Mike Leu ’03 and the Fearless Pursuit of Passion

By Jim Klar, Communications Officer

TAS Upper School Faculty Member Mike Leu ’03 found his two passions early in life. When the selfdescribed “Tiger Baby” who attended TAS from kindergarten to Grade 12 was a Lower School student, he discovered the direction his life would take. Arts, both creative and martial, would be his chosen path.

His fondest memories and greatest successes during 12 years at TAS came in Physical Education and Art. “I excelled in the subjects that made me happy,” says Leu. “I knew I was hooked from my first martial arts class with Mr. Ben Wu. Art classes allowed me to take risks without worrying about failure, and I found that very rewarding,” he added.

After graduating from TAS in 2003, he attended San Francisco’s Academy of Art University. He earned his MFA in Animation and Visual Effects. His education and talent for computer animation led to opportunities to work on Hollywood blockbusters like The Avengers, Titanic 3-D, and every martial artist’s dream job, Kung Fu Panda.

Meanwhile, continuing his pursuit of martial arts excellence, he frequently traveled to Brazil for extended stays to study Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ). Over several years, he even gained a conversational mastery of Portuguese to better understand his Brazilian instructors and further his progress.

For family reasons, he returned to Taiwan and joined the faculty at TAS Upper School 5 years ago. He now teaches 3D Modeling and Character Design in the Art Department and Self Defense for freshmen, plus BJJ for the Physical Education Department sophomores.

“My teaching goal is to encourage students to be determined to take risks without fear of punishment,” explained Leu. “I feel this fosters courage, builds character, and ultimately leads to success, at least it has for me,” he concluded. And it fits perfectly with the Taipei American School philosophy of embracing the positive aspects of failure while on a journey of joyful learning.

Class of 2022 Agents Reflect on First Year of College

This month's Alumni Spotlight was jointly written by Emma Wu '22 and Enoch Toh '22, who represent their class as Alumni Agents. Enoch is pursuing a Computer Science and Molecular Biology degree at Johns Hopkins University, and Emma plans to pursue a double major in Economics and Art History at Yale University.

It was a miracle the Class of 2022 started their college experience unscathed by COVID. Attending orientation, classes, and parties in person finally felt like we were transitioning back to normality. Still, leaving Taiwan came with shocks; folks in the States seemed almost too eager to treat COVID like a thing of the past. Masks were optional everywhere, almost everyone was vaccinated on campus, and if someone caught COVID, it was treated like a common cold. Enoch remembers being taken aback when Hopkins, widely regarded as a leader in the pandemic response, announced an in-dorm quarantine policy, meaning unlucky students would have to incubate with a highly infectious COVID19-positive roommate. The small-talk culture of the US also came as a shock to Enoch. Having grown accustomed to the more reserved nature of Asian society, outward gestures from strangers Enoch barely knew before initially surprised him. It took Enoch some time to get used to the overabundance of phrases like "How was your weekend?" and "Let's catch up soon!". Now, Enoch quite enjoys initiating and receiving small talk (his go-to is a nonchalant "How was your day?").

Emma's most significant adjustment was to New England winters after leaving sunny Taiwan in August. Her biggest lesson outside the classroom was learning how to stay warm, but in the classroom, she learned a lot about her academic limits and interests. At first, she entered a program called Directed Studies that focused on the Western canon through philosophy, literature, and history since she loved AP Literature at TAS with Dr. Lipsett and had come to Yale determined to study Humanities. Still, after writing paper after paper and reading three books a week, she was tired of reading commentary on Plato's forms, digesting Stoic texts, and memorizing battles in Herodotus's The Histories. So she chose to opt out and prioritize her mental health, which led her to take art history classes such as Dutch Art and Caravaggio, which fascinated her. She learned that passions aren't fixed, found subjects she truly enjoys, and learned to thrive in them. Emma now loves to spend her time listening to exclusive talks with collectors, examining Rembrandt prints, and gazing at Rubens in the Yale Art Gallery. Aside from humanities, Emma balances her workload with classes in the sciences; she is currently taking Molecular and Cellular Biology and Introductory Macroeconomics to complete a double major. In the next few months, Emma is hoping to study abroad in Madrid during the summer to study art history at the Prado Museum.

After what felt like an arduous journey through high school, Enoch came to college to redefine himself and embrace personal growth. He credits Mr. Matlock, whose parting words have shaped his college mindset thus far: previously been less comfortable with, the so-called "other paths" Mr. Matlock described. One of these paths is his faith. Born and raised Christian, Enoch grew up going to Sunday school. However, he had always struggled with his connection to the church community in Taiwan and never really felt that his faith was his own. However, Enoch came across an ice cream outreach event hosted by the Stepping Stone campus ministry early in the fall semester. There, he met the ministry's campus pastor, who himself had graduated from Hopkins a few years ago. From Enoch's involvement with Stepping Stone, he met a group of people, both serious and realistic about their faith, who have pushed him to explore what being Christian truly means to him. Whether it be spending Friday nights in worship after a tiresome week, doing bible study in small groups, or trying Asian food after Sunday service, Enoch believes he has found a welcoming group that will support him as he continues to explore his relationship with God.

As for Emma, she still keeps in touch with her closest TAS friends but has also found a tight circle of friends at Yale, primarily through her orientation program. The program was designed for international students to bond and adjust to living in America, so most of her friends are international, ranging from Brazil to London to Indonesia. With so many international students, there are always opportunities to celebrate; this was the first year Emma didn't celebrate Chinese New Year with her family. However, she hosted a potluck and dumpling-wrapping party for all her friends to feel that sense of belonging again.

Enoch's first semester at Hopkins has been an exciting experiment with the familiar and unfamiliar. On the one hand, Enoch has continued to pursue his passion for applied biomedical research. On the other hand, he joined the Mao Lab at the Johns Hopkins Institute for NanoBiotechnology, working on immunoengineering and therapeutic drug delivery projects. His proposal on "Optimizing Antigen-presenting Lipid Nanoparticles for Targeted T-cell Delivery" received the Provost Undergraduate Research Award, a fellowship presented to undergraduates to support independent research.

At Hopkins, Enoch was surrounded by individuals with similar goals and interests, creating an intellectually stimulating and motivating environment. One of the highlights of Enoch's first semester was spontaneously deciding to compete in MedHacks, a 36-hour healthcare innovation challenge. Working in a team with four other freshmen, he conceived an intelligent natural language processing-based software tool capable of converting dense and technical electronic health text into helpful schematics for physicians and patients. Their project won the 1st place overall prize and $4250 in prize money, funding they have since put into building their project into a seed-stage startup. From this experience, Enoch formed close bonds with his teammates, who are now among his most intimate friends at Hopkins. Looking back, one of his teammates described the experience as akin to "speed dating for nerds."

Yet, what has been most transformative for Enoch has been exploring aspects of his identity he had

Outside classes, Emma can be found working as a barista at the Bean, a cafe inside her residential college, where she's mastered how to pull an espresso shot and mix the perfect matcha latte. To destress, she's joined Danceworks, where she attends a ballet workshop every Tuesday and a heels class on Friday. Emma is also interested in film, so she regularly attends screenings of Yale's collection at the Whitney Humanities Center. Enoch finds meaning in spending time with friends at Orient Express, a Chinese family restaurant near campus, playing late-night table tennis, and serving as a peer listener with A Place to Talk, which works with the Hopkins counseling center to provide a safe space for students to decompress.

Enoch is on a premedical track hoping to pursue an MD-PhD, while Emma's dream job is to be a New York Times food editor or an art auctioneer. Although their college experiences and future career aspirations are vastly different, this first semester of college has left a lasting impression of how vast the world truly is while simultaneously reminding them of the importance of looking inwards, taking it stepby-step, and finding joy in personal relationships and small moments. All said and done, Emma and Enoch look back on their first semester with gratitude, contentment, and a firm resolve to make the most of the next few years.