There are a few memories that stick out to me from school.

I’d like to share them today as a reminder of why I am working on this project.

When I think about how lucky I felt after my parents let me transfer back to my old school versus how I feel now, hindsight is 20/20.

I remember sitting on the couch with my mom and watching an episode of 60 Minutes where the young woman in the segment had gone to Japan to teach English. The story was actually about how the woman had gone to Japan and was murdered. The story was about how the U.S. Government was trying to navigate the case with local Japanese authorities. I didn’t hear that part though. All I heard was that you could teach English in Japan, and I happened to be quite good at English. It was an exciting revelation. At the time I told my mother that I was going to go to Japan to teach English and she told me, “NO.” It’s such a fun memory.

After that, whenever anyone would ask me what I was going to do when I got older, I would tell them that I was going to go to Japan. When I was a sophomore in high school, my U.S. Government AP teacher asked me what I wanted to do with my life, and of course, I told him I was going to Japan. He responded with,

“No, you’re not. You’re going to end up barefoot and pregnant by the time you’re 17.”

– Teacher

I don’t think I had much to say to that. It was jarring and it made me angry. It also made me much more determined.

I was honestly kind of a mess though.

I had taken a bunch of AP classes and had good grades, but I had no idea how or what to do to go to college. Along with our own financial hardships and dysfunction, I didn’t really know who to ask or what steps I needed to take.

I moved out of my house when I was just 17. I stumbled around quite a bit. I joke that I used to have lots of candlelight dinners because my power was always turned off. I went to SEVEN community colleges before transferring to U.C. Berkeley.

To say it was eye-opening would be an understatement. I had no idea what to expect. Everyone was so smart – an experience for another day, but people were so encouraging. My counselor even told me that “everyone double majors at Cal,” and she convinced me to double major in English and Japanese. BTW – I have since learned people don’t actually double major unless the majors are similar. Ha!

I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to make it but I eventually graduated with degrees in English and Japanese. After graduation, I took the leap to Japan. It put me on the trajectory I am on now and I am very appreciative of where I am.

I know that not everyone is able to take motivation from a put-down. Better than putting kids down when they allow you privy to their dreams, we should foster them and help guide them towards achieving their dreams.

Stay tuned for more dream-achieving.