WAUSAU — Will Hsu, president of Hsu’s Ginseng Enterprises, Inc., and member of the Wausau East High School Class of 1994, was inducted into the Wausau School District Alumni Hall of Fame this spring, according to the Wausau School District.
Hsu’s is the largest ginseng company in the United States, delivering Wisconsin-grown products to more than 1 million Asian-American households annually.
“When we say that this country was built by immigrants and immigrants add to the diversity of our country, let us not forget that immigrants generally come to the U.S. because they want better opportunities for their children,” Hsu said in his speech at the induction. “And one of those opportunities is access to education, because it opens up pathways that were previously unavailable or unattainable to us.”
“But access to education is not enough,” he said. “It takes infrastructure, social support networks, teachers, counselors, administrators and staff to make it all work. It literally takes a village. Ten immigrants from Taiwan, raising 10 Taiwanese-American children here in Wisconsin who are now positively impacting the world around them, leading companies, managing businesses and people, practicing medicine, teaching, mentoring, coaching and advising the next generation of children who hopefully will also value, promote and give to education because we believe that others should have more access and better opportunities than we did. I cannot think of a better example of how a community, like Wausau, welcomed a family of immigrants here like us, educated them and sent us forth into the world. Thank you to all the educators here for advancing our learning, helping us achieve great things and starting us down our own unique paths to success. I am proud of all that we have accomplished together and I look forward to doing even more together in the future.”
Hsu’s plaque now hangs on the Hall of Fame wall in the Nicholson Board Room at the Longfellow Administration Center in Wausau.
