Two EL students, one plane

Imagine this: today is your first day in America and you’ve just completed a high school placement exam. You turn to your left and introduce yourself to your neighbor. The small talk is now a conversation and the two of you become friends quickly. Little did you know that this encounter would become a story-like coincidence. This is the story of Simon Ma and ChaoPeng Huang.

As the two stepped out of the College and Career Center, where they took the California English Language Development Test (CELDT), their guardians, glancing back and forth between the two, were speechless.  

As Ma and Huang took the test, their guardians discussed the boys’ journey to the U.S. from China, and found that they were both on the same plane! The two happened to be at the airport on the same day, on the same plane, headed to the same place.

They both boarded the same plane on Feb. 4, 2017, never having met before, and became friends 6,000 miles across the world.

The interesting part? They came from different cities!

China is humongous! Being one of the largest countries in the world with approximately 650 cities, what are the chances of this fairytale-like fated encounter?

Now they are best friends, together in Eric Bahm’s sixth period English Learners’ CCG class together.

Ma and Huang have been inseparable since the day they first met, almost exactly one year ago.

“At first we just said hi and didn’t talk too much, then we became closer and relied on each other,” Ma recalls.

“When we first met, I didn’t know much English, so Simon had to teach me how to write my name,” said Huang.

Not all story tales are found in children’s books.