Sitting on the airplane to San Francisco, I was about to leave the hometown where I was born and raised. My family immigrated to the United States on July 23, 2013. We have spent more than ten years on the immigration process. It was such a long time, and I forgot that we were on the process. Things happened unexpectedly. In March, 2013, we received the letter notifying that we would have an interview for immigration two weeks later. Fortunately, we received our residencies in the United States.
My parents believe that my sister and I would have better educations in the United States. That’s why even though they can’t speak English, they still decided to come here. However, because they can’t speak English, they chose the jobs with exhausting works. Knowing my parent's sacrifices, I never complained to them with my unwillingness. Moving to a totally unfamiliar country means all the things have to start again. I was afraid to learn a new language, to meet new people, and to live in a new community. I know I will need to take a long time adjusting my life in the United States because I am the kind of person that love everything to be constant. I need times to fit in.
The very first thing we did after settling down was finding schools. Unfortunately, only three school had open spots when we visited the education department. With the remaining three options, we took the officer’s advice choosing Mission High School. It is a high school that is locally ranked at the bottom. I studied kindergarten, elementary school, and middle school at the same school. I stayed with the same group of people for twelve years. Mission High School was my new start in the United States. I was placed in the English Learner Classes as a tenth grader. Most of my classmates have immigrated for more than one year. Classes weren’t taught in Chinese anymore. Learning English could be hard, especially I had biology class, I didn’t understand any concept that the teacher taught in class. However, I never felt alone because my classmates and teachers were supportive. With the helps from my classmates and teachers, I successfully finished tenth grade with a GPA 4.0.
I transferred to mainstream classes in Junior year with two honors courses. My fear grew larger because I was studying with the kids who were born and grew up in the United States. I was the only immigrant student in my advisory class. I actually knew the gap between those kids and me. I couldn’t follow up the speeds of the classes because the teachers talked much faster than the teachers in tenth grade. I was falling behind. I couldn’t even speak a full sentence when I was presenting in front of the class because I am too nervous. I had no choice but visiting my teachers more frequently. They spent times at lunch and after school to help me on class assignments. Slowly, I caught up with the rest of the class. Though sometimes when I had group projects with other classmates, I didn’t express myself clearly, they were patient to me. At the end of the school year, I received A in all the classes.
How would you define American Dream? That’s the question that immigrant students would be asked at least once. Honestly, I’m still searching for my answer. I am lucky to study in a supportive community with love which motivated me to pursue dream and to think about future. In my Senior year, I got accepted to several universities. And now, I’m continuing my education in UCSC. Sometimes, changes could happen in all of a sudden, and changes come with challenges. Instead of avoiding changes, facing and trying to solve challenges allows everyone to become a better person. Don’t be a slave of your fears. You never know how persevering and excellent you can be until you accept changes and face challenges because what doesn’t kill you make you stronger.