Pursuing the American Dream: Shixuan Meng ’08

This article originally appeared in the fall 2021 issue of the Eagle. Photo above: Miguel Hernández ’84, Paul Petit ’85 and Meng on MMA’s campus during summer 2021.

Trailblazing is just part of the package at Missouri Military Academy. For Shixuan Meng ’08, it was the impetus to join the corps of cadets at the age of 16. The experience, he says, allowed him to pursue the American Dream.

 

Meng was the first cadet from China to attend MMA. Born in Hunan, he grew up in Shenzhen, a city that has ridden the technology wave in China, growing from a population of 30,000 to 22 million in the past 40 years. His parents — an educator and an advertising businessman — have enjoyed professional success in Shenzhen and teenage Meng was looking to follow their path.

“I was never willing to settle,” Meng says, “always looking for improvements, challenges and more opportunities. My aunt, who lived in the United States, found MMA for me. We all thought this was the perfect school to accelerate my future and help me to achieve my goal.”

He recalls his surprise upon arriving in the Midwest; it was not at all as he’d pictured.

“I had the idea that America was made up of huge cities like New York and San Francisco on the coasts with a great expanse of barren desert, like Nevada, in the middle because I’d seen movies about the American West,” he says. “But when I arrived in Nashville, where my aunt lives, I saw this green landscape with trees and mountains and I realized it was very different from what I expected. I’d never been in a rural area such as Mexico, Missouri. I didn’t really know what I was signing up for before I got to MMA. As we traveled through the country and told people we met that I was on my way to attend a military academy, they were impressed.”

He found a welcoming atmosphere at MMA. “The cadets were super friendly, very hospitable,” he recalls. “There was this feeling of belonging to the MMA family.”

 

As a member of the MMA International Color Guard, Meng carried the Chinese flag. He enjoyed sharing his native culture with his fellow cadets and learning about American traditions. Holiday breaks brought invitations to various cadets’ homes where Meng says parents treated him as one of their own. Conversations with the adults gave him insight into U.S. practices such as property titles and other intricacies of the American economic system.

“It was a spirit that was passed on,” Meng says. “I used to wonder why but now I understand.”

 The 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing offered new opportunities to share. After graduation from MMA in 2008, Meng returned home to China before beginning his college studies, participating in the Olympic torch relay in May 2008. He invited his fellow recent MMA grads to visit his country during the Olympiad. Three took him up on the offer to visit Shenzhen.

“They got to learn the real story of China,” Meng says. “MMA was a window to other cultures.”

Meng returned to the United States for college, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from Missouri University of Science and Technology in 2013 and 2015, respectively. He credits his success in college to the habits instilled in him as an MMA cadet.

 

“MMA encouraged us to be self-driven, motivated us to set goals,” he says. “I was learning how to solve the puzzle in life.”

Meng has harnessed that drive to propel him to success in business. Now living in San Jose, California, he works at Han’s Laser Corp., a global leader in the industrial laser technology field, where he leads the sheet metal cutter division. He and his wife have applied for permanent resident status in the United States. Leadership lessons from MMA have served him well, he says.

“Leadership is always result-driven,” he says, “just like with our weekly inspections at MMA, where everything had to be just so. You had to be ready. There was no excuse! When I was starting out at my company, I was in charge of assuring that we were meeting the standards. I stayed late when I had to, making sure we met the standards for voltage, safety, software, language. And we did. Results matter!”

Meng joined the MMA Alumni Association Board of Directors in August and volunteers as a high-impact mentor for students entering MMA, especially those from China.

 

“I pick them up from the airport when they come through San Francisco on their way to Missouri, take them to lunch or dinner and settle them in their hotel for the night,” he explains. “I share my experiences at MMA and answer their questions. I tell them at first it may feel like the things you’ll be doing don’t make sense but you’re actually improving your patience — like fishing!”

The connection Meng maintains with the Academy ties him to the brotherhood, when even wearing an MMA sweatshirt can lead to discovering new friendships with other MMA alumni — and even a few party invitations. “It’s a wonderful network,” he says, “a lifelong treasure.”