Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: American education
After high school, I left my home country of Vietnam to pursue my academic dream, making use of the entire savings of my parents for the life-changing trip to America. As a first-generation college student, I was fortunate enough to receive such great support and encouragement from a loving family that instilled within me a work ethic and determination to succeed. But only after my arrival in America, did I understand how to persevere to surmount the adversities in life. Born and raised in the war-destroyed South Vietnam, never before had I been exposed to such a place so dominating and grandiose like Dallas. In the midst of new language, new school, new friends and new culture, I found myself coping with the countless challenges of an independent life. A year after my arrival, my parents’ financial struggles forced me to start supporting myself. With help from a friend, I found a job as an assistant at a Vietnamese medical clinic in Dallas. Making too little money to pay for school, I then started another job selling musical instruments during the weekends. Despite the below-minimum...
The Irish American Scholar Program will significantly enhance my educational goals for school as well as my life experiences. The unique opportunity this program offers coincides with a family value of expanding one’s knowledge beyond the small bubble of the everyday and exploring the world. The value of embracing new opportunities started with my grandfather when he broke away from the norm of his family and expanded his boundaries. His family, traditionally, lived and moved together, but when his family moved to Michigan, my grandfather decided to remain in Arkansas and join the Air Force, allowing him to travel not only in the United States but abroad to England. Similarly, my father decided to go to college several hours away from his family at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. This decision led him to a career with the government where he was able to experience several different cultures in the workplace and abroad. Being surrounded by inspirational family members has inspired me to pursue my own unique experience.
are taught by their parents that determination and persistency are the keys to academic achievements. In addition, many Asian parents are extremely involved and invested in their children’s education. For many first-generation immigrant and refugee parents, they believe the way to realize the American dream is through higher education and professional status. They encourage t...
As a daughter of immigrants and being an immigrant myself, I knew I had to work hard to become somebody in life to prove that my parents’ struggles were worth every second. My journey began at the age of eight years old, I had to pick up everything and leave my life behind in El Salvador to begin a new one in California. The transition was not easy though what made it possible was learning English and being able to adapt. The idea to continue my education after high school involved my role models who planted in me the importance of education and encouraged me to go through the enrollment process; although there were financial challenges, I have found my way into college.
In my younger and more vulnerable years, my parents and I immigrated from the Philippines to America in search of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It wasn't until I started maturing did I notice the obstacles I overcame, the accomplishments I achieved, and the objectives I set for myself that significantly contributed towards the achievement of my dream.
In the beginning of September 2005, disappointment and excitement revealed on my face when I boarded the plane to move to the United States of America. The feeling of leaving my families, friends, school, clothes, and culture in Cameroon presented a hardship for me on this journey. Of course, I anticipated this new life because it indicated a fresh start. I envisioned it resembling life in movies, where everything appeared to be simple and life was simply excellent. All things considered, I was heading off to the United States, known for the American dream. To me it meant that everyone is given equal opportunity to prosper, achieve a family, and attain a successful job as long as they are hardworking and determined. I felt exceptionally honored and blessed to have this open door since I realized that it was not provided to everybody. Coming to America denoted my transitioning on the grounds that I deserted my previous lifestyle in Cameroon, began a new chapter in my life once again, and finally became a much grateful individual.
Nonetheless, it was neither the geographic disparities nor the tremendous cultural differences that obstruct the dream I had in mind. It all began when my parents’ disagreements accumulated. The language barrier barricaded my father’s will to stay. After countless quarrels, he terminated the marriage and fled back to Vietnam. As the adults drifted apart, the burden on my mother’s shoulders doubled. Left by our own, we struggled to make ends meet. Going to a four-year university, therefore, was no longer our option, especially when my sister and I were both entering college at the same time. So, despite my mom’s weak stamina, she toiled away working a straight 50 hours a week to put food on the table. Her limited English skills couldn’t get her a better job rather than being a minimum wage factory worker. My sister and I were exerting ourselves to our best capability at school in hopes to at least make her feel better, and to be told that we wouldn’t make it to graduate the year of. For a second, my family felt apart and all of my confidence collapsed; for a second, I thought this was the last call for me, that I would never be able to succeed or get anything done with my life: I felt helpless. As times like this, I was fortunate enough to have my siblings to share this feeling. It’s been a year and a half and my life has gotten a lot better. After changing accommodation, and switching to another high school, my sister and I were finally be able to graduate on time. We have been working on campus since Summer 2016 to shoulder the work for my mother. We were also saving money for transferring process later on. I will continue my passion of pursuing a Physics major and hopefully get transferred to UC Davis in a two year
My parents journey from Vietnam to America has impacted me emotionally through out the years by the stories they tell me. For them to say their aspiration was to come to America to have greater opportunities, for there family is breath taking. Without my parent’s journey and stories, my identity would be so plain and incomplete.
My story began on a cool summer’s night twenty short years ago. From my earliest memory, I recall my father’s disdain for pursuing education. “Quit school and get a job” was his motto. My mother, in contrast, valued education, but she would never put pressure on anyone: a sixty-five was passing, and there was no motivation to do better. As a child, my uncle was my major role-model. He was a living example of how one could strive for greatness with a proper education and hard work. At this tender age of seven, I knew little about how I would achieve my goals, but I knew that education and hard work were going to be valuable. However, all of my youthful fantasies for broader horizons vanished like smoke when school began.
Prior to departure, because fellow classmates attempted to convince me not to move to the United States, for they had met people that had struggled with the transition to another country’s educational system, the idea of moving ignited a fear within me. However,
When I was born, my family had just migrated to California from Mexico. In a new country, my father worked in landscaping earning less than $4 dollars an hour, while my mother relied on public transportation to take her newborn child to and from doctor visits. In the land of opportunity, my family struggled to put a roof over our heads. But never discouraged, my parents sought to achieve their goals and worked tirelessly to raise my younger brother and I. From a young age, I was taught the importance of education; this became a major catalyst in my life. My desire to excel academically was not for self-gain, but my way of contributing to my family’s goals and aspirations.
Growing up with Vietnamese parents who escaped the Vietnam War, I never forgot the pressure they put on me as a young girl to do well in school, get good grades, and to achieve the “American Dream.” They wanted to be sure that I would not have to struggle financially like they did when they first came to America. Because I was never good in science and math like they were (mom was a chemist and dad works in quantitative investment), I knew they
While we were incredibly fortunate enough to escape the war, we continued to carry the trauma and distress of war well into our time in America, as several of our friends and relatives remained in our war torn hometown. I was too young to remember the trauma caused directly from the war that my parents are doomed to live with, However the pain of having to hear my mother sobbing through the night over the death of her sister is beyond enough to remind me of the tremendous opportunities I have been given here in America. My family was extremely fortunate to escape the war, but it would not have been possible without the best resource of all, my parents. The amount of steadfast, unconditional commitment which my parents had and continue to have for our family is beyond my level of comprehension. After escaping the war my parents were dedicated to giving our family an improved life compared to the one we left in the DRC. This dedication to a higher quality of life is the reason why my siblings and I have the opportunity to attend a university and accomplish something with our
Even before arriving to the United States, the fear I felt was not having the familiarity of home (St. Lucia). Moving to the U.S meant that I had to start my life all over again. This time it would be without the unwavering support of my family and friends. Whether I succeeded or failed in school was entirely up to me. It wa...
This was the great opportunity for me to continue my education in one of the best countries and also was the great opportunity for me to explore life outside of my hometown, meeting new people, and experience different culture, languages, and lifestyles. After coming to the USA, my family went through various tough times. The condition of our life became so worse that we did not have enough money to buy food, clothes, and to pay rent. Because of the scarce of money, I did not even buy my high school graduation gown and was about to not even attend my high school graduation, until my high school decided to give graduation gown for free. Therefore in order to help my family financially, I started working on part time jobs such as sales associate and tutoring while attending full-time college. Although in the beginning I started working on part time jobs just for the sake of money but as time passed, I was able to appreciate the skills I got from working that is social skills, communication skills, presentation skills, team works skills, leadership skills, and the time management skills. These skills were very important for me as far as my personal development was concerned as I learned how to effectively communicate with people and how to teach students of different ages with different strengths and weaknesses. This experience helped me to grow and mature as a person by facing
When I was younger, my parents would always tell me to do good in school and I never understood what that really meant. As I was becoming older I realized that education is very important in my life because most people in my family didn’t go to college and they had to work whole day from nine A.M. to nine P.M. and I didn’t want that to happen to me. My parents had sacrifice their lives to move to America so that I could get an education because in Vietnam education wasn’t free and that would mean the people who had money would have education there.