Plano high schooler Wiley Liou recently earned the Communicorp See What’s More Scholarship. The honor, which is sponsored by Communicorp and administered by the National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS) Foundation, recognizes students who show passion, perseverance, leadership, and academic excellence in their daily lives. Liou, a senior at Lebanon Trail High School, was one of nine students chosen from a pool of nearly 200 applicants to earn the $2,500 scholarship.
In addition to his class load, Liou serves as an English tutor for the Overseas Compatriot Affairs Council for Taiwan. The first lesson he taught in that role was on Texas barbeque.
“I thought it would be a cool idea to share not only the language but also our culture because the point of the scholarship was to share the idea of community,” he says. “I thought it would be cool to share not just Taiwan culture but combine it with the Texas culture where I live.”
He says that his students were particularly interested in learning about the different meats and ingredients involved in the process. They enthusiastically tried them all.
Teaching has become one of Liou’s biggest passions. Over the past couple of years, he observed that one of the main reasons people are concerned about COVID-19 is because they don’t understand antibodies or how vaccines affect them. That motivated him to publish a book geared to younger students about the basics of biology.
“I published it to help them get a head start on biological subjects,” he says. “I hope it will help them learn a little bit of science so they can feel more confident.”
The book is called “The Fundamentals of Biology,” and is available on Amazon. All proceeds go toward COVID relief efforts.
Liou plans to study bioengineering when he begins college this fall. He will attend Rice University. He plans to pursue a career in medicine with the ultimate goal of helping people dealing with serious diseases.
“I’m looking forward to the college experience and being able to continue the process of sharing the idea of community with other people,” he says
