Albert Wei oral history interview transcript

Houston Asian American Archive Chao Center for Asian Studies, Rice University Interviewee: Albert Wei Interviewer: Gordan Liu Date of Interview: March 24th, 2020 Transcribed by: Gordan Liu Edited by: Kelly Liao Audio Track Time: 1:43:33 Background: Bom in Taipei Taiwan, Albert Wei grew up in California as the youngest of three siblings. As an undergrad, he started at Reed College and transferred to Rice University, w'here he founded what would evolve into Rice’s Caregiving Program, which aims to reduce harm related to alcohol consumption on college campuses. He has teaching experience all across the world, including Houston, Peru, and Taiwan, which has allowed him to gain a holistic understanding of education. He has also applied cultural nuances that he picked up while teaching in Taiwan, such as incorporating mediation periods to Sharpstown High School. While working under Teach for America, he received the 2013 High School Outstanding Beginning Teacher of the Year Award. He now works for ProUnitas, a non-profit that helps school districts and support systems maximize the internal and external services for students in Houston. Setting: This interview was a remote video call through Zoom. Key: AW: Albert Wei GL: Gordan Liu — : speech stammers ...: speech trails off; pause Italics: emphasis (?): preceding word may not be accurate [Brackets]: actions - laughs, sighs, etc. Interview transcript: GL: Today is March 24th, 2020. My name is Gordan Liu and I am here with Albert Wei and I am on a video call to interview him for the Houston Asian American Archive. I'm going to start off by asking when and where — when and where were you born? AW: Yeah, so I was born April 1 1th, 1990 in Taipei, Taiwan. Yeah, it was an interesting decision to be born in Taiwan for my mother. Yeah, I'm always interested in why that decision was made, but we'll maybe talk about that in a little bit. [laughs] GL: Yeah because I saw you moved to the United States in the same year you were bom. Did your family live in Taipei or did they live in the US and yeah, give birth in Taiwan? AW: Yeah, so my family — my mother and my father grew up in Taiwan and they both went to college in Taiwan and then my dad got into grad school and so he moved to Case Western in Ohio and so he moved with my mother to Ohio and then eventually it was too cold and so my dad transferred to USC and that's w'here they kind of set up a shop and had two of my older sisters. But then for-for my mother, she wanted