Song's Success Story ~ Paying it Forward

This is Song. You may remember her from our website. Song lived in a very rural and mountainous area of the Yunnan Province of China. She lived in a one room mud brick home with no running water or electricity. Even though her parents were illiterate, Song was able to learn chemistry, math, physics, history, Chinese and even English. When Song took the high school entrance exams, she received the highest score in the history of her township. She was accepted into the best high school in her county but could not afford the tuition.

At only eight years old, Addie B. single handedly raised enough money for Song to go to high school for all three years. She asked friends and family to sponsor her on her very own bike-a-thon. Because of Addie, Song has now graduated from high school and passed the rigorous national college entrance exams!

Song is now in medical school!

Song is able to attend medical school free of charge because she agreed to work in rural hospitals for 5 years after graduation. It is clear that Song's life has been changed forever but we will never know the true impact of Addie's generousity. Song will now be able to pay it forward by sharing her medical knowledge with doctors in rural communities.

The National College Entrance Examination

The National College Entrance Examination is commonly known as Gao Kao (“big test”). Each year, high school graduates across the country take the examination simultaneously, over a three day period during the month of June.

According to an English teacher in Guangzhou, "The Gao Kao is the most pressure-packed examination in the world given the numbers, the repercussions, and the stress involved." The examination is essentially the only criterion for college admissions. Because of this, students hoping to attend university will spend most of their waking moments studying for the exam.

In some cities, police cars are barred from using their sirens during testing hours, and taxis are given yellow signs allowing them right of way when delivering students to their test sites. In others, construction is halted at night for fear that the noise might stand in the way of a good night's sleep for the students.

Three subjects are mandatory, Chinese, Mathematics and a foreign language (usually English.) The other six standard subjects are three sciences Physics, Chemistry and Biology and three humanities, History, Geography and Political Education.

Xiongping's Success Story ~ One of Our First Graduates

This is Xiongping and her family at their home in the Guangdong Province. Behind them is a wall covered with her academic achievement awards. Her family makes approximately $324 per year growing tangerines, but she was able to continue her education because of a Moving Mountains scholarship. She is an incredible girl who was consistently ranked first in her class. After meeting her, it was clear to us that Xiongping is special. She's articulate, confident and charming. We often joked that she was our pick for "most likely to succeed."

Many of you may remember Xiongping. After receiving her scholarship, she wrote a poem for her sponsors called "What If." (See below) It was so touching that we sent out copies of this poem with many of our thank you notes.

Recently, we learned that Xiongping not only passed the very challenging college entrance exams, she received a government scholarship and...

Xiongping has been accepted into law school!

We wish her all the best!

What If

Last night while laying on my bed

I was thinking

Some "what ifs" came to my mind

What if I didn't have their help

What if I dropped out of school

What if I left my parents

What should I do

I will become a migrant worker

Life will become bad

I will lose many good things

And my dream will never come true

But these things aren't true...

I am very lucky

Many people gave their help to me

Here I say thanks to them

What if our earth stopped moving

Didn't have sunshine

Didn't have oceans

Didn't have a moon

Didn't have stars

What if...what if...what if...

Even if all these things come true

I will still remember their help till the end of my life!