“Life is Boba and Boba is life,” Tuong La Said. Mr. La, a recent University of California Irvine (UCI) graduate, starts his first year teaching at San Gabriel High School as a physics and chemistry honors teacher. Mr. La decided to attend UCI as it was close to home. UCI also gave him a large amount of money to attend, and he liked the campus because the buildings were not too old. “It was not long ago when I was a struggling student and it took me a long time to realize my potential,” Mr. La said. His inspiration to become a physics teacher was inspired by one of his past physics teachers, “And I want to be that someone for future generations,” Mr. La said.
Mr. La loves San Gabriel High School so far. He considers SG as a friendly and supportive environment for students. He described all of his students as hardworking, talkative, “flossers,” confident, supportive, and full of school spirit. “They’re exactly what I want to work for,” Mr. La said. Mr. La’s class is located at E107. Mr. La considers video games as his passion. He loves the curiosity of discovering how things work. He finds that in video games you are able to discover how the game works. Examples that were used were completing quests or discovering side quests. “I feel that way for science as well and that’s why I chose teaching. It’s all a puzzle to me. So yeah I would say my passion is also solving puzzles,” Mr. La said.
Mr. La was asked what advice do you have for SG seniors for college? Mr. La advises seniors to take their time. He understands that it is very stressful when college season comes around. “Everybody is on their own path,” Mr. La said as he reflected on his past experience. He states that if he had a second chance he would not have attended UCI. He would have chosen a community college because it would have saved him a ton of money in his first two years. After two years in community college he would transfer to UCI. Out of experience he states that in the first two years whether you are in community college or a University, you are learning the same thing.
According to him it would have been a better choice for him because he was coming from a low income background. Overall, Mr. La states that he does not regret his decision of choosing to attend UC Irvine first. A second piece of advice Mr. La gave was do not compare yourself to others. “It’s okay that you didn’t get accepted to college that other students did, you’re on your own path and when you’re on your own path make connections,” Mr, La Said. His final advice is to make connections. He says the number one thing you need to do in life is make connections. He states he knows that there are many introverted students; however, these students need to be able to socialize and make friends. Mr. La ends this interview with wishing SG seniors good luck on their college application.