By Lily Gosney
Meet Micah Han—our exchange student from China, taking some of the hardest AP and honors classes Dana offers while being known for his comical personality. Moving from a rural providence in China to Southern California, Micah has been living in the states since 2023. Over the past 2 years, he came to America only knowing basic conversational English, but now is able to communicate with his peers and teachers fluently. When asked about how he picked up on English so quickly, he states that, “all the English he knows, he learned from Kanye West and listening to music.” This year, having an impressive schedule with classes such as AP Biology, AP Calculus AB, AP US History, and Honors anatomy and physiology, he is able to be successful in all of his classes with the help of online resources. Due to the fast pace of these classes, especially for a non native English speaker, it is not only hard to keep up with the material but to understand it as well. He uses the internet to translate his notes from classes into Chinese to better understand it in a language that he is more familiar with. Although he’s met some friends here at Dana, when asked what he misses the most about China, he responds saying that he misses, “his best friends, the food and his family.” It is difficult for him to connect and communicate with his peers because it is hard to express himself but throughout the school, he is known for lightening the mood, and always being humorous. Despite partaking in challenging classes, he plans on joining the army when he graduates because he is part of the Christian faith and wants to “protect people.” Although he misses authentic Chinese food, he jokingly commented that he, “falls in love with In-N-Out and Mcnuggets.”