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Thanks for Giving

MI NAI SAN | CONTRIBUTOR

A lesson on how to use your Kin as determination

My parents were really poor back in Burma, which is now called Myanmar, so they had to stop going to school and provide for their families. Day and night they worked to earn money to put food on the table for their younger siblings. My parents gave everything up for their families so they did the same for us by coming to America.

Their hopes and dreams are to school and educate my siblings and I, so we can be successful in life. My dad works 10 hours a day, 5 days a week at JBS, a meat packing company, to keep up with all the bills. My mom is a stay at home mom but she really wants to work in the near future. Both my parents do not have any type of education so they know little to no English.

So the first couple of years living in America was every hard for them. They had to ask for help for little things like getting their kids enrolled in school or paying their bills. But, it cost money which at times was more than they could afford. Sometimes they would get tricked and the people, who my parents hired, would just take the money without successfully doing the jobs. They had to make their prides and egos little to get the help and in the end it wasn’t worth it. I’m going to be honest, some of the advice my parents gave me throughout my life I’ve considered but others I paid no attention to them.

The advice that is sticking to me the most is, “Finish your high school years so you can get a diploma. That piece of paper can determine the rest of your life from the moment you walk off the stage to your deathbed. Go to college because education is what they are going to look at when they hire you, not how much wealth you have. They want to see how you continue your education after high school. The employers want to hire educated people not people who dropped out of high school.” Finishing high school and going to college is considered a way of life in my family, because my parents aren’t educated they had to work 10 times harder than a person who was educated, who had a piece of paper called a diploma.

My brother was the 1st to graduate high school and go on college and in May he will walked across the big stage to get his Associate Degree in Automotive Technology. My parents dreams were fulfilled for my brother but it’s just the beginning of their hopes and dreams for their 4 girls. My parents had nothing planned for their futures, everyday was the same; go to work, help-out at home, then go to sleep. They had to work hard everyday but they never wanted their kids to do the same thing. My parents want my siblings and I to work at a minimal to no labor job with an 8 to 4 workday. They want us to have a nice and easy job but also be successful.

I’m the second oldest so not only do my sisters look up to my brother they also look up to me too. I try to set up a good example for them but I fail sometimes. I’m even involved in the community, I volunteer at The Food Bank of The Rockies at Hinkley High School, I’m in student council and I am also being considered to be in National Honor Society. I played on the Varsity Girls Softball team and I also play on the school soccer team. I will continue playing softball and soccer throughout my high school years. I want to go to college on a full ride scholarship so my parents and I would have to pay nothing out of our pockets. I want to become a pediatrician or go into sports medicine after college.

I want to get a scholarship to play either softball or soccer in college. If I don’t then I’m considering going to CU Boulder to get my schooling done then go to medical school. I come from a family that’s very oriented on getting a diploma from high school and college. It looks like I have everything figured out but what’s life without a few bumps in the road. There might be some roadblocks to my plan but I will get through it. I don’t know what life has in store for me but I’m excited for it.

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