Lee High School Luncheon - Cultural Meet & Greet

  This year we are teaming up with the Houston Independent School District and will be working with Lee High School. On Saturday January 31^st, we kicked off our first event with a meet and greet luncheon that took place at the library of Lee High School. I have to say, I was quite jealous of the size and space of the library. We started off the first 30 minutes started with lunch, where we encouraged people to bring food from their cultures. I would say most of it was American: fried chicken, oreos, pizza, etc… (American culture counts) aside from my dish, which I made tteokbokki, spicy Korean rice cakes that are normally found in Korean restaurants as appetizers or food stands in the streets of Korea. The dish normally consists of rice cake, fish, cake some veggies (onions, lettuce, scallions,etc..etc) however you would like it.

  Lunch was then followed by introductions and a mini icebreaker game, 2 truths and 1 lie. The name says it all, some of the truths were interesting, as well as some of the lies, which were obvious by the short pauses. I was hoping me spiel would throw some of the students off when I said I’m from New York, and lived in Rochester, Buffalo, and Albany (assuming most of the students are not familiar with the cities in New York), but that was short lived.

  After the ice was broken a Q&A followed suit where we asked the students questions pertaining to their experience at Lee and their thoughts on the education system. To my surprise, I was impress to hear how attentive and serious  the students were about their academics. A few concerns that were brought to my attention were the inadequate teachers for some of the classes, such as science and English. Many of the students expressed major concerns of the structure not being challenging enough, some feeling insulated by their intelligence and concerns for the teachers not exuding enough confidence and drive to push the students. The discussion became more compelling when Principle Trinh chimed in as he gave insight of some of the decision-making and sacrifices that had to be conducted.

  Overall, the discussion was not only informative, but a consequential shock of reality. It's harrowing to hear that Lee High School is one of many educational institutions that encounters academic struggles. Hearing those students openly express themselves makes me excited and eager to see what the next few months we have in store with them.