The year of the sheep swooped in with a bitterly cold first day, and I sat in Starbucks sipping on iced coffee with a monkey.

Tu Ngo is classified as a monkey, under the Chinese zodiac, which goes by year of birth. Feb. 19 was the first day of the year of the sheep. Ngo plans to celebrate the New Year by going home this weekend to see his family and hanging red banners and scrolls on the walls, along with the annual money exchange.

“[The banners and scrolls] all say encouraging words, like ‘good luck’ or just ‘happy New Year’ in gold letters,” Ngo explained. His family also gets together to exchange red envelopes with money in them. “I spend my money on Slim Jims,” Ngo laughed.

Ngo is of Cantonese descent. His parents are from Saigon, Vietnam, and he even speaks Cantonese to his family in Lancaster. He said he learned his English from watching TV and listening to English being spoken around him.

From kindergarten to the third grade, Ngo said he did not know English. From “sitting in class twiddling his thumbs and passing,” Ngo is now working toward his degree in communication/journalism, with an emphasis in print media, and is expected to graduate in 2016.

After graduation, he hopes to work for WGAL, a news station in Lancaster. “I would like to work on their website and make video packages, take photos and write stories,” he said, emphasizing that photojournalism sounds the most appealing to him, “And I’m really interested in covering the crime beat.”

From an early age, Ngo was interested in photography and electronic media. He explained how his mom would always buy him disposable cameras to play with, and he loved taking photos of anything and anyone.

“I had a tape recorder that I played with, too. I would record myself speaking sentences that were half Cantonese, half English, and play it back to myself,” Ngo explained, detailing his early love for technology.

He then moved on to learning how to use his brother’s digital camera. In middle school, he became interested in learning how to film. Today, Ngo has his own Canon Rebel T3I and frequently makes videos for The Slate’s website.

Ngo wanted to pursue an emphasis in print media over electronic media because he felt that he already had the skills and wanted to focus more on improving his writing.

One other quality he strives to improve is his time management skills. Ngo admitted to being late frequently. In fact, by the end of his senior year in high school, his number of days absent reached the mid-100s.

“Every time I was on time for my first period class, my teacher gave me a cookie. I only got like three to five cookies,” he explained.

One thing Ngo will not be late for, though, is a game of ping pong. His friend, Christopher Nguyen, whom he frequently plays against, said he does not ever recall waiting too long for him.

“[Tu is] hilarious, caring and confident … and he is not easily persuaded,” Nguyen said. “If people ask him to do stuff he doesn’t want to, he’ll simply say no and not get pressured into saying yes.”

Ngo may lead a busy life between his involvement with The Slate, ping pong, shooting photos and videos, and setting time aside for his family and fiancée, but he always has Jackie Chan’s wise words, “Don’t worry, be happy” in mind.

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