My grandmother used to tell me, “You want to be the cause not the effect.” And I have always lived to exercise my will as a servant of my community. Born in Hong Kong and raised in various parts of both China and America, I have multiple ethnicities. A citizen of the world, I have deep appreciation for cultural diversity and multicultural communication. My most salient distinguishing characteristic is the depth of my sense of empathy societies most vulnerable and under-privileged members, particularly the special needs' children of ethnic minorities. Helping them to overcome their difficulties in communicating with others provides me with more joy than anything else in life.
While I am currently a certified NYS Bilingual School Psychologist M.S. ED., my desire to complete your program is a result of the special, indescribably, most intense love that I have for children trapped in the evil labyrinth of being unable to adequately express themselves I feel called, as a woman, psychologist, and as a human being to do all that I possibly can to remedy this situation. I feel strongly that speech pathology is my destiny, emanating from the innermost core of my identity, my sojourn.
When I was five years old, my parents immigrated to America and left me under the care of my grandmother; I was reunited with them in America at the age of ten. My parents were always working long hours at their low-income jobs and I found it difficult to communicate effectively with others due to cultural and language barriers. At 14, I started to occupy my time by volunteering in various organizations dedicated to assisting children of all ages and backgrounds; many from immigrant backgrounds similar to mine. We are part of a Chinese subgroup referred to as Fujianese, these children generally face special challenges in terms of discrimination, acculturation, and self-esteem. My own success story is a product of the fact childhood experience served as a springboard for helping me to understand the challenges and obstacles faced by immigrant Asian children and to build deep bonds with them.
I especially want to attend your program at XXXX because New York City is my home. We have a huge population of multilingual children, a majority of which are members of minority and/or low income populations. I see XXU as especially progressive, the program with greatest resources and the most keenly developed sense of mission. Finally, I am most favorably impressed with the research of Professor XXXX and would feel especially honored to learn from her.
