Jennie Yang didn't have to go far to celebrate the Lunar New Year earlier this month. The colorful ceremonies were part of a daylong event at her school, Centennial Lane Elementary, where one in five children are Asian.
That school's high Asian enrollment -- nearly three times the county's elementary school average -- illustrates how the well-regarded Centennial High school district has become a magnet for Asian families drawn by the high academic reputation of its schools.
"People are moving there for very similar reasons," said Jennie's father, Dr. Vincent Yang. "The schools are among the best in the area."
That academic reputation and the traditional Asian emphasis on education help explain why the Centennial district's three schools have the highest proportion of Asian students in Howard County.
Although Howard's population is only about 4.3 percent Asian, 19 percent of students at Centennial Lane Elementary and nearby Burleigh Manor Middle are Asian. Centennial High has an Asian population of 15.4 percent, the highest among county high schools.
So eager are Asian parents to move into the district that many make financial sacrifices to live in its neighborhoods, where the median price of a single-family home ranges between $235,000 and $270,000.
But while students say they enjoy attending classes with other Asian-Americans, some parents say they dread the competition for top grades.
"The competition is getting stronger," said Ming Sun, whose two daughters graduated from Centennial to attend Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "The pressure for the kids is piling up."
As of the 1990 U.S. Census, the most recent figures available, 8,098 Asians lived in Howard County. Of those, 2,369 were Korean; 1,929 Asian Indian; and 1,823 Chinese. The rest were Filipino, Japanese, Vietnamese and Cambodian.
School officials said they noticed an influx of Asians into the Centennial area during the mid-1980s when the Burleigh Manor subdivision and others were built. Since then, Centennial Lane's Asian population has "easily doubled in size," said Friedel
Warner, principal of Centennial Lane.
"There used to be five or six [Asian] kids in a grade," she said. "Now you easily have that in one class. . . .The value that [Asian parents] place on education is so high that they tend to seek out schools with a reputation" for good test scores.
Last year, Centennial High School students earned Howard's highest average total score of 1,052 points on the Scholastic Assessment Test, a college entrance exam.
On the 1994 Maryland School Performance Assessment Program which measures standards in science, social studies, reading, writing or language -- Centennial Lane, Burleigh Manor and Centennial High had among the highest marks in the county.
"Most of us move into this area for the schools," said Jennie's mother, Linda Yang. The Yangs have three children who attend Centennial Lane and Burleigh Manor. "The Centennial school district is the best."
Area real estate agents echo that sentiment.
"It is because of the schools," said RE/MAX agent Ana Lucia Porter. "You can see it immediately. The grades are substantially higher" than others in the Howard school system.
But she said that the newly built high school in Columbia's 10th and newest village, River Hill, is likely to attract just as many parents eager to give their children an academic head start.
Although parents of all ethnicities are drawn by the Centennial district's high reputation, many Asians stress that the value of education is deeply rooted in their culture.
"School is a major, major concern," said Holly Li, whose two children attend Centennial High and Burleigh Manor. "Our background emphasizes education."
But that sometimes requires sacrifice.
Last April, for example, De-fang Shen, her husband and 14-year-old daughter moved to a three-bedroom townhome in Ellicott City's Toll House subdivision, where townhomes sell for up to $150,000.
For about $20,000 more, the family could have bought a tTC three-bedroom single-family home in east Columbia, but they decided Centennial High was the school for their daughter.
"My husband did a lot of research in different areas and asked a lot of American people who have teen-agers in high school," Ms. Shen said. After a six-month search, "my husband and I picked Centennial."
After moving into the area, some scrimp and save to pay for it. For Ms. Li and her husband, going without high-priced clothing and dinners at expensive restaurants has become a way of life.
"The sacrifice is a kind of philosophy," Ms. Li said. "We live for our kids. We have two incomes and we put a lot of money into our kids' education. We don't buy a lot of clothes. Usually we don't think of going out to see a movie or traveling overseas.
We think the best investment is to see our kids grow."
Some families even cut some food and household expenses to pay for tutors who charge $25 to $35 an hour, said Pat Hatch, director of Foreign-born Information and Referral Network, a nonprofit group that offers translation and other services for immigrants.
"We do definitely hear about Asian families who are familiar with the academic reputation of that school," said Ms. Hatch, referring to Centennial High. "Often they will sacrifice to have their children tutored."
The district's Asian enrollment has given school officials a chance to forge links between different cultures.
At Burleigh Manor, for example, Principal James DeGeorge formed a group of Korean, Chinese and Indian parents to help staff members understand the cultural background of their Asian students.
"It's an opportunity for dialogue between the Asian-American community and our school," Mr. DeGeorge said. "We have a large population of Asian-American students in our school. We needed to know about some cultural differences."
The parents, who recently met with 55 staff members at the school, plan to return soon with a list of recommendations on how parents and teachers can help students learn. The group also plans to hold a presentation on Asian culture for students in late March.
At Centennial Lane, last month's Chinese New Year celebration was the product of a joint effort by staff members and Asian parents. The event helped to dispel stereotypes and brought children and adults closer together, organizers said.
The increasing number of Asian students also brings an added sense of comfort to some students.
"It's nice to see other Asians," said Julie Zhang, 14, Ms. Shen's daughter and a Centennial freshman who attended Arbutus Middle School near Catonsville before moving to Howard County last year.
At her old school, Julie was one of only a handful of Asians. Now she shares a classroom with many Asian students.
But parents also worry about the pressure to earn high marks at Centennial, which some see as a byproduct of the large Asian population.
"It's a pretty competitive environment," said Dr. Yang. "They take grades pretty seriously. They all want A's."
However, Julie says that pressure isn't simply the result of the school's Asian population. "Certainly Asians add to the competition," Julie said. But she added that "even without Asians, Centennial has a lot of" high-achievers.
Said Chien-Ching Kuo, whose two boys attend Centennial Lane and Burleigh Manor: "Knowledge is power, and that applies to both Eastern society and Western society."