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MentorBridge

Marketing experts like to classify people into different generation groups, believing that people of the same
age share similar value and attitudes. I agree with those experts'' theory in that it emphasizes the
connection between the circumstances of one's upbringing and one's later outlook on life. My personality,
talents, values, even career choice have been profoundly influenced by my family life and upbringing in
Taiwan.

My name is Peter Huang and Ive grown up in Ten-Mou, a multicultural neighborhood in suburban
Taipei. During the early years of my childhood, my parents exerted a profound influence over my
development. Though neither of them was involved in business, by watching their integrity and hard work, I
learned more about the true meaning of success than I would ever have in any classroom.

My father is an Air Force colonel. He joined the R.O.C Air Force at the age of 14, struggling to achieve
his personal best as the supply division chief of the R.O.C. Air Force Academy. Unlike some officers in the
military, who depended on family relationship and privilege to get promoted, my father gained his position
by hard work and assiduity. He thus emphasized the importance of industriousness when it came to my
education. When I was 10, I attended a speech contest. During the week before the contest, my father and I
spent two hours a day together, organizing the lecture content, adjust my rhythm, and rehearsing. I was a
shy, soft-spoken child, and found speaking in public difficult at first. But through my father's patient efforts

and his believe in the rewards of hard work, I gradually became an excellent public speaker and won many
of the contests that followed. As a result of the experiences such as this, I learned a very strong work ethic
and emulated some of my father's best characteristics - perseverance and dedication.

These qualities served me well as I entered mandatory military service in Taiwan and faced many
difficult situations. I once led a squad to enact the typhoon disaster relief action in Nan-tou. We had one
week in which to salvage a factory that was half-buried in mud. As the squad commander, I not only
supervised, but also participated in the demanding and seemly endless digging work. And each night, after
an exhausting work when all other soldiers were asleep, I spent extra hours checking if there were sufficient
supplies and making plans for the next day's relief action. When I finally laid down to sleep, I could not help
but reflect on how much I had developed, as both a person and a leader, since that first speech contest.

My mother has a warm and kind personality, and has always reached out to the expatriates in our
neighborhood. She organized a language exchange club with the American students in local colleges,
hoping to increase understanding of Taiwanese and American cultures through the exchange of language. I
took part in the club when I was still in elementary school. This childhood multi-cultural experience instilled
in me an active personality and willingness to interact with people of different cultures. In particularly, it
strengthened my interest in American and my desire to work and live there one day.

My mothers emphasis on international exchange and cooperation has led me to work for the Fulbright
Foundation in Taipei as a research assistant. This position allows me to interact with educational
associations in the United States and to take part in international conferences. I once participated in a
venture capital seminar in Hsin-Chu, working on the issue of graduate level technology management
education with representatives of major high-tech companies and academic institutions. Last November, I
represented the Foundation in an international Tele-conference in Taipei. The conference was conducted
both in English and in Chinese and was hosted by the Prime of Ministry of Education. My work has also
given me the opportunity to know and become friends with exceptional Fulbright scholars from the United
States.

While my childhood years shaped my character, it was my high school and college years which led to
my interest in business. 1988 was both a determining year to my career choices and a turning point in
Taiwan's economy. As people familiar with Taiwan's modern economic history know, the exchange rate of
the New Taiwan Dollar to U.S. Dollars moved from 40:1 to 25:1 in that year under the overwhelming
pressure of American government. Thus meant that the traditional advantage of Taiwan's economy, low
labor costs, was no longer our strength. People everywhere were talking about the future of Taiwan's
economy. Out of a young man's passion, I wanted to contribute my talent and effort to my country. That was

the time at which I made up my mind that someday, I will make Taiwan-made products famous world-widely,
like those produced by IBM, Intel, or Microsoft.

This teenage naive patriotic dream transformed into an interest in business administration and
economics after I graduated from Taipei First Senior High School. I focused my college study on
manufacturing administration and economics. From four years of lectures, seminars, and in-factory study in
the department of Industrial Engineering at National Formosa University, I acquired skills in quality
insurance, manufacturing planning and control, and factory improvement and diagnostic methods. In my
economic class, I learned how prices, preferences, and incomes affect people's demand of goods from the
microeconomic. I also acquired knowledge of how various factors - government policies, currency exchange
rate, and balance of international trade - affect a country's economics growth. My interest in business,
however, is not limited to industrial engineering and economics. In my junior year, I also took 6 credits of
accounting courses and learned the knowledge of basic accounting principles, financial statements, and
managerial accounting. To acquire a more thorough understand of management information systems, I
chose "Alumni Association Database Management System for Department of Industrial Engineering" as my
graduate activity project. From each step of developing the database system, I learned solid skills in FoxPro
programming and enterprise demand analysis.

I am thankful that my parents provided me with an environment that encouraged me to develop my

personality and an intellect for which I am remembered. With a deeply-instilled work ethic, strong
interpersonal skills, and a high level of motivation, I believe I will enrich the professional and social
environment at your esteemed Buchman School and continue to grow as a expert in high-tech industry.

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MentorBridge