Every photo of me between the ages of 1 and 4 includes me holding a book. I’ve always found an interest in learning and telling stories of others, finding patterns behind actions and the reasons behind them. Strong extracurriculars, in a similar fashion, allow my story to be fully understood.
Stories catalyze one another. My mom, who stopped attending school in Cambodia at 11 years old because of the Cambodian genocide, immigrated to the U.S. at 21 years old to support her siblings and her father, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Every morning, I watched my mom pull out of the driveway as she left the house for 14-hour work days. At night, I listened to my mom’s stories about living on $10 per month in Cambodia without proper healthcare and stable living conditions.
Although these stories of her past were jarring, they shaped my values to support my family. As the oldest child, I was the first to receive a proper education, and I knew I could start helping around the house. At the same time, I had my sights set on becoming as hardworking and dedicated as my mom, who was (and still is) my biggest role model.
Once gong gong (grandpa) had the opportunity to immigrate to America when I was 8 years old, I started lifting some weight off my mom’s shoulders by becoming a caretaker for my grandfather. In the morning, I cooked breakfast for him, ironed his clothes, and cleaned his dentures. After school, I read the newspaper to him in Teochew, our dialect, and did my homework in the living room while keeping him company. When he attended doctor visits, I translated paragraphs on labs as my family’s only fluent English speaker. From spending so much time with my grandpa, I started to see the world through his eyes and advocated for what he couldn’t express through actions and words.
In high school, I started interning with my grandpa’s primary care physician, Dr. Taikwel, to learn how to advocate for others in a similar position to my grandpa. Navigating patient insurance conflicts, conducting health screenings, and translating medical terminology for local low-income Cambodian families taught me more than what a classroom grade could teach me; it taught me the reality of the healthcare system and the ways I could make small changes to alleviate the struggles of my local community.
Motivated to make a change, I serve as President of Garfield Health Center Youth Ambassadors, providing health services to over 3,000 patients through senior citizen health presentations, blood pressure screenings and translations, and hosting self-initiated awareness events. By making healthcare more accessible to marginalized populations, I now understand how to navigate the healthcare system. I hope to contribute to culturally comprehensive care by becoming a neurologist in the future and continuing my independent research on the efficacy of schizophrenia treatments.
My inspiration to pursue these extracurriculars, whether it be community service or research, stems from my family experiences and aspirations connecting back to my marginalized community. The culmination of these instances proves that numbers, unlike the activities and time spent outside the classroom, cannot truly show a person’s drive, ability to overcome challenges, and values extending to the work they care about. By understanding the reasons behind extracurriculars, the connection to a person’s identity, and their overall goals and ambition, I can definitively say that I would rather have my story narrated through my actions and leave a lasting impact on my community. With strong extracurriculars, I aim to retell and honor my family’s story with a personal touch of ambition.