During the summer of 2019, I went with my church on a missionary trip to Taiwan. We stayed at a rural orphanage and taught at a nearby school. Since I was traveling with my church, we taught Christianity, but we also taught English. The kids we taught were in elementary school, so we had to structure our teaching like a summer camp. While most of my friends taught the kids directly, I worked behind the scenes putting together tech equipment and taking photos for slideshows. We stayed for a total of 2 weeks, but those 2 weeks were the best weeks of that summer! Many of the kids’ parents were very busy, and as a result, they didn’t have the same level of affection as most of us. It was heart-warming to care for these kids not only as teachers, but also acting as older siblings. To any juniors reading this, I highly recommend going abroad if you are given the opportunity!
As you know, I’m Isaac Lau. My family came from Hong Kong, but I was born in Fall River, Massachusetts. I have an older sister who works as an operating room nurse. From a young age, I was always pretty interested in the math and science part of academics. My mom and dad taught me math from a young age, but more importantly, they sparked an interest for me in learning and stretching myself to do more. My schools were pretty hectic, as I went to kindergarten at Burrell Elementary school in Foxboro, moved to Sharon to Cottage Street school until 3rd grade, and changed schools to East Elementary until 5th. Although I was still interested in math and science, by the time I reached 5th grade, I was less interested in it than from when I was much younger.
During the summer of 2013, I went to a summer camp at The Sage School. It was about more math, but it also included other subjects. While I was there, one of the teachers noticed me, and she thought I would fit pretty well. My mom was interested, and so signed me up for an admissions test and the application process. I got accepted and stayed there until 8th grade. Sage would go on to be the most difficult, but also most rewarding part of my life by far. The amount of homework was a lot, and I was stretching myself in ways I didn’t even know I could reach. Although it was incredibly difficult, I don’t regret going there at all. I met a lot of amazing people who were also motivated like I was, and it reignited my curiosity and creativity in a lot of areas. However, all good things must come to an end, and as Middle school was ending, I had the option of applying for a private high school. Most of my friends applied to schools like Commonwealth and BUA, but those schools were pretty expensive, and I didn’t really want to go back to a public school, so I went to a school called BC High.
BC High was just about as different from Sage as it could possibly be. Sage is small, BC High is big; Sage is academic, BC High is more sport like; Sage is relaxed, BC High is very prep school like. I stayed there for freshman and sophomore year, and I really wanted to get out. I first heard about Mass Academy from Lance, a friend of mine, but I dismissed it because I thought Worcester was too far, so I planned to stay at BC High for the rest of High school. Eventually application season was approaching, and my parents told me just to apply for it, and maybe I'll go there if I got accepted. I applied, and to my delight, I got accepted.
That brings us to today, where I’m in Junior year at Mass Academy. So far, I’m really liking it. Everyone is really nice, the teachers are super supportive, and the overall environment makes me feel at home.
