This Person I Met

If you have been with us for a while, you probably have heard the story of Mrs. Yam, talking about how she and her family fled from the Cambodian genocide in 1979. That was the first time we touched on the topic of refugees. You can find the links to those two episodes at the end of this description. These days, the refugee crisis is rising again. The conflict in Ukraine has highlighted the crisis...

Since the last episode, we have been working hard to fundraise for Athena and her family. Because of your kindness and generosity, we have reached our goal of $1,000. For those of you who don’t know, each episode we have produced so far takes huge amounts of editing. But this episode we are presenting today provides the raw, authentic, unedited voices of our peers around us. We are working on a bi...

The guest we’re having today is a girl we met right before Christmas. It all began with a friend’s mom. In that season of “gifting,” she commented ruefully on how we were ungrateful for living such a privileged life. Then she shared with us the story of this girl. This girl is our age, lives in our town, goes to school daily as we do, but the home she goes back to is a shelter. We contacted the gi...

Music has always played massive roles in both of our lives, taking up large portions of our afterschool time, but we’re definitely not alone. In fact, more than 40% of high schoolers in the US are active music learners. Derek Wu was no exception. Even after leaving home for MIT and eventually landing a job as a software engineer at Google, he remained extremely committed to music. Instead of doing...

After our last interview with Mrs. Hilton about her son’s Spina bifida, we hoped to learn more about what science can and can’t do to lessen the chance of or prevent birth defects. So, we turned to Maya’s Dad, Professor Fu for some answers. But due to our severe lack of knowledge, the interview with Professor Fu was . . . traumatizing, to say the least. We were completely burned out trying to ask...

Sometimes the hardest thing to do and the right thing to do are the same. One would never need to think about making a decision like this until it comes to you. Today we have Mrs. Hilton with us sharing critical decision-making moments for her son, Carter. Mrs. Hilton is a teacher at the Thurston Elementary School in Ann Arbor. Seven years ago, Mrs. Hilton was a new mom expecting her first baby. D...

Meet Alicia, our second guest sharing their high school experiences. She gave a powerful and inspiring speech at her high school graduation. We hope you enjoy our conversation with her as much as we did!

As you may know, both of us are new high schoolers. Life is changing for us. There are so many sports and clubs to explore, new friends to make, and other new responsibilities. We’re both juggling so many commitments, and sometimes, begin to question the purpose of our busy lives. We, therefore, invite a few University of Michigan students to this podcast to share their high school experiences. So...

If we, Maya and Zach, have one thing in common, it’s that we’re both dog lovers. Maya’s beautiful Havanese dog, Allie, has been with the family since Maya was nine. Today we brought Allie to her birthplace, up north to Alger, Michigan, where Connie and Tom Diehl live in a secluded home with a separate lake, cabin . . . and lots of teeny tiny, wriggly, freaking adorable puppies. In today’s intervie...

Welcome to part two of the interview we did with Kim Yam! Ms. Yam is a survivor of the Cambodian genocide, and now runs a bakery called DJ’s Bakery in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Today, we’re going to be talking about how she appreciates the life she built in America and her donut empire. Her answer about American dreams might surprise you, so grab your donuts and coffee, and enjoy the episode.

Right now, we’re in DJ’s Bakery, enjoying the smell of fresh donuts. We’re interviewing the bakery owner, Kim Yam. Mrs. Yam grew up during a time of horrific war and mass murder: the Cambodian genocide. The Cambodian genocide happened in 1975, which was the systematic persecution and killing of Cambodians by the Khmer Rouge under the leadership of Pol Pot. During that time, any educated people wer...

There is freedom waiting for you, On the breezes of the sky, And you ask "What if I fall?" Oh but my darling, What if you fly? ~ Erin Hanson Recently we talked to my neighbor Patty. She is a mom of three young children, just like any other mom you meet every day in a suburban neighborhood. But what surprised us was we found out that she had an adventurous life when she was young in the ’90s. Patty...

Today, we’re interviewing none other than my dear old mother, Yangwei Situ. She left her home in China to come to Boston when she was only in middle school. Later, she would receive terrific musical training from the New England Conservatory of Music, and become a piano teacher. She wants to share several stories I’ve never heard before from her childhood, all relating to the importance of being v...

Meet Mrs. Baker, our writing teacher. She’s a Princeton, Harvard, and Michigan graduate who lived in China for several years and is entirely fluent in Mandarin. She’s extraordinarily kind and compassionate, but one of the traits you’ll notice immediately about her throughout this interview is the fact that she believes family to be the most important, which is something that influenced many aspect...

Meet us, Maya and Zach, as we start our journey with "This Person I Met." In this intro episode, we'll share how this all started, and you're invited to walk, run, or jump along! We'd love to be the people you meet today, so welcome and stay awhile!