Davis student makes 7,500-mile journey to diploma

Davis High School senior Po Keang Taing carries soup to customers at his family's Yakima restaurant May 17, 2010. He will graduate from Davis High School next month and will attend Central Washington University next fall. He works at the restaurant, the Tea Garden Chinese and Thai Restaurant, several nights each week. (GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republic)

Monday, May 23, 2011
By Jane Gargas
Yakima Herald-Republic

Po Keang Taing may walk only a few hundred feet down the aisle to obtain his graduation diploma, but he traveled more than 7,500 miles to get there.

And that's just the beginning.

Born in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Taing came to the United States with his family when he was 13. Now 19, he arrived here from the Southeast Asia country knowing little English.

On June 1, he's graduating from A.C. Davis High School in the top tier of students. (He was sixth in the class of 374 at the end of last trimester.)

Now fluent, he's excelled in a number of International Baccalaureate honors classes at Davis.

"That's why we came to the United States -- for education," Taing says.

Taing's father, Meng Sok Taing, and mother, Chou Ean Chen, have four sons: the two oldest attend Central Washington University, and the youngest is 13.

When they first came to this country, the family moved to Ellensburg, where Chen's brother and sister live. Chen's ancestors are Chinese, while Meng Sok Taing's are Vietnamese and Chinese.

Taing struggled that year with English pronunciation -- "the" is especially hard, he says -- but began picking up words as he went along.

Three years ago, his family bought the former Siam House restaurant here and moved to Yakima, so Taing entered Davis in the spring of freshman year. He didn't know anyone there.

"People who come here just speaking Spanish usually have other people they can talk to, but he had no one to hang out with," says Lynne Greene, librarian at Davis.

But Taing quickly adapted, she says. "He's smart as a whip, and he's a hard worker."

At first, Taing enrolled in English as a Second Language classes but before long was taking honors subjects, including International Baccalaureate chemistry and math.

Taing has received three principal's awards and six academic excellence awards, given to just a few students in each department.

"I've tried to do my best," he says.

Taing admits that he still struggles with test taking ("I'm slow, and it's hard to finish, but I do"), and is modest about his skills ("I listen better than I speak or read"), but he's earned a scholarship to Central and will enroll there in the fall, with the goal of eventually going to medical school.

After school, Taing heads to his family's restaurant, the Tea Garden at 110 S. Fourth St. There he waits on tables and works the cash register for his parents, who mostly speak Khmer, the language of Cambodia, while they learn English.

The restaurant serves both Thai and Chinese food; Taing is especially fond of his parents' Pad Thai noodles and General Tso's Chicken, but he reflects a new American taste too: He likes pizza and hamburgers.

When the restaurant closes at 9 p.m., Taing begins his homework.

Stephanie Gedvilas, a tutor coordinator at Davis, served as mentor for Taing's senior project, a portfolio of his high school work. She points out that Taing is "amazing" in math and adds, "he's really good in art, too. I didn't know he was that talented until I saw his pencil and chalk drawings."

According to Greene, Taing isn't just bright; he's mature and socially skilled, too. "He's made a lot of friends here, and people really respect him," she notes.

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Po Keang Taing

Age: 19

School: A.C. Davis High School.

Notable: After coming to this country knowing just a few English words five years ago, the Cambodian native is graduating with honors and a 3.88 GPA.

What's next? Central Washington University.

Graduation ceremony: 7 p.m. June 1, Yakima Valley SunDome.