Upper School Mandarin teacher Ruoran Huang had already completed her undergraduate program in Xi’an, China, when she decided to apply to universities in America. Huang explained, “My father is a lawyer. [He likes] literature, and I think to some point my childhood was influenced by his career and hobbies.” As a result, Huang became very interested in reading and writing, just like her father, eventually earning her bachelor’s degree in literature in northwest China. Ruoran believes that she also benefited not only from her father’s interests, but from her school’s location, because the city of Xi’an, where she resided during her undergraduate program, “had such an enriched history and literature tradition,” allowing her to pursue more primary research. However, “when [she] graduated from the program…[her] interest was associated with the Cold War and World War II, [so] it was limited by the cultural policy of the government.” Consequently, Huang wasn’t able to freely research these topics; thus, attending graduate school in the United States seemed much more promising–even if it meant moving there alone.

In 2016, Ruoran immigrated to the United States, where she began her graduate studies in East Asian languages, cultures, and literature, and eight years later, she became a member of Poly Prep’s faculty. When asked about her initial impression of Ruoran, her student Zoe Kim, ’27, commented, “I thought she was really, really sweet…She just gives off really positive vibes, and she really cares about all of her students.” Another member of her sophomore class, Sasha Londoner, similarly described her as “very charismatic and evidently very caring,” emphasizing Huang’s affection for her students and love of her job.

Over this year’s spring break, Huang, along with Chair of the World Languages Department Elizabeth Mansfield, Middle School Dean Sekou Cox, and Director of Annual Giving Aferdita Hakaj chaperoned an incredible two-week-long trip to China with some of Poly’s lottery-winning Mandarin students. Huang spent a large portion of the year preparing her classes while arranging and proposing the trip, catering to the needs and hopes of her excited students. Huang reflected on the decision to bring this trip back to Poly after COVID, saying, “We have Chinatown, but when you visit it, you know how different it is. So, being in New York or being in other cities in the world, you’re still learning this language, but you really need to be there, to have this totally authentic experience.” Huang also reported, “I think everybody in China had this experience: we learned from the communication with the local people, and there was so much new vocabulary learned each day.” Many of her students who attended felt the same way; for example, Kim remarked, “I think just the practice of constantly speaking Mandarin and being forced to speak Mandarin to people, using it in real-life scenarios, was putting all the pieces of what we learned together.” Londoner reflected, “[Huang] definitely prepared us for this by not only helping us develop the foundational skills in the language, but also being there to support us in China. I would not have felt safe going to China without [Huang] because she really held our hand when we were in a foreign place.”