Meet the state’s top student journalist, who first learned English from sci-fi books and Duolingo

Rita Li came to the United States from China at the age of 9, knowing only “yes,” “no” and “hi.” Fast forward nine years, and Li, a senior at St. Paul Academy, was recently named the state’s top student journalist by the Journalism Educators of Minnesota.

Li says that Duolingo and science-fiction books played a role in her mastery of English. But teachers say her creativity, perseverance and attention to detail are factors that fueled her recent accomplishments. Eye On St. Paul recently dropped in on Li at SPA to ask the Woodbury resident about her journey and her plans for the future. This story was edited for length.

Q: Did you really use Duolingo to master English?”

A: Yes. When I first came here, I was very scared. For a whole year, I would be doing programs on my iPad. And I had my own vocabulary list. Sometimes, I’d get pulled out of class for extra trainings. “What are these emotions called?” In fourth grade, I had to learn all 50 states and their capitals. Then we had to pick a state and do a whole research paper on it. That was my first year and I was like, “Wow, a little challenging.” But the [English as a second language] teacher believed I could do it. And together, we just worked on it for a whole month. I grew a lot.

There were times when I cried, and I was like I don’t want to do this anymore. It’s so hard. But when I was done, I could understand basic concepts.

Q: How long did that take you?

A: I want to say a year. To strengthen my skills, I would read an hour every day and what I didn’t know, I would look up. And that’s how I learned English.

A: It would not be something that me coming here as a 9-year-old would have dreamed. I recognized that English was my weakness. At first, I thought I was a STEM kid, good at math because math is a universal language. It was freshman year when I got this English teacher who really encouraged me to write sci-fi. I wrote in Creative Writing and I’m like, “Oh my God, I can do this.” And I got invested. And I read a lot of sci-fi books.

Q: Why did you make the leap to journalism?

A: When I transferred to SPA my sophomore year, I decided to do journalism to push myself because I recognized this was my weakness. At first, it was really daunting. I had this slight denial, “I’ll never be as good as anyone is.” As I learned more people’s stories, as I tell their stories, and interview people, I found the joy of telling stories, of learning new things. When I cover stories, I am able to learn things I would not have otherwise. It’s good to know the backstage people when we cover theater. “How’s it like doing the lighting?”

Q: Do you still read sci-fi?

A: Not much. It was right before COVID, when everyone on the bus was holding books. [Reading] was something really hard for me and it takes a lot of time. When everyone else was talking about it, I said maybe I’ll try it. I really like it. And that’s when I started to write.

A: It was my second editorial. It was about fostering a sense of belonging in the SPA community. Last year, we decided to write something on the sense of belonging. But the lens we decided to focus on was too big. That could include the things we say, and sexism, in classrooms, in settings. I remember going through four drafts. And then it was “This is not it. We’re not going to publish something that’s incomplete.”

Q: What has been the most fun story you’ve written?

A: My beat is Mic the Spartan. [Spartan] is our mascot. So, basically, it’s giving a player a microphone and we’re able to hear how they grunt, how they cheer, when they’re at practice. I think one of my most fun stories was having someone take a GoPro and having them swim with that. Taking it underwater. I think that’s the furthest I’ve pushed myself on a multimedia story.

Q: You write for print and online. Tell me about your digital work.

A: I am one of the senior leaders. My role is called creative design manager. I basically oversee the website design, video, the podcasts. The multimedia segments. I also write stories.