Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

My name for starters is Thianna Ngo, I’m 18 and this is my first year of college.  I’m a born and raised Sacramentan. My upbringing is very well picture the yellow brick road in Wizard of Oz; it’s very windy and at times confusing. But it got me to where I am today and I’m forever grateful.  At first it was just my mom and I living with my mom’s best friends. I grew up in a neighborhood that by the looks of it wasn’t the best, but by the feel of it, there was nothing better. Who I call my auntie and uncle today, are the ones who helped raise me, along with their three other sons.  Although I was the “runt” of the family, the boys did their best to include me in everything. I never knew what my living situation was like until I grew up, but even now it doesn’t bother me because there was always so much love and support for everyone. At age 9 my mom married my step father, but he’s been in my life ever since I can remember so I just call him Dad.  To be honest, I was not happy. I didn’t want things to change but damn was I in for a surprise. A year later my baby sister was born and she was the light of my life. My main passion and goal in life is to never let our age difference and background separate us. Sometimes it gets hard because she is a curious piece of…..cornbread, but I do my best to focus on us as full sisters rather than just half.  That leads me to one of my biggest obstacles in life. I am half Vietnamese from my mom’s side and half Mexican from my biological dad’s side, but I’ve never met my biological dad. I have no Mexican heritage to belong to and sometimes I feel like I hide that side of myself in order to be part of my entire family. I was married into my family and everyone else is full Asian, so looking different is hard or the age difference between my cousins and I is hard, or when I get offended by things that they say is hard because I choose not to say anything in order to keep the spotlight off of the past.  Throughout my schooling I was a decent student averaging A’s and B’s an occasional C until I was in 8th grade. I hit a low then because my priorities were a little skewered. This kinda led me down a path of not caring as much about my grades and just wanting to get through things without really trying. I played competitive soccer for about 7 years and in the last 4 years I would be out from about 4:30 till 9:30 practicing which also added to the list of distractions. High school was okay, but filled with a lot of life altering experiences. My relationship with my parents grew extremely distant and the trust was gone most of the time because I had betrayed them in some way or another.  Once senior year hit, I really thought things were going to change but it felt like my parents were just squeezing harder. I got accepted into all 6 colleges I had applied for, eventually choosing the one that I fell in love with for it’s teaching program. Sonoma State University was where I’d be for the next 4 years creating my college memories. Little did I know, that wouldn’t last either, so after just one semester I was back home and turning in paperwork to transfer to Sac City College. It was not my decision to move back home, neither was I happy about it, but I’m trying to make the most out of it and study hard with 21 units this semester to get out of here. My passions for the future include teaching elementary school here in Sacramento.  My goal is to finish with my BA at Sonoma in 4 years and transfer out to Sac State for my fifth year to finish my teaching credential. I mean eventually I would hope to settle down with someone I love by 28 and have children by 31.

Word count: 715

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