1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:00,000 2 00:00:15,699 --> 00:00:19,680 So my mom decided to move to the US 3 00:00:19,690 --> 00:00:22,290 to pursue her own education . Uh 4 00:00:22,299 --> 00:00:26,069 She has an M B A from the United 5 00:00:26,079 --> 00:00:28,469 States . When she's over here , she 6 00:00:28,479 --> 00:00:30,701 realized that this is probably a better 7 00:00:30,701 --> 00:00:32,479 environment for me to obtain an 8 00:00:32,479 --> 00:00:34,939 education . Therefore , she decided to 9 00:00:35,020 --> 00:00:37,242 uh you know , kind of start the process 10 00:00:37,242 --> 00:00:39,353 to have me move , move over as well . 11 00:00:39,353 --> 00:00:41,610 Um I , I was nine years old when I went 12 00:00:41,619 --> 00:00:43,786 through the interview process and when 13 00:00:43,786 --> 00:00:45,952 I moved to the U SI was 10 years old . 14 00:00:45,952 --> 00:00:48,063 It's a very surreal feeling because I 15 00:00:48,063 --> 00:00:50,230 went to school . Um you know , kind of 16 00:00:50,230 --> 00:00:52,397 the day after I got here , right ? You 17 00:00:52,397 --> 00:00:54,619 know , just walking into a class on the 18 00:00:54,619 --> 00:00:56,786 first day , not knowing what they were 19 00:00:56,786 --> 00:00:58,952 saying , right . It was an E S L class 20 00:00:58,952 --> 00:01:01,119 I remember . And , you know , you , we 21 00:01:01,119 --> 00:01:03,119 have a , you know , a couple uh you 22 00:01:03,119 --> 00:01:05,286 know , minorities in that class . It's 23 00:01:05,286 --> 00:01:07,341 mostly made out of , you know , just 24 00:01:07,341 --> 00:01:09,286 people that don't speak English or 25 00:01:09,286 --> 00:01:11,452 fluently . So the first day I sat down 26 00:01:11,452 --> 00:01:13,619 next to someone I didn't know who does 27 00:01:13,619 --> 00:01:15,730 not look anything like Chinese people 28 00:01:15,730 --> 00:01:17,786 at all . Right . I can't communicate 29 00:01:17,786 --> 00:01:19,786 with them . I just look at them . I 30 00:01:19,786 --> 00:01:22,008 smile , I say hello . That was the only 31 00:01:22,008 --> 00:01:24,063 thing I knew . And then I just , you 32 00:01:24,063 --> 00:01:26,175 know , decided to take out a notebook 33 00:01:26,175 --> 00:01:28,397 and copy what's on the board . But keep 34 00:01:28,397 --> 00:01:30,286 in mind that the Chinese alphabet 35 00:01:30,286 --> 00:01:32,569 rather uh the characters look nothing 36 00:01:32,580 --> 00:01:35,599 like the Western Latin characters . The 37 00:01:35,610 --> 00:01:37,769 literal translation for United States 38 00:01:37,779 --> 00:01:41,010 of America and Chinese is , it's me , 39 00:01:41,019 --> 00:01:43,919 it means beautiful country . The 40 00:01:43,930 --> 00:01:46,959 literal translation I was like , OK , 41 00:01:47,300 --> 00:01:49,660 if America is known as a beautiful 42 00:01:49,669 --> 00:01:52,379 country , I have to do everything I can 43 00:01:52,389 --> 00:01:54,809 to embrace the experience , right ? 44 00:01:54,819 --> 00:01:56,708 That means to assimilate with the 45 00:01:56,708 --> 00:01:59,040 culture . And if learning English is 46 00:01:59,050 --> 00:02:01,272 what it takes to understand what people 47 00:02:01,272 --> 00:02:03,439 are communicating and saying to me , I 48 00:02:03,439 --> 00:02:05,661 need to make it the utmost top right of 49 00:02:05,661 --> 00:02:08,369 my priorities on . If you're not , 50 00:02:08,380 --> 00:02:10,436 number one , you're kind of like not 51 00:02:10,436 --> 00:02:12,830 getting anywhere that mentality carried 52 00:02:12,839 --> 00:02:15,059 over unfortunately . And that caused a 53 00:02:15,070 --> 00:02:17,410 lot of burnout in high school . And I 54 00:02:17,419 --> 00:02:19,919 was not competitive for , you know , 55 00:02:19,929 --> 00:02:22,169 the goals that my parents have set for 56 00:02:22,179 --> 00:02:24,068 me , which is to enter Ivy League 57 00:02:24,068 --> 00:02:27,169 College . Back in the day , the Air 58 00:02:27,179 --> 00:02:30,020 Force uh has uh affiliation with one of 59 00:02:30,029 --> 00:02:32,140 the TV shows . It's called Stargate . 60 00:02:32,619 --> 00:02:35,399 That show has got me hooked and I was 61 00:02:35,410 --> 00:02:37,132 like , OK , well , I am pretty 62 00:02:37,132 --> 00:02:39,550 technical . I love to , I love science . 63 00:02:39,559 --> 00:02:43,000 And if I could find a pathway that 64 00:02:43,009 --> 00:02:45,940 aligns with helping me to get to a 65 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:49,199 higher level of education but also get 66 00:02:49,210 --> 00:02:51,789 back to the country , being able to 67 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:55,289 speak and act within 68 00:02:55,300 --> 00:02:57,529 reasons , but just having the ability 69 00:02:57,539 --> 00:03:00,369 to do so is a huge contrast to my China 70 00:03:00,380 --> 00:03:03,919 days . But I want people to remember me 71 00:03:03,929 --> 00:03:06,750 not be not for to be the best officer I 72 00:03:06,759 --> 00:03:08,926 can in the Air force , but rather as a 73 00:03:08,926 --> 00:03:11,092 good person , a person that at the end 74 00:03:11,092 --> 00:03:14,449 of the day , try his best to challenge 75 00:03:14,460 --> 00:03:17,660 himself and bring everybody around them . 76 00:03:18,050 --> 00:03:20,529 You know , up that to me is an American 77 00:03:20,539 --> 00:03:22,490 dream . If I could do all of these 78 00:03:22,500 --> 00:03:25,250 amazing feats . So can you don't wait 79 00:03:25,259 --> 00:03:26,770 to do something , do it today ?