[AERNet] FW: Crystal Wu: Discovering America

[Ike Presley]

High school junior from China travels America: might be good inspiration
for some of our students.
Ike 

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Sent: Saturday, March 03, 2007 10:27 PM
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Subject: Crystal Wu: Discovering America

Fairfield Citizen-News, CT, USA
Friday, March 02, 2007

Crystal Wu: Discovering America

By KIRK LANG

Article Launched: 03/02/2007 11:17:37 AM EST

Going on a nationwide trek to tour universities in a foreign country can
be a challenging task, and doing it when you're blind makes it that much
tougher.
However, Crystal Wu, a high school junior at the Grand Canadian Academy
in Nanjing, China, has been handling it pretty well. She is using her
vacation from school to check out the best of what America has to offer
and has been traveling on her own, without a regular companion or a
guide dog.

"I set up all my homestead before I came and arranged my scheduled
before I came," said Wu, who spent time in Fairfield last week with Jean
and Frank Gallinelli of Mill Hill Road.

Sometimes, though, even the most well-thought-out itinerary can go awry.
The woman who originally was supposed to pick up Wu at the Port
Authority early last week was unable to do so. The woman ran into a
problem trying to get a plane to the United States from China because of
the Chinese New Year. It was no problem though because Wu's got
connections; another New York-area family picked her up and hosted her
for the night.

Wu's trip, which began Feb. 6 and ends Tuesday, will find her with host
families all over the country, including California, North Carolina,
Baltimore, Washington, D.C., New York City and Connecticut.

"I'm good at keeping my friends," said Wu, who got hooked up with a
couple of her host families through Keith Gallinelli, a director at the
Grand Canadian Academy who writes a monthly column from China for the
Fairfield Citizen~News.

When Wu arrived in San Francisco on Feb. 6 at around 11:30 a.m., it was
the culmination of nearly an entire day of international travel and
connecting flights. She wouldn't get a chance to rest. She had a 3 p.m.
interview scheduled with representatives of Santa Clara University,
which is about an hour drive from San Francisco.

Was Wu of a proper mind for the interview, having only finished her trip
from China a few hours earlier?

"Yes, you can check with the Santa Clara University people," said Wu,
with a sense of humor. So far, she has checked out Santa Clara
University, Stanford, UC Berkley, Georgetown, Princeton University,
Harvard University, Albertus Magnus College and Yale University. She
also planned to look at Boston College yesterday and today. Wu spent a
night on campus at Boston College and will also sit in on a class.
Gallinelli, a 1990 Fairfield College Preparatory School graduate, has
three degrees from Boston College and helped coordinate Wu's visit to
his alma mater.

On Feb. 23, prior to her checking out Harvard, Yale and Albertus Magnus,
Wu said she liked Stanford the most out of the five universities she had
looked at so far. Why? "Because they could provide me a full scholarship
and will lend me a Braille Note, which costs around 5,000 U.S. dollars."
A Braille Note is a personal note-taker that can be used as a Braille
terminal or speech synthesizer. The 20-year-old Wu, who lost her sight
at the age of 3, added, "The people were very nice and the school will
provide a mobility instructor for the first three weeks."

Wu, who attends high school on an academic scholarship, speaks English
as well as any American, if not better. Her plan is to major in
political science and then go to law school to become a lawyer. She
would also like to establish a Chinese version of the Americans with
Disabilities Act.

However, China, in many ways, is showing more concern for its
handicapped and blind population than America does for its sightless. In
the major Chinese cities there are sidewalks for the blind. "It's like
Braille on the sidewalk," said Wu. In addition, the Chinese government
is working to build more audible traffic light signals, and most of the
subway entrances are handicap accessible. "I appreciate it because
they're trying," said Wu.

Also, while the blind in the United States can tell the difference
between a nickel and a penny or a dime and a quarter, differentiating
between a $5 bill and a $100 bill is another story altogether. "In
America, all of your paper money is the same size," said Wu, "which
makes our life very difficult. In China, each denomination is a
different size and there is also Braille on each denomination."

This trip to America is Wu's first. Wu said her mom with whom she lives
isn't all that worried about her only child's trip across the United
States. "She knows I'm independent," said Wu, who added that she lived
in a school dormitory, away from home, when she was only 8 years old.
"Every half month my mom would visit," she said. "Then when I was 10,
she'd visit once a month."

Wu applied for and received travel funds for her trip to the United
States from both the Taizhou Association for the Blind and the Taixing
Association for the Blind. She received a total of 8,000 RMB, which
amounts to 1,000 American dollars. She also received a $500 check from
Services for the Visually Impaired during a visit to the organization's
offices in Silver Spring, Md. In addition to the check she received,
Harold Snider, executive director of Services for the Visually Impaired,
gave her a pleasant surprise when he presented her with a Perkins
Braille Writer, which is valued at $700.

"Presently she has to punch Braille out by hand with a slate and a
stylus," said Snider. The Perkins Braille Writer "is like a typewriter.
She'll be able to write Braille faster and easier."

Wu said, "The Braille writer he gave me is helping me get a scholarship
to go to a university." The Perkins Braille Writer is Wu's latest device
to help her with schoolwork and do research on and apply to
universities. She already has a laptop with a screen reader as well as a
"Braille display that can translate what's on the computer into
Braille," said Wu.

According to Wu, she learned English in five years, but others who know
her said she was fluent in the language less than two years after first
studying it. Her English is so good now that she teaches it to other
students.

In addition to excelling in English, Wu is also an impressive runner. A
few years back, she made the Chinese National Team for the Disabled and
some time later called Keith Gallinelli to tell him she made the 2004
Olympic team and was at the Olympic village in Athens, Greece. She was
only 17. Wu made it to the finals but injured her leg during warm-ups
before the final race and did not take home any medals.

While Wu's parents weren't worried about her trek to America, her
grandfather on her father's side had some words of advice. "He said,
'Make sure you don't say certain things,'" said Wu. "He said, 'Don't
talk about government and politics.' But too bad, because I'm majoring
in political science."

Frank Gallinelli said Wu is "beyond amazing."

Jean Gallinelli said Wu is delightful, very nice and "really her own
person."

"She's completely natural and charming," she added. "You wish more
Americans could be so easygoing amongst foreigners."

Frank added that his son said Crystal was very special, "but you really
have to meet her to appreciate how remarkable she is."

Wu has a slew of friends in the United States. When pressed for a number
as to many how many friends she has on U.S. soil, Wu said, "I never
count them. There are just lots."

Wu said whatever university she decides to attend would come down to
which will provide the "better resources and assistance."

Other than that, "There's no wrong choice. If I'm going to any of those
[Georgetown, Yale, Harvard, Santa Clara, Albertus Magnus, Princeton, UC
Berkley or Boston College] I probably will get a job in the future."

The Grand Canadian Academy is planning on sending Wu to Vancouver,
Canada, for her senior year. Wu will be making at least one return visit
to the United States before beginning her freshman year of college in
2008. Representatives of the Montgomery County Chapter of the National
Federation of the Blind in Rockville, Md., were so taken with Wu upon
meeting her that they invited her to speak at the annual convention in
July.


http://www.fairfieldcitizen-news.com/local/ci_5340569

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