Adina Luo sits on the black leather couch in her living room beside her music stand – the pages are opened to “Oboe Concerto” with her notes scribbled in the margins. She has just finished her morning oboe lesson.
Playing the oboe is one of many of Luo’s extra-curricular activities – right among varsity swim, Model United Nations, student leadership council, and most recently, jet-setting.
The cherubic teenager, with straight black hair and a contagious smile, just finished her junior year at Mira Costa and is completing her senior year independently to graduate early and to take an internship with Peich Asia Enterprises in Beijing, China. Peich is a business incubator with an active philanthropic sector, the Halo Fund, for which Luo will intern.
“I’m really excited,” she said. “Now it’s kind of really setting in.”
Luo will take off in November – she still must finalize her work visa, apply to colleges, find an apartment and a roommate and invest in a winter coat.
She plans to pursue a personal “passion project” during her internship. “I want to do something based with the rural community in China,” she said, adding that she hopes to help create a profit-driven business venture for rural residents.
Her participation in Model United Nations – she’s been awarded “best delegate” three times in two years and won numerous other awards – piqued her interest in international relations and NGO work. “It definitely opened my eyes to what type of things you could do with NGO’s and non profits,” she said.
Described by Carolyn Seaton of Manhattan Beach Unified School District as “wise beyond her years,” Luo maintains a long list of accomplishments for such a young age. Last year, for example, she founded her own business, The Marketeer Tree, consulting for local clients about their marketing campaigns and website design.
Mira Costa Principal Ben Dale said Luo’s internship is typical of opportunities offered to Costa students. “When she first brought me to the idea, I was blown away by it and I was committed to find a way to help her get there,” Dale said. “We are proud of her for setting an example to take advantage of opportunities to become future world leaders.”
Daughter of Chinese immigrants, Luo has visited China three times. Last year, she spent part of her summer teaching English to a class of about 25 middle school students in Changsha, a city in Hunan province. She recalls using pop music and culture – Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” and BOB’s “Airplanes” – to engage the class, explaining the meaning of words lyric by lyric. Her class called her “wai jiao,” or “foreign teacher.”
“My parents all my life (have been) pushing me to get in touch with my Chinese roots,” Luo said, adding that her father is particularly excited about paying her a visit sometime during her six-month internship.
Luo said accepting the internship wouldn’t have been possible without the assistance and guidance of the school district administrators or Mira Costa’s principal, teachers and coaches. ER
