Zhang Guimei is the leader of Huaping High School. The school is the first senior high school (高中) to offer free education to girls from poor families. Many students' dreams came true with the help of her.
When she was a common teacher in a mountain school in 2002, she decided to build a free high school for girls. She wanted to give them free education. Since it opened in 2008, it has seen more than 1, 800 students progress to universities and colleges.
Zhang's husband died in 1996. She doesn't have children or a house, so she lives at school with her students. Every day, she gets up at around 5 a. m. to turn on the lights of the teaching building and wakes students up with a loudspeaker (喇叭) . She stays with students during the day and goes to sleep after senior students' study ends at midnight. She has more than 20kinds of physical(身体的) problems because of hard work.
"We always say that each child should stand on the same starting line, but these girls from mountains didn't even have a chance to get on the track(跑道) , "she said.
All her dream is to make these poor girls depend on themselves, to let them live better. She donated (捐赠) most of her money to education. She then had nothing for herself. She got the July 1 Medal (七一勋章) in 2021. Her moving stories have touched people in our country.
