On March 18 and 19, West Windsor Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh was interviewed by two groups of newly selected student reporters from the statewide newspaper QiaoBao.
On March 4 a group of girl scouts and their parents attended the West Windsor Township council meeting. Later, Hsueh met the girl scouts and their parents in a conference room. The mayor answered all of their questions.
On January 20 the West Windsor Human Relations Council and the WW-P African American Parents Support Group co-hosted the fifth annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebration, “How Do We Educate about Non-violence?” Hsueh and Plainsboro Mayor Peter Cantu each gave a speech. The event was attended by hundreds of students and residents from the WW-P district.
Two years ago students in Elizabeth Reil’s third grade class at Wicoff Elementary School in Plainsboro wrote to Mayor Hsueh and asked him to put “Turtle X-ing” signs along busy Clarksville Road over the Grovers Mill dam. Mayor Hsueh visited the class at the school and later worked with various agencies. Last year two “Turtle X-ing” signs were installed. The students and the mayor gathered near the signs by the pond to celebrate. The news was reported in the WW-P News, Times of Trenton, Princeton Packet, Home News Tribune, and on the WW-P District website. The teacher and students documented the timeline and made a poster that was displayed at the school entrance for more than two months.
Over the years Mayor Hsueh has spoken to and worked with many student groups. He always makes himself available to school events. I had the honor to invite him to attend statewide Huaxia Chinese School teachers conferences. He drove one hour each way to attend the event and gave keynote speeches. He also spoke to teachers individually. He recently attended a Chinese New Year celebration at High School North and read a proclamation for the Huaxia Chinese School in Plainsboro.
Mayor Hsueh tries his best to honor requests from teachers and students. To get the “Turtle X-ing” signs installed, he contacted the county department of transportation, West Windsor police, and the traffic engineer.
Mayor Hsueh is also a encyclopedia of West Windsor history and current affairs. I always learn something from him after chatting with him. Last week, in his opening statements of the annual “State of Township” speech, he asked “How many of you know that West Windsor is one of the 13 National Olympic Training Sites in the USA? Or that Princeton Junction is one of the 10 busiest train stations in the country? That the Martians landed at the Grovers Mill Pond in 1938? That in 2009, AOL ranked West Windsor as the best community in the country in which to raise a family? That we were the first town recognized in New Jersey as Greentown USA; one of the 10 best municipal websites in the State; a Bicycle Friendly Community at the national level; and we have been rated by the Standard & Poor’s rating agency as one of the few Triple A bond-rated communities in New Jersey since 2007?”
I believe WW-P students should all know and be proud of these facts. I encourage students, parents, boy and girl scouts to make arrangements to speak to Mayor Hsueh.
Yu “Taylor” Zhong
Plainsboro
The writer is a candidate for the West Windsor-Plainsboro Board of Education.
