The New Year brought us a new foreign exchange student, Ansen Gong, who is now attending Rocky Mount Academy! Ansen arrived on January 2^nd, 2016 and plans to attend RMA for his upper school years. He is currently staying with the Miller family who have two children enrolled at Rocky Mount Academy. Charlie and Ansen are both freshman while Maxwell is a junior. Dr. Miller and Mrs. Miller have graciously opened their home to Ansen allowing him to have an experience many do not have the opportunity of having. Not only will it affect Ansen, but the Miller family will have a unique chance to learn more about his culture and way of life while also seeing him grow through his time in the United States. Maxwell Miller said, “I am excited to have this experience and gain a new brother! I hope he enjoys his time at the great school that is Rocky Mount Academy.” Be sure to introduce yourself to Ansen if you see him in the hallways!

To learn more about Ansen, read this short interview below:

1. Where in China are you from? I come from Beijing China, a different city than Jack! You have to tell them because everyone always asks me that.
2. Outside of school what are you interested in? Outside school, I am interested in playing basketball and I have to say that players at RMA are better than players in China. We don’t have a player who can dunk freely and I cannot believe that there is one in our school! I think he will become the next Anthony Davis and he also looks like him.
3. What is the biggest difference between the US and China? To be frank, everything is different! How people learn, live, play. Some of them are big differences and some are small, like manners.
4. What is your favorite subject in school? I like math, Algebra and Geometry here because in China we just call it math. We learned much harder and complicated math in China but I like the easier math here.
5. What kind of music do you like? My favorite singers are John Legend and Ed Sheeran. I know that RMA students love hip-hop and I like it too but it is not my favorite.
6. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be? I have been to 13 or 14 countries before and I am too lazy to type them all, I’m sorry! So I really don’t have other countries I want to go to. I would prefer someone to take me hunting because I know that most of the boys in my class are hunters.
7. Do you like RMA and your host family so far? I like RMA because it is just the same with our school in China. think that my host family is the best family I have ever met before because they treat me just like my family. By the way, I have never lived or expected to live in such an enormous house ever because there are 1.4 billion people in China so we all live in apartments. I like the cheese and fried food here but Mrs. Baker-Smith told me that it will give me a big butt!

To see Ansen in the Rocky Mount Telegram, click here.