Personal Narrative: My Asian American Dream

Growing up as an East Asian in America meant expectations and stereotypes. Facing the judging looks on the faces of the people around me was torture. I turned away and tried to run from them. I built an invisible wall, a barrier of sorts. In front of the wall was what I wanted people to see and what people expected to see; yet, behind the wall comprised of things I wanted to do and how I truly felt.

The Asian American experience primarily narrates a story of hardship in assimilation into the American society. However, these stories are heavily nuanced depending on the generational perspective. The Asian American experience from the first generation emphasizes the practical concerns in surviving economically in a foreign land. On the other hand, the second generation recounts social and personal conflicts that primarily deal with questioning their identity. Given these differing Asian American narratives, these immigrant families are oftentimes confronted not only with clashing cultural values, but also mismatched perspectives on life. Asian American scholar, Erin Khue Nihn, examines these intergenerational conflicts using a socio-economic perspective in her novel, Ingratitude. Her argument builds on the economically driven mindset of the parental generation and concludes the following: “Asian American intimate relations reveal themselves to be profoundly ordered by capitalist logic and ethos" (Nihn 6). Employing Nihn 's interpretation, the parents enforce a strong adherence to their ethnic heritage, whereby these cultural reminders serve as a means of economic survival to provide stability within the nuclear family. Attempting to internalize these ethnic values while assimilating into society, the second generation becomes conflicted in resolving their Asian American identity. Essentially, the Asian

In Asian American studies, identity is “a set of characteristics or a description that distinguishes a person or thing from others” (Ho 125). One would have to truly perceive his or her culture, language, beliefs, customs and values in order to be viewed as a distinct person in terms of identity. However, many Asian Americans are often faced with personal struggles when they are finding their own identity. These included the issues of assimilation, and contradictions of race and identity within their family and school life. They may sometimes feel insecure with their identity as Asian Americans due to their position as racial minorities in the Unites States. As a consequence, some would unconsciously reject their identity when their emotions are severely damaged in confronting with unequal treatment or being labeled with the Asian stereotypes. In his article “Distilling My Korean American Identity,” Patrick S.

I am Vietnamese-American. I am part of the largest population of refugee children in American history, and one of the first of its community to be born in the American culture. With no prior generation in my ethnic group, I have faced the stresses of growing up Vietnamese and as an American. I faced the effects of acculturation throughout my life, and I have watched my parents’ health deteriorate. Both are borderline diabetic and have multiple vascular diseases. When I learned how chronic diseases were more prevalent among minorities from low socioeconomic classes, it all made sense. My family was a prime example. Since then, I have looked at my life in a different perspective and wanted to help people like my family to control and manage our health. In addition, when I visited Vietnam when I was 22, I was shocked to discover that my young female cousins were already parents and had several previous miscarriages. Subsequently, I came to realize the ongoing health crisis around women’s health in Vietnam and other developing countries. Thus, I also wanted to help women make healthier choices regarding their reproductive health.

January 1st, 2001, I was born to be first. Two hours before I was delivered, the University of Washington came first in the Rose Bowl. Being born on such a good day, my parents believed I was a lucky baby. They became convinced that I would have amazing fortune in the future and would come first in all competitions and trials life had for me. However, being first also meant I’d be the first one to face obstacles.

The pain and the suffering, the oppression, and the exclusion all describe the history of Asia America. When they arrived to the United States, they become labeled as Asians. These Asians come from Japan, China, Korea, Laos, Thailand, and many other diverse countries in the Eastern hemisphere. These people wanted to escape from their impoverished lives as the West continued to infiltrate their motherland. They saw America as the promise land filled with opportunity to succeed in life. Yet due to the discrimination placed from society and continual unfair

I am an Asian-American who will be the first in my family to go to a prestigious college such as UT Austin. I am also a swimmer and that has taught me many great traits such as time management and work ethic, of which I have transferred into my education. As the first-born in my family, continuing my education is a necessity for my parents, and thus they have pushed me to take challenging courses such as AP Chemistry. I moved to Texas during the summer of my sophmore year, and thus was thursted into a brand new enviroment, but thanks to swimming I adapted and was able to excel in both academics and extracurricular activities.

The American Dream is different for everyone. It is possible for everyone to attain but it is easier and harder for some to attain. It is easier for Asians to attain this dream now than it used to be because of the success of other Asians in the past, the elimination of ethnic enclaves, and fairer immigration laws.

I bring my background as a first generation Vietnamese-American college student. I grew being the bridge between my family and the English speaking world and American culture by interpreting and translating. That experience alone has shaped me into who I am today. My opinions, my personal skills, everything that makes me. Growing up, my opinions were based on my parents' opinions. They have a traditional mindset because of how they were raise and that is all they know and understand. Part of my thoughts are related to that side but because I am also American, I have an American influence on my thoughts which is more forward thinking and open minded than my Vietnamese and parents' side. Through interpreting and translating for my family, I try

“Trust me. You can do it,” my coach shouted when I fell down from my horse. I was at camp for the summer and wanted to learn to ride but I could not manage to control the horse. After several falls, I had all but given up and was afraid to mount the horse again. But my coach just kept pushing me. By the end of the summer and after a lot of practice and setbacks, I not only got over my fear of riding but also learned to control the horse and have a smooth, consistent ride. I often thought about my experience with the horse that summer when I was sitting for USMLE exams. My USMLE Step 1 and 2 exams were not as good as I hoped and it began a distressing time of self-doubt. I was forced to think hard about my childhood dream to pursue medicine

I have realized that there is much more precious to life than wealth, status, property, and materialistic things. For me, the American Dream is not just having the strongest economic standing, wealth, or fame, but attaining happiness through everything and moment in my life and making a difference. My American dream is being able to graduate from high school and attend college because I would like to have the opportunity to directly help those who are less fortunate than me and make them happier. I feel that there is no greater joy than feeling that I was able to help an individual in their time of physical or emotional need. My American Dream is being able to walk into a home with a happy family and know that my presence is welcomed and is

What is common between San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Stockholm, Johannesburg, Pune, London, Los Angeles and Denver? These are the places my father worked as an Oracle consulting expert therefore I would say International experience at an early age makes me unique. Adjusting to an international college campus culture would be straightforward for me due to my extensive travel in the US, Europe and Asia.

This scholarship would not only represent a financial help in paying my college tuition, it would also give me hope and motivation making me believe that I can do everything once I put my mind to it. It would give a stronger structure to my future career’s foundation, making it reliable and promising with every step I take to build my ladder higher and higher. This scholarship would serve as a scaffolding: whenever my ladder attempts to fall or lose its strength and balance somehow, this scholarship would remind me that I am not alone, there are people who care to help, who stand by my side and encourage me to keep that ladder standing straight and strong. I would see this scholarship as my first great achievement on my way in becoming a neuropsychologist.

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Overall, earning a scholarship will allow me to earn a degree in college, which will increase my ability to give back to my community, as well as my ability to support my family. Thank you for the honor of allowing me to share my story. Hopefully, the LEAD Foundation will assist me in my plans of achieving higher bars of