This Year’s Scholarship Winners
Wednesday, June 13th, 2007This is our 2nd year of a small college scholarship award for our alumni. Below are the essays of the two scholarship recipients this year for the topic Growing up Chinese-American: Rewards and Challenges:
Growing up Chinese-American: Rewards and Challenges
By Cecilia Wong
I used to resent growing up Chinese-American. I would see that my Caucasian friends would start sports much earlier, received rides from school sports, or anything they asked for. It wasn’t until senior year that I realized how many blessings I received growing up as Chinese-American in Chinatown.
Coming from a single parent immigrant home was difficult. My mother didn’t speak English so I found myself making phone calls to clear up bills, reading mail, and even translating at her doctors’ appointments. I often asked, “Why can’t you do this yourself? Can’t you see I’m busy?” I never really understood how that made her feel or how difficult I made the situation for her.
Recently, however, I have found these to be valuable experiences. I’ve had to make calls to Baylor University, where I will begin my studies in the fall, a task traditionally left to a parent. The situations in the past have prepared me, making me less bashful and afraid to make calls. Although minute, I am still thankful for it.
Besides household tasks, I was very independent. She being the only parent, she had no choice but to work, often leaving her very tired. It’s clear to me how hard my mom worked, wanting the best for me. I replaced my times of loneliness with sports. I call my lack of supervision a blessing. I’ve talked to so many other friends who aren’t allowed to play sports. If I didn’t receive this kind of independence I would never have made my school’s basketball team or trained enough to be one of the top distance runners on the Track and Field team.
I’m thankful for my mom’s openness to my own plans. Despite the fact that we live a financially tight life, she allows me to do the things I care about, for example Project Destiny, a Christian summer day camp for middle school students. It is a strenuous volunteer job averaging about 50 hours a week
Although an arduous job, to my delight, I’ve realized my passion for serving my community. I was once a camper at Project Destiny and was very blessed with the counselors I encountered. Even though it is just a camp, I believe programs like these are continually reaching out to the people in need, especially those that do not necessarily come right out to look for aid. Community work anywhere is great, but serving your own people is even better and of greater impact. It is easiest to relate to other Chinese-Americans. One’s past experience or struggle can be the essential to someone down the road. Since Chinese-Americans share a culture and similar upbringing, they are more able to help each other.
Maybe that same sentiment about where I came from is still there but surely my attitude has changed. Looking in from a different perspective, I see how a difficult childhood can turn into a reward and even the power to affect another Chinese-American.
Cecilia Wong will be attending Baylor University in Texas this fall to study physical therapy.
Growing up Chinese-American: Rewards and Challenges
By Aaron Cheung
It wasn’t easy growing up as a second generation Chinese-American. As second generation, I had to experience a culture passed on by my parents since this generation is brought up in the full American environment. Unlike the 1.5 generation, we have no experiences to bring with us from China to America. One of the hardest aspects of growing up was the pressure of getting ridiculously good grades. My friends would as me, “did you fail the test?” And I would respond, “Yes, I got an A-.” Growing up, such a grade was culturally unacceptable and I never understood why it was okay for my friend to get average grades but not I. It was hard to live in a world where when being Chinese causes everyone to think of me as a child genius.
I used to bring fried rice in elementary school because I liked fried rice. Then, people would point out; he eats fried rice because he’s Chinese. I had never felt so ashamed of my culture that didn’t fit in the school setting. I’d tell my parents, “Everyone buys lunch so I want to buy lunch.” After about 10 years of trying to learn Chinese, I gave up declaring that I’m American, and I speak English. In high school, people ask, “Do you speak Chinese?” “No, I speak English. I’m an American.” “But your Chinese,” they replied. I’ve never had to struggle with identifying as an American. It’s always the Chinese part that I’ve had to put up with. However, over the years I have come to appreciate this culture so rich that if I had a second chance to do it my way, I’d choose to be Chinese-American all over again.
Assimilation is what a majority of what first and second generation Caucasians have done in America. With the exceptions of maybe Irish and Italian nationalities, the cultures of Caucasians are all but diminished in America. Being Chinese has blessed me with a culture full of wonderful traditions, though I may not always agree with some traditions. The Chinese culture still as a strong presence in America and so even though I’m a second generation, I can still identify with a culture that is my own, that I don’t have to go back to my roots in China to experience.
Growing up Chinese-American has grounded certain values that aren’t present in American Society. Values such as preserving the family and marriage are values that have come from culture. In Chinese culture, family plays a major role on influencing morals and goals. The effect that this culture has on me as a whole is reflected in the different style of living between my non-Chinese friends and me. For me to have both Chinese values and American values is a result of my being Chinese American. Being an American has given me a sense of freedom that I can’t find anywhere else. I am Chinese and I’m also American. I have come a long way to understand what it means to be Chinese-American.
Aaron Cheung has been attending Boston College, studying nursing.
