Palo Alto Teenager

My parents Immigrated from Poland to the United States in search for better opportunity for the children that they planned to have. When my parents finally made the move, they started with nothing and no one to turn to; they did not even know how to speak English. All my parents knew for sure was that they were going to raise three children in America and do all they could possibly do to motivate and make them passionate for school. My parents have always wanted their children to achieve the careers of their dreams and be able to support their own family as well as be happy with their lives. My parents have struggled with money their entire lives, which is another reason why they did all they could to get to America and motivate their children for schooling. They did not want their children to struggle with money the way that they did. But this led another issue, affording college. My parents did not have enough money for their children to attend college. Because of this, I have done my best in school to earn outstanding grades and do my best to earn scholarships.

As I grew older, it was impossible to notice that my world was imperfect. In elementary school, all my parent’s problems here hidden; I didn’t understand my family’s economic status. As I grew older and began to ask my parents question about our lifestyle and compared it to the other people around us. This conversation would always end in the same place; because we can't afford it. My high school is composed of economically unstable families, and economically stable families. Seeing that other families were better off than mine, I grew up with the idea that a comfortable life, is a luxurious life. I know that others around

First of all, my family is Chinese. My parents immigrated into the United States 15 years ago from Hong Kong and so I am the first generation to go to college in the US. It is important to note that my parents did not come to the US so that they can attain a higher status but more so because they wanted to give me a chance to attain a higher status. When we first arrived my mother did not work, and my father’s first job was at a Asian supermarket. The pay was low and there was no coverage of any kind. We lived at my Aunt’s house until we managed to find public housing in Charlestown. Somewhere around that time my father managed to find a job at Boston Scientific as a Material Handler, and basically what he does it drive a forklift truck around a warehouse to find and move stock. The job change did not alleviate my father’s nor the family’s status. The pay was better and there is health insurance and retirement plans. However, even with my father working overtime, there is still simply a shortage in money especially when my twin brothers came along. That was when my mother decided that she needs to work too and she found herself working as a waitress at two Chinese restaurants. In terms of jobs, I think my parents did the best they could considering they speak little to no English and only have a high school education. There is simply not a wide range of options for

During the summer after I turned thirteen, I went on a vacation that changed my entire perspective on life. “Americans are so spoiled.” I remember hearing my mother proclaim this numerous times growing up. I would shake my head or roll my eyes every time, since I never quite understood what it meant. Of course, I had nothing to compare it to. I grew up in the suburbs in a middle class family. I never wanted for anything. I heard the stories of my mother and her siblings growing up; they lived in filth, they occasionally skipped meals, all seven kids slept huddled together on concrete floors. I heard those stories as if she was saying, “…I walked a mile to school, uphill both ways…” I never could have imagined the reality of what the stories truly meant until I visited my birthplace, the Philippines, for the first time.

Over the previous years, I grew bored with routine. I didn’t involve myself with school activities and stayed home for most of my days. My parents rarely planned any activities for me and my sisters. I had stopped expecting them to involved themselves with my school life. I didn’t even mind when they wouldn’t come for my band concerts. It’s hard being a child of immigrant parents. There are situations they would never be able to understand. The sole advice they can give me is about hard work. They want to push me and my sisters to our limits so we could have the better life that they never had. From them, I learned life lessons of self-sacrifice and determination of making things work, despite the roadblocks and challenges.

One thing that I experienced due to where I lived and my parent’s social class was the fact that I got to attend a good school district, with updated technology and books. My parents’ success and lifestyle were all the reason to me to be hard worker and do well in school. After high school, I took a break in my education, which set me apart from many others whom I had previously been societally grouped together with. This was the cause of many judgments against me, which was difficult at times. Society’s idea of “normal” is to attend college directly after graduating high school, but society’s normal wasn’t going to work for me as I had became pregnant right out of high school, and felt the need to focus my direction on working and making more money in the immediate.

As the son of impoverished Mexican immigrants, I never experienced the luxuries and everyday joys of other children my age. For instance, while other children worried about missing their favorite television shows or about what gifts they were going to receive for Christmas, I spent a majority of my time worrying about whether or not my parents would be able to put food on our table or be home in time to say goodnight. Yet, thanks to the support of my family and an unsurpassed desire to obtain a better life, I have immersed myself into my studies, in hopes that I can one day better the situation for those around me.

I completely agree with what Anna Quindlen wrote in this article. As I grew up my family spoiled me,

Ilocano youngsters typify the characteristics of the modern teenagers who are slowly being torn between tradition and modernization.

The tendency to work hard and be committed to a task should not be diminished by an individual's financial state. As a kid, my family had really close friends that we considered family. A close friend of my mother’s was a single mom who worked at a fast food restaurant. It was hard for her to take care of her child because of financial circumstances, so my mother helped out when she could. She worked hard everyday to provide for her child and herself, but her weekly income could not help in areas she needed. She thought about going to college, but it was too expensive for her to take that chance. As her child got older the same cycle began. Her child began working at a low paying job to help out her mother because she knew college was too expensive

Over this glorious summer, many children and teens have lost their minds in video games and parties. However, I have done none of that; I have read news articles online. When I was searching for information about NYU, I have found an article from The Atlantic called “The Expensive Romance of NYU”. It talks about how thousands of NYU students are debt just because they want to live in NYC for college. The author uses statistics to prove his view that you cannot justify the cost of the $60,000 a year tuition. He also uses quotes from ex students to validate the fact that it is not worth it. The ex student uses intense words like “romanticized” and “dramatic” to prove that an 18 year old cannot make financial decisions made for adults. I have

In the 19th century someone quoted that, “Money doesn’t grow on trees.” Whoever this person was; He or she was very wise. In 2013, I was going to college for culinary, but decided that it was not for me. Finishing my second quarter, my dad asks me if I wanted to go work with him in North Dakota. Without second guessing it, I told him “Yes.” I had not lived with my dad in six years. Do not get me wrong, he came around once in a while whenever he could, but I didn’t know my dad very well. Moving to North Dakota changed the way I looked at life and has helped guide me to learn my true worth.

It’s our “default setting” as David Foster Wallace may put it. So while reading my hope is that you are not drawn to believe that I am only putting myself into consideration almost as if I’m the only one who matters. The thing is, I have big dreams, and dreams are not cheap. I want to be a certified neurosurgeon by the time I’m thirty years old, and this isn’t a far-fetched idea, I’ve been thinking about it since third grade. When I was younger I’d calculate the cost of college with two parents put into consideration, and the expenses seemed quite reasonable. Then my parents parted their ways, but as I’d seen in fantasized movies, parents would still both chip in equally in order to assist their growing children. I never realized in my case the only support I’d be getting from my father would be financially. I won’t lie it was stung for a bit realizing that I lived two houses away from my father and he didn’t even bother to stop by just to see how I was doing. I was working so hard in school so that one day when he did stop by I’d show him all my honor roll and perfect attendance certificates, alas, that never

Teen years are the most complicated and overwhelming years of a child's life. Every teen goes through different stages while they are in the transition in becoming into an adolescent. For the Virtual Teen program I had a teen daughter, she was very outgoing and social. She enjoyed trying new things and was very involved in school. She also did well academically, and was part of the gifted program at her school. She lives with both her biological parents and a younger sister. Her relationship with her sister was like any sister relationship, they had little arguments once in a while but where are able to easily resolve on their own. As she transitioned to her teen years, she went through many stages like puberty, school transition and

When I was a kid, I couldn’t wait until I was old enough to get a job. Sure, it would be a good way to make friends and learn how to prepare myself for the real world, but for me, it was mostly about making my own money. Having to ask my parents for cash every time I needed some annoyed me, mostly because they’d always say no. Every time they did, I would always whine and complain about how different things would be when I had money of my own, how I would never ask them for anything, and so on. This wasn’t entirely true, but at the time it seemed like a smart thing to say. I must’ve applied to dozens of jobs, and when I finally got the email telling