains still struggle to survive from day to day. The TuZiaJus are an ethnic minority with an indigenous tongue but no system of writing of their own. Not keen on formalities, these pristine, hardworking people have been dispersed in the mountains of Xiangxi for hundreds of years, and, to this day, still lead lifestyles dating back half a century. No TV. No contact with the outside world. Grown-ups toil from dawn till dusk and barter their living necessities at the monthly swap meet. School children have no outside reading material and live in austere, cramped quarters, their world confined to the village, the school, the empty sky above and the barren earth beneath. Their only salvation lies in education.
One child, in particular, impressed me deeply. Barely a sophomore, he can already carry on a few exchanges with me in English. "Wow, you speak really well."
"Oh, I learn from listening to my father's radio." Voice of America, perhaps? The principal says this child excels and has a lot of potential. On him rests the hopes of an entire mountain? I ask myself.
The upshot of this fact_finding: 150 new application forms, placed in the hands of 7 nominating teachers. From this pool, 50 will be awarded SOAR scholarships. BaoJing County has 26 elementary schools, 17 high schools, and as many as 10,000 needy students. The little help we are able to offer is but a drop in the bucket, but to these mountain farmers, it is a ray of warm and welcome sunshine.
?Siu Fong Huang
Few have escaped from the effects of the economic downturn this country experienced this past year. We are cognizant of this fact and are, therefore, more grateful than ever to those of you who have dug deep into your pockets to continue to support the SOAR Foundation. It is, therefore, with pleasure and relief that we report to you that, despite the recession, our committee has managed to raise enough funds to meet the financial demands of our operation for 2002.
The total revenue received in 2002 was $288,656.48 of which $147,500 were donated by our sponsors. They, as in past years, provide a huge bulk of our support. However, a note of disappointment and a point of concern need to be interjected here ?for this school year, only 62% of our sponsors were able to renew their sponsorships, approximately 20% fewer than in previous years. We collected $8,335 in membership dues and the Annual Scholarship Fund Benefit Dinner last May netted $27,607 for our coffer. We granted 353 new scholarship awards last spring and were successful in recruiting sponsors for all of our new scholarship recipients.
At this time, we wish to recognize a number of our supporters who have contributed very generously last year to help keep our organization afloat. The list includes Mr. Gary Young of Fremont, the Gan Family Foundation of Fremont, Mrs. Doris Minglun Chiu of Kensington, Mrs. Lei Wah Wong of Chicago, Ms. Ellen Li of Moraga, the He Shan World Fund, Berkeley, Ms. Cathy Tsang of Cupertino, Ms. Mei Ying Wu of Fremont, Mr. Chang Keng Liu of Palo Alto, Mr. Thomas Yang of Los Altos Hills, Mr. Edward Liang-Nai Chang of Fremont, Ms. Marrina Jeng of Los Altos, and Dr. and Mrs. Aaron and Lily Hsueh of Stanford.
To all our supporters and friends, a very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous Year of the Ram!
?Leong T. Tan
Our revised scholarship application packets for new students have been distributed to each Nominator in our final compiled list of 84 Nominators in China. Among the revisions is an explicit requirement that students fill out the application forms themselves and pen their own essay compositions, with no enhancements or modifications by outsiders, parents, teachers, or Nominators.
Also for year 2003, we will begin implementing what we think is a more efficient and foolproof way of passing SOAR funds directly to our scholarship recipients. Up until now, the practice has been to tediously hand write each individual form for mailing student scholarships. Then there is the recurring problem of some students not mailing back to SOAR their proof of receipt. As a result, our China liaison Mr. Liu Dun Zhi ends up having to spend a considerable amount of time and effort tracing these cases through the post office, which has a tracking period limit of only 1 year.
Under our new method, students will be asked to supply information that will enable our Jiangsu office to open individual savings accounts at the post office to be used for scholarship direct deposits by SOAR. Except for a few isolated cases involving inaccessible areas where no such postal service is available, this system of direct deposit shall be our prevailing method of dispensing scholarship money starting year 2003.
?Ben Tze
GRADUATION DAY, 2002! This day should and will long be remembered by all of us. It was the day when the first group of students from the SOAR Foundation scholarship program graduated from senior high school. This was the class of 2002; a class that represented the fulfillment of our mission, a class we could justifiably call our own, our first-born, a class that was the fruition and product resulting from six years of hard, tedious work by our volunteers, and, indeed, a class that says `your time, energy and dollars were very well spent'! This, also, was the class that suffered most from the short-comings and growing pains of a newly born organization; approximately 61% of this class were forced to drop out of school after junior high because of unexpected financial hardship related to attending senior high. This problem subsequently was corrected when SOAR decided to triple the value of its scholarship award for its senior high students. But, unfortunately, for the class of 2002, this decision was a year short in coming. Consequently, only 96 students of the initial 250 that comprised this group did graduate from senior high. We are proud to report that, as of this writing, close to 50% or half the class of 2002 have gained admission to a college or university, some of which are amongst the top-ranked institutions of higher education in China. Every one of these college or university-bound graduates has received a financial award from SOAR for his or her achievement. In recent months, the question as to whether SOAR has the capacity to provide some support for `our' college students has repeatedly been raised and debated. Obviously, the answer hinges on the availability of funds and manpower!
?Leong T. Tan
Province Girl Boy Total
