Name: Tianxiao Xu

English Name: Michael

Phone Number (in China): +86 150-0245-0015

Phone Number (in U.S.): +1 (918) 982-5821

E-Mail Address: michaelxuxtx@gmail.com

Address (host family): 8213 E 32nd St

Tulsa, Oklahoma

United States

74145

My Information

Self Introduction

IIII am Tianxiao Xu and was born in China. I am 14 years old. Last year, I enrolled at Victory Christian School

(VCS) in Tulsa, Oklahoma as an 8

th

Grade international student, which is my first time studying abroad in the US.

Before that I was at the Gifted Division of Northeast Yucai School, with the best academic competitive ability in the

Northeast region of China.

IIII

have a variety of interests: from sports (including basketball, football, badminton, table tennis, and exercising

in the gym); to reading books from different parts of the world; to writing drama scripts as a member of the drama

club of my previous school ; to singing songs no matter they are new, old, popular or classic; to playing percussion

instruments and the piano; to learning new languages and practicing the handwriting of them.

IIII

am a diligent boy with strong willpower who is always ready to face challenges and take possible risks. When I

first arrived at VCS, I didn't have much problem in daily lives and studying most subjects, as my English was good

enough. But things got different for Life Science, a subject recognized by all the middle school students in VCS as

the most difficult and challenging subject—not only because that what we learn are very difficult, involving knowl-

edge in high school Physics, Chemistry and Biology with lots of long and hard, Latin-related terms, but also because

that Mrs. Schenfield, the teacher of Life Science, is very strict with us—if we give an answer to a question and could-

n't give enough, reasonable and well organized grounds of argument to support it, she would count it wrong even

if the answer is right. In the first quarter, I got an A

-

in Life

Science, which is already the highest grade among all the

students who chose that class. But I was still discontented

with A

-

, as it is the lowest among all my grades. Then since

the beginning of the second quarter, I started working

even harder on that. First I increased my vocabulary of the

terms that we always use in Life Science, which only took

me a short period of time. Then I started to learn knowl-

edge and understand how it works in a creative way.

When we were learning the functions of the respiratory system, I made a model of the lung with a bottle, two bal-

loons connected with straws and a pellicle. The bottle acts as the outline of the lung, the two balloons connected

with straws acts as the air passages from the trachea to the alveoli, and the pellicle act as the diaphragm. When the

pellicle juts out, the balloons will expand—that's when you breath in; when the pellicle dents, the balloons will

shrink—that's when you breath out. After I made it, I shared the model and the principle of it with my host family,

and they also learned how the respiratory system works. When we were studying mitosis, I drew a picture with the

name of the stages and the diagrams of what the cell looks like in the stage inside the letters with circles (such as an

“O” or an “P”) in the name of the corresponding stage. Then

it was time for the gain. I got an A in the 2

nd

quarter, and A

+

s in

the 3

rd

and 4

th

quarter. After achieving such satisfactory grades, I

also helped other international students who had problems

studying Life Science with my experience and method of study.

With my help, they improved rapidly, by which I was really grati-

fied, as I helped others with my ability. In the final exam, I got

112 with the total score of 100. The Life Science teacher awarded

me with the Outstanding Student (only one for each subject) in

Life Science.

the Medal of the Outstanding Student of English, Life Science (Science) and Civics (Social Studies)

The Certificate of Academic Excellence in High-est Honors in Geometry, English, Life Science, Bible and Civics

IIII also have a variety of interests, the willingness to explore them and a strong learning capacity. My favourite inter-

est for now is languages. I have been in advance in English since I was at the Gifted Division of Northeast Yucai School.

I was the English subject representative and wrote several drama scripts in English. At VCS, my English kept improv-

ing—I got the Outstanding Student (only one for each subject) in English at the end of the school year. I developed my

interest in Russian since the start of my middle school life. I was attracted by the great work of literature like War and

Peace , Anna Karenina and The Government Inspector, the classic music combined with opera and ballet, the architec-

ture in Moscow such as St. Basil's Cathedral, Spasskaya Clock tower and the Kremlin, and the age-old history of Russia.

That's when I started learning Russian. At that time, I used the internet resource, MOOCs from universities about

learning Russian to learn letters, some basic vocabulary and simple sentence structures and Russian cursive. When I

arrived at my host family at Tulsa, I was pleasantly surprised

to find out that my host mom and two brothers in my host

family are all from Uzbekistan. Then my Russian kept improv-

ing since I speak Russian with them almost every day. I also

made some Ukrainian friend. This time on my way home, I

transferred my flight at International Airport Sheremetyevo

in Moscow. When I went to the Currency Exchange to change

for some Rubles, I found that the staff there doesn't speak

English. I was surprised but glad because it is a good chance

to examine my oral ability and skills in Russian. So I talked

with the staff in Russian and successfully got my money ex-

changed. I wouldn't just let go such a good change—the first

actual native Russian speaker from Russia I ever met. So I chatted with him for a while in Russian after that.. This event

encouraged me and affirmed my ability in learning a new language. I was very inspired and started to learn Spanish

as well by myself this summer.

IIII

am also independent and adaptable. I lived in the school dormitory at the Gifted Division of Northeast Yucai

School. In 2014, I flied to Tulsa by myself at the age of 13. During this summer vacation, I alone booked the air-tickets

from the US to China and transferred in Charlotte, New York and Moscow, flying past North America, the Atlantic

Ocean, Europe, the Baltic Sea and Asia. Last August, when I arrived at my host family in Tulsa, I was so excited to find

out that there are seven international students including me from five different countries living there, which makes

our host family the biggest of all. In less than a week, I got acquainted with

all of them. In my spare time, I would share something about Chinese culture

with them, and they will also share something about their own culture with

me. As I am good at cooking Chinese dishes, I taught my host mom how to

make some Chinese dishes like dumplings, braised chicken wings and spare-

ribs with sweet and sour flavor, and she also showed me how to make some

Uzbek and Russian dishes, such as Osh—the national food of Uzbekistan and

the main food in Central Asia, Borsch and Shashlik. I also shared some Chi-

nese classic and popular music with my Uzbek friends, Sherzod and Laziz,

while they shared some Russian and Uzbek rap music of singers from Russia

and Uzbekistan, for instance, Timati and Shaxriyor.

TTTThat's me, a diligent, persevering, adventurous, warm-hearted, accommodating, friendly, independent and adapt-

able boy. I believe that I have a match with your school. I sincerely hope to be one of you soon!

Osh, also known as “pilaf”, the national food of Uzbekistan, made by me at home

My Host Family

Academic Achievements

My simple GPA of 2014-15 school year is 4.250.

Activities

My TOEFL score on 25 Apr, 2015 is 101.

My PSAT score in 2014 is 176.

I was a playwright of the drama club in my previous school.

I play percussion instruments in the school band of VCS

I visited factories of the Siasun robots.

I worked as a trainee in the north plant of SGM-NORSOM.

Awards

Academic Excellence in Highest Honors in Geometry, English, Life

Science, Bible and Civics (by Victory Christian School);

The Outstanding Student in Civics (Social Studies) (by Victory Chris-

tian School);

The Outstanding Student in English (by Victory Christian School);

The Outstanding Student in Life Science (by Victory Christian School);

Student of the Month for October (by Victory Christian School);

1st Place in the Chemical Switch Competition at the 2015 Tulsa Engi-

neering Challenge (from Tulsa Tech Challenge);

National Physical Fitness Award.