Mr. Hezhu Gao, also known as 高鹤翥, is the only teacher at our school who was born on mainland China. Specifically, he was raised in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province. China itself was an amazing place for him to grow up, but “high school was very boring,” he says. “Which is why I wanted to be a teacher in the United States.” 

Mr. Gao has been teaching at Glendale High School for 4 years now. Let’s dive into his journey from China to becoming a Nitro!

Mr. Gao was the only child in his family due to the one child law in China. “It got very lonely at times,” he stated, but there’s nothing much he could do about it. As time went on, Mr. Gao entered high school, although it wasn’t the best experience for him. “We had the same teacher for 3 years,” he said, “and the only activity we had was a group photo.” 

When Mr. Gao graduated, his parents wanted him to have the absolute best experience, so they sent him to study abroad in California. From then on he attended college at California State University, Long Beach, got his teaching credential and became a math teacher.

Mr. Gao applied to 55 different schools and finally landed at GHS. Funny story: Mr. Gao had applied at both Glendora High School and Glendale High School, since both schools are super similar. At first, Mr. Gao thought that Glendora High School was asking him for an interview. 

While teaching at GHS, Mr. Gao was also taking classes to get his Master’s degree in mathematics. I remember that during my sophomore year, he was talking about how hard it is but how he was trying his best, all while preparing lessons for 5 classes a day.

Balancing home life, work life, and school life is hard, but Mr. Gao is able to get through it all and he’s still going strong. With the help of his beautiful wife of 7 years, Evelyn, Mr. Gao is able to continue and strive for greatness.

Hopefully, Mr. Gao will live out his dream of being a college professor, but we have him here for now! Mr. Gao says that he’s “happy to be a Nitro,” and he “can’t wait to experience everything [he] couldn’t in China.”