To give my kids what my parents gave me.

[Nicholas Huey]

I was given the opportunities I have today because of the hard work my parents and their parents did during their lifetimes. My grandpa emigrated from China to America alone when he was only 10 years old and shined shoes for a living. He slowly moved up in society from job to job while facing issues of discrimination and being an illegal immigrant. Through hard work he was able to save up and buy real estate and a laundry business while raising five kids, one of which was my mother. My parents also worked very hard in order to give me the opportunities that their parents weren’t able to give them. My dad went to trade school while working full time in order to buy a house and secure a job that would support his family. To this day he works at least 6 days a week, and most holidays in order to get overtime, at the Oakland shipping yard doing back breaking work in order to provide the best living situations for his family. A few years ago my family and I travelled to my grandpa’s village he left 75 years ago. It literally looked like an old Chinese village you would see in movies with chickens running around and self made houses. If my grandparents had never emigrated from China, I might still be living here.

I was the first one in my family who was able to attend a 4 year college. I grew up in a very safe neighborhood and went through one of the best education systems in California. Some of my friends I went to high school with came from rich families and didn’t appreciate what they were given. They would goof off in school and were throwing away all the hard work their parents did in order to put them where they were. I want to be able to give my children even more than I was given. I don’t want my kids to live in poverty or have to go through the hardships that my parents and grandparents went through. I do what I do because I want to move toward a brighter future for me and for future generations.