Thornton Academy Postscripts Alumni Magazine Fall 2016 | Page 27

BY PATRICIA ERIKSON

Staying Connected:
Pengfei “Peter” Jia ’12

Pengfei “Peter” Jia ’12 set his heart on going to America since he
was a small child in the lovely historical city of Luoyang, China. “I
have always been a die-hard basketball fan. I love to watch NBA.
At that time, I didn’t know much about the USA. I only knew
about all of the major cities in the U.S. because of the NBA. So the
first thing that attracted me to America was NBA basketball.”
Like other international students, once he found his way to
Thornton Academy, he faced an adjustment to American culture.
Postscripts asked Peter what helped him adjust to Thornton life.
He said, “The hardest thing about adjusting to America for me
was the food. Even McDonald’s restaurants are different in China.
I spent quite a bit of time getting used to cheese, salad, and steak.
Secondly, of course, the language was difficult. Even though I
had basic English skills before I went to America, those skills
were still not enough to handle everything while I was studying
at Thornton. But when I joined the sports teams—basketball and
football—my English skills improved a lot. Also, English as a
Second Language classes helped me a lot.

“The friendliness of the dorm parents was my favorite part about
the Thornton experience. Mr. (Greg) Paradis ’91, Coach (Bob)
Davies, and all of the others were very friendly. They helped me,
and other students, get through all of those hardest parts of life at
Thornton. My next favorite part about Thornton would be sports.
By joining the basketball and football teams, my life at TA was
changed. I made so many friends from those two teams.”
After TA, Peter graduated from Indiana University with a major
in Informatics and Cognate in Business. He said, “It’s a very
new major, even in the U.S. It’s about how to connect modern
computing systems to certain areas of business. I have learned
how to use technology and computers to improve the efficiency
in business and this has helped me a lot.” Peter currently works
as Vice President of his family’s business Pengfei Wear Resistant
Materials Company, Inc. which went public in China last year.
Peter said, “I’m working on how to combine the knowledge I have
learned in the U.S. with our company and Chinese society.
“Of course, I still video chat with Mr. Paradis and Mr. Davies a lot
and I can’t wait to return to Thornton to visit them again.”

Peter (first on left in hard hat) stands with other
company eexecutives during a filming project at
their resistant materials factory.

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