Allison Zhang is a sophomore at Polytechnic High School. When she was five years old, her family moved from Shanghai to Los Angeles. Consequently, when she entered kindergarten mid-year, she faced enormous struggles with keeping up in classes that required her to understand the same level of English as her native classmates.

Reading introduced her to new worlds and gave her confidence in English which changed her life. Now, she volunteers weekly at her local Reading Partners Organization, where she sees her elementary school buddies gaining that same passion and faith in themselves as she did.

I'm creating this drive because I want more children, especially English language learners, to experience the joy I felt in elementary school when I learned enough English to catch up with my classmates. I hope that through this website, I can help students achieve more both academically and socially.