Staring down his first written test in an American school, Li Kang Liao knew he would fail.

After moving from Shenzhen, China in February 2008, Liao entered the latter half of his sophomore year at Central Kitsap High School not knowing a single word of English.

“That was the toughest time ever,” Liao said, speaking in nearly perfect English. “I was afraid the teachers wouldn’t understand what I tell them. I feared I would fail all the tests.”

For the first couple weeks Liao said he couldn’t take tests or do homework. With one-on-one time with teachers though, he picked up key words and terms and was able to catch up to his classmates.

When other students left campus to play sports, go to work or hang out with friends, Liao spent most of his evenings building his own Chinese-to-English dictionary.

What helped the most, Liao said, was a group of students, from Korea and Japan, that brought him into the fold. Through talking and sharing stories inside and outside the classroom, Liao said he picked up the language quicker than he thought possible.

Before he found friends though, Liao said went from class to class feeling invisible to those around him.

“I didn’t know anybody or anything. I was a piece of paper,” he said. “I really didn’t expect I would make it this far.”

Liao said he came to America at the urging of his mother who was already here, and had been since 2005. She divorced her husband in China and remarried in America.

The 20-hour plane trip to America, alone, didn’t bother Liao much. He was used to being alone.

He said he lived with his father, a policeman, in China, but hardly saw him. Early on Liao learned to cook and care for himself.

He described it simply as, “a tough life,” but one that matured him enough to make it on his own.

Here in America though, life at home is still a struggle.

“I’m still counting on myself,” he said, adding that his mom works long hours and is still learning English, leaving him solely responsible for his education.

Regardless, Laio said there is not much left for him in China.

“I feel like my life is over here now,” he said.

Liao credits his time at school, specifically his senior year, as a period of self-reflection and as a crash course in American culture.

“High school has been my most amazing time ever,” he said.

Liao has received two scholarships for Olympic College in the fall. He plans on attending there before transferring to the either the University of Washington or Western Washington University to study international business and animation design.