Sotheary Var interview
Item
Title
Sotheary Var interview
Creator
Var, Sotheary
Banh, Jenny
Relation
Central Valley Southeast Asian Successful Voices
Coverage
Fresno, California
Date
2017
Rights
Copyright has been transferred to Fresno State
Identifier
SCMS_casv_00022
extracted text
>> So, welcome, Sotheary. I'd like to thank you so much for agreeing to be ->> No problem.
>> -- part of our successful Southeast Asian voices in Central Valley. I can't thank you enough for your contribution.
Later on, you'll be a homework assignment and people will listen to your story, and hopefully be inspired by you.
>> Awesome.
>> Okay, all right, actually can I have your name? Can you actually spell your name and give me verbal permission to
interview for this?
>> Totally. I do this for my job too.
>> Okay.
>> My name is Sotheary Var, spelled S-O-T-H-E-A-R-Y, last name, V-A-R and I give you verbal permission to
interview me this project.
>> Great. Excellent, what is your gender?
>> I am female.
>> What is your birth year?
>> 1991.
>> What is your ethnic group and where were you born?
>> I am Cambodian. I was born here in Fresno, California in the United States.
>> Okay. What was your undergraduate major?
>> Mass Communication and Journalism and multimedia.
>> What was your generation in the United States? Are you a first generation, second generation or third?
>> My parents came here.
>> So if you were born here, you're second generation.
>> Okay, I'm second generation.
>> Okay. What is your father and mother's highest education?
>> My mom, I believe, she was in the middle of working on her GED. I don't know if she ever finished it, but my dad
has a college degree.
>> Wow.
>> And he actually also graduated from Fresno State.
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>> Yeah.
>> -- For a first generation?
>> Yeah, for a first generation. And it took him years, and years and years but ->> Please speak about that later ->> Yeah.
>> -- because, of course, our first generation, the average is probably no education or third grade education. So I feel
like for him to go -- for a first generation, that's very impressive.
>> Yeah.
>> Excellent. What about your brothers and sisters? What's your family composition like? How many brothers and
sisters you have? Who did you grow up with?
>> So, my brothers actually divorced when I was young, like around the age of four I think, so from their marriage,
there were three of us. I have two older sisters. I was the third of the three daughters and then after they divorced, my
mom had my younger sister, who is now 19?
>> Okay.
>> Yeah, 19. Then my dad has my two younger brothers who are now -- I feel terrible for not knowing what age -- I
think he's 13 now and I actually have a baby brother two years old -- two or three years old.
>> Did anyone go to college?
>> My two older sisters went to college. The oldest one has graduated from the University of Washington.
>> That's impressive or Washington State University. I know there's a difference. I'm sorry. I don't know that part.
>> But to go far, that's really great for a woman.
>> Yeah, we have family up there, so she moved over there with them and did school up there. My second sister, she
did not graduate college but she is currently in L.A. and she's done some stuff on her own, so, yeah.
>> Great.
>> I'm sorry, so then my younger, sister, who's 19; she is currently attending Fresno State.
>> Great. Okay, she can actually listen to your interview one day. So, what's your ultimate [inaudible] aspiration, a BA
or beyond?
>> So my thing about school is that I've always struggled in school, so I was just like I'll just get some sort of college
degree, you know. So I have my Bachelors in Arts [inaudible]. When I finished college, I didn't really have aspirations
to continue on with school, but I realized if I want to like become a teacher or something to like pass on my skills and
knowledge, that I would have to continue school.
>> Credentials.
>> Yeah, get my credentials and stuff and so, but right now, I'm just kind of doing fun stuff for work.
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>> Okay, great.
>> So I'll think about that later on.
>> Well, you already made the top. What is your social, not now, but when you grew up, was it working class, middle
class, was in full rich? No working?
>> My family was -- we grew up certainly poor. We did depend on welfare and financial aid and stuff like that from
what I remember when I was a kid after my parents got divorced and my dad was trying to continue school, from what
he told me afterwards, I mean he was certainly struggling with it because he was balancing taking care of kids and, you
know, he used financial aid to support his kids even ->> Oh, clever.
>> -- and he rented like a small one bedroom apartment with my two sisters and then like I had visitation with him. So
there'd be four of us in a one bedroom apartment. With my mom, she was also struggling and she was struggling to
support me and my younger sister and also the whole family thing. She was a single mom in a lot of aspects.
>> Was this in Fresno?
>> This was all in Fresno.
>> Oh, interesting.
>> Did you go to Duncan High School?
>> No, I graduated from Fresno High.
>> Fresno High, where is that located?
>> That is on McKinley and Palm.
>> Is that a public or private school?
>> It's a public school. Yeah, Fresno High School is a public.
>> Did you go through the AVID Program?
>> No, actually there was another program ->> Oh, interesting.
>> -- called IB Program.
>> What's that?
>> It starts with like International Baccalaureate Program.
>> Okay.
>> I'm going to be honest. I don't even know how I got into that program, but it's IB ->> It's a prestigious program, no?
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>> Yeah, I'm pretty sure it is. It's different from AP classes.
>> Yeah, it's international. I'm familiar with IB, okay.
>> Right.
>> So your school didn't do APs. They did IB.
>> I think they offered AP classes but they were trying to make IB a more predominant thing so it would attract student
because I think Fresno High was in a not so great school district, so they were trying to implement that would attract ->> -- like different people?
>> -- yeah, different students and stuff.
>> So speaking of students, what was the ratio in ethnic demographics for school? Was it all Asian? Was it Latinos,
African American?
>> For high school, it was very mixed. It was totally mixed.
>> Really, okay.
>> There was a solid evening out of white students, black students, Asians, Mexicans, so I really appreciated that aspect
because you learned a little bit of everything and you really immersed yourself in not just your own culture, and it gave
you a greater understanding of, you know, what kind of society we live in here in Fresno, California.
>> When you're speaking of the Asians, what kind of Asians went to your school?
>> Mostly Hmong people.
>> Oh, okay.
>> I don't even think -- there were other Cambodian students, but I never really interacted with them and all throughout
school, I hardly interacted with Cambodian students, maybe like once in elementary school.
>> What about Fresno State, did you join the Cambodian Student Club?
>> I did not. So my thing about that I was just so busy with work and school -- and also I felt detached from my
Cambodian community that I felt shy about joining the Cambodian club here. Yeah, so that was that.
>> Interesting. All right, so why do Cambodians go to college? Why do they go? Why they do not? My next question is
do Cambodians get mentored in College?
>> I couldn't speak on why or why not Cambodians student go because, like I said, I was detached from my Cambodian
community. I mean actually when I was younger, my parents were very involved with the Cambodian community.
>> Let's speak more about that.
>> Well, there was actually a Cambodian school program when I was younger. It was called KEEP. It stood for Khmer
Emerging Education Program, I think. I would have to check on that.
>> I think you're correct. You said emerging?
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>> Yeah, Khmer Emerging Educational Program.
>> You know, it's interesting because everyone who I've interviewed has been a successful Southeast Asian Cambodian
have been through KEEP.
>> Oh, okay.
>> What do they do in that program?
>> My dad was one of the teachers there and he would teach Cambodian, but like I was younger, and the story with me
because my parents were divorced, my dad was a part of that program. My mom did her own thing and worked and stuff
like that, but the child custody scheduling didn't allow me to attend Khmer school, so I didn't learn Khmer and from
that, I became more and more detached from my Cambodian community. Before I knew or before I was old enough to
really attend -- because, like I said, they divorced when I was like four, and then when I was old enough to go even
remotely consistently, the program kind of fell apart and it fell to maybe 20 kids literally trying to meet every week to
try to keep this program going, and I don't even think it exist now.
>> But I'm just saying, the very successful Cambodians have said that they had been part of the program. So something
about that program must have been very successful.
>> Yeah.
>> Because it affected somehow -- sometimes was better than nothing.
>> Yeah, for sure, and like my dad was a teacher, you know, so I still have that connection. I remember when I was
younger, I was so excited to be a part of that, but it was really was unfortunate that I wasn't able to attend consistently,
but, like I said, that's where I would have interacted with Cambodian, other Cambodian kids.
>> How old were you?
>> It was basically all throughout my childhood that I couldn't attend consistently and then by the time I was in middle
school, and high school, that's when the program really fell apart. So it's not like I could be a part of that.
>> Interesting. I would think like resurrecting that would be like positive.
>> Yeah, and I think, okay, so another branch off of that was that when these kids became older, they had more of a
voice about whether they wanted to go to Cambodian school anymore and I think a lot of them were like, "I don't need
this. ->> True.
>> -- I'm in the American world." You know, "I don't need to read and write Cambodian," and that makes me sad
because I really wish that I could speak, read and write my parent's language because went through a lot, they're resilient
people and I feel ashamed really that I'm so successful off of their hardships and the least that I could have done was be
a part of their culture.
>> Well, you're young. You could learn now.
>> Yeah. Now, it's just a matter of finding time and the commitment.
>> It's online. I'm [inaudible].
>> Awesome.
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>> I just interviewed Cambodian doctor and he learned Chinese online and Thai online and [inaudible] online. He just
did it by himself. I was like oh my God.
>> And I know some people say, "Well, it's your parents fault for not teaching you these things," but really they were so
focused on getting me up to speed to succeed in America and in this lifestyle that, you know, Cambodian culture took a
back side, so it doesn't speak on them at all. It's just they wanted the best for me here.
>> Right, just trying to survive.
>> What's your favorite subject and what's your least favorite at Fresno State?
>> So at Fresno State actually my least favorite subjects were like Political Science and stuff like that, anything that
involved a lot of reading and writing really mostly because I felt inadequate in those subjects, growing up in like
elementary school and high school and stuff. I grew up in a household -- two households really went I went in between
my parents -- of where they lacked English and it wasn't a strong subject for me going into school. I felt kind of,
honestly, kind of stupid. I know that not the right word to use but I felt not smart compared to these other kids, who
actually had help at home with their English-speaking parents to help them with words and essays and stuff like that. So
I actually ended up excelling math in high school ->> Oh, interesting ->> -- because my dad was good at that and him being super -- and school was super important to him. He grew up in an
educated family I guess, an elite family when he was in Cambodia, and education was a big thing, and he excelled in
that, and it was important to him and so he really pushed that on me.
>> Interesting. So he told you education was important?
>> Yes. My dad was the one that really pushed me to value education, my mom too, but my mom came from like a
farming background when she was in Cambodia. So my parents came from two very, very different backgrounds. My
mom taught me the value of hard work. My dad taught me the value of education.
>> Okay.
>> So I mean all around, I was kind of terrible student, and always like a terrible worker and from their marriage, being
the baby of three daughters, I was certainly very spoiled, so it took me a while to really value just like even household.
You know, in Cambodian, it's like important for you to learn, as a girl, how to cook, and clean, and stuff like that and I
got to run around and play while my two older sisters, that was really pushed on them.
>> Interesting, so it was also pushed on your sisters to value education and hard work.
>> Yes, totally coming from my dad.
>> Interesting. Are you Cambodian/Chinese?
>> No, I'm just Cambodian.
>> Okay. Interesting.
>> Then when communism struck Cambodia, my parents met at the refugee camp when they escaped to Thialand and
they came to America together.
>> Did they come to -- where did they migrate -- like what area first?
>> They went to actually the east coast in Virginia I believe they touched down there, and the climate over there was
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just too cold for them, too unfamiliar, so they came over here to California. You know, they heard about the Cambodian
->> Long Beach?
>> Actually, yeah, for a while some of my family went to Long Beach like my extended family on my dad's and mom's
side and then from there, they came to Fresno and this is where I was born.
>> Interesting. So you want to make Fresno State a warmer environment for students, [inaudible] environment. So what
makes a good professor and what makes a bad professor to make it a warmer environment?
>> Let me think back on the best professor that I've had -- the best ones that I've had were the ones that really took out
time of their day to figure out what was going with you, and really try to find solutions to your problem, but it's a twoway relationship because the student has to take the first step to ask for help.
>> That's the thing in all of the interviews, the males don't ask for help.
>> Yeah.
>> So it's hard.
>> Yeah, whether you're a guy or a girl, it's okay to ask for help and that was my thing for the longest throughout
elementary, throughout high school, I didn't know how to ask for help.
>> Okay.
>> That really hurt me.
>> How come you didn't ask for help? Was it a culturally thing?
>> I think I was just scared. I was shy. I didn't know that I could ask for help, you know. You know, you go and you see
your white teachers, you see your white or other American classmates and you see them excelling, and it doesn't look
like they're asking for help from their teachers, so you don't see your teacher ->> They probably have the most help, tutor in the background.
>> Yeah and when you don't see other people -- your peers going to your teacher, you don't see your teacher as
somebody you can reach out to, when in reality they really are.
>> Did you see other Asians ask for help?
>> I think I saw other Asians like definitely ask for tutoring and stuff like that, but it never clicked with me. It's not like
-- well, in high school eventually, my dad was like, "Hey, there are tutoring programs after school. I want you to attend
them."
>> He's so proactive to do that.
>> Yeah. It helped that my dad was part of Fresno Unified, so he knew about these things, you know. He learned about
things that the school district was offering, so he was like, "Hey, daughter, go take advantage of these after school
programs," things like that.
>> That's amazing because some parents wouldn't do anything or say anything.
>> That's where I became very lucky was that my dad was in a position to understand that the school district had
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programs to offer. I would imagine that other Asian families were, you know, the parents aren't involved. They don't
understand these things are out there for these kids.
>> That's a good point, yeah. So, it's only because your dad was in school.
>> Yeah.
>> In high school, it seems that your father was very activist in helping you succeed.
>> Yeah.
>> Do you think you were ever mentored in Fresno State?
>> Yes and no. I was mentored when I asked for help.
>> Okay.
>> So I started work at KC24.
>> How did you get that job as a Southeast Asian? Really, tell us?
>> Right, so let's go back to high school really because that was when I first discovered my interest in film or anything
involving video at all.
>> Okay.
>> No, I'm wrong actually back in middle school, they offered after school programs and stuff and these after school
programs were free, which I have learned that they have cut funding to after school programs at some of these schools,
which is very sad to me because this free after school program is what introduced me to my love to film.
>> It was a free film class?
>> Yeah, it was free after school program for film ->> Great.
>> -- [inaudible] basically, you know. It was just like this guy that came in and talked to you about the basics of like
shooting and composition of films, you know, like black and white films and the history of it and things like that,
anything film, you just learned the shallow basics. I learned the shallow basics of it there. So when I went to high
school, I took the film class. If I didn't learn about film in these free after school programs in middle school, I wouldn't
have realized my interest in films ->> How interesting.
>> -- and taking the film classes in high school. So, from there, I went onto college and I actually started out as a
business major in my first year of college and learned that I strongly disliked it, not because like I hated business -- I
think Business is awesome. I just don't have the mind for it. My mind doesn't tick in that way and I took it because my
mom is a business owner. She owns her own business. She sews linens. She's a seamstress. On top of alterations, she
makes tablecloths, napkins, and chair covers by the hundreds for weddings and stuff like, all local. She supplies a lot of
local businesses. So she's really awesome in that aspect and I look up to her so much.
>> It seems like you both have very prestigious parents.
>> Yeah.
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>> It comes from them working so hard, you know. My parents started out in America from nothing and they fought so
hard to be where they're at today, and I really appreciate that foundation from them.
>> Then you changed majors?
>> Yeah, I started out as Business because when you're growing up, people ask you what do you want to do when you
grow up, and deep down, you don't know, you say you want to do Business, you want to become a doctor. Deep down,
you don't know until you actually do it. It's okay to realize this isn't what you want. So I basically spent my first year in
Business. I just didn't click with the classes so I shifted over to Mass Communication and Journalism ->> Okay.
>> -- because it was the closest like programs that we had to film. Mass Communication/Journalism involves more
journalism, now these days, social media, multimedia video news. We actually have a full-on studio here at Fresno
State.
>> Really?
>> A lot of people don't even know.
>> There's a full studio here? Where?
>> There's a full studio with full studio cameras. That's where we record our -- I think it's called, "Fresno State Focus,"
it's a campus-based like newscast.
>> Okay.
>> I never worked on it, but it's something that people can totally look up.
>> Okay, great.
>> It's our campus's mini newscast station.
>> Did you do that?
>> No, I didn't work on Fresno State Focus, but I did take MCJ113, which showed the basics of studio work, taught you
how to use camera, how to technical direct, how to direct, how to use audio, the audio board and stuff like that. So,
literally, it was my first year of Business College. Then the next semester, my third semester, I became an MCJ major.
In that very first semester, I had a classmate who already worked at KC24, and she was like, "Hey, they're hiring.
They're looking for production people," me with absolutely no experience, no experience and hardly any job experience
really. I didn't really have any real jobs. I was like 19 and I was barely learning how to drive. I felt very inadequate in a
lot of aspects, but I was like, "Hey, what have I got to lose?" I was very nervous. I was confident I was not going to get
the job, but I applied anyway because I like, "I'm taking this class. I'm learning the basics of how to work in a real news
studio, so why not just apply?" Long story short, I got the job.
>> Great.
>> I was hired, [inaudible] working.
>> Wow!
>> I was so bad at my job in the first several months, and I think like the first year or two, I was not the best. On top of
like juggling work and school, it was hard, you know. Looking back on it now, in reality, production is quite easy when
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you get the hang of it.
>> Oh really?
>> But the mentality of going to school and doing this job was really difficult because I worked terrible hours. I would
work their sunrise show. I would wake up at four in the morning ->> Oh my gosh.
>> -- actually it's earlier than that, so my shift would like start at four or 4:30 and our morning newscast was five to
seven.
>> How did you make it to class?
>> My classes would start at eight.
>> Okay.
>> I remember I had one of my classes and like the upside to that was I would get like early parking, so I'd get the
closest parking possible, you know. Like everybody wants the best parking at Fresno State because it's a wreck here, so
that was one upside, but, honestly, I found myself trading in class for sleep because it was just so tough. I would go to
school from eight until to maybe noon. I would have noon classes and then I'd come back to work at 2:30 for our like 3
o'clock and 4 o'clock shows. We have a lot of evening shows, like 5:00 or 6:00. I'd be done with my day at 7:30 and
then I would too tired to do homework and I'd go to sleep and I'd wake up again and do it all over.
>> You're so impressive. Oh, my God.
>> I don't know how I did it. I'll be honest. It was miserable, but I was like, I just go to do this school thing. I skirted
through all of my classes. I didn't have the best grades but I was like just do enough to earn your degree. You know, just
do enough. It's important to be in school because, to me, just the fact that I got that job to begin with, you know, I
would've never met this person who gave me this opportunity to work at a local news station if I hadn't gone to college.
>> That's a good point.
>> College is full of people who are like-minded. That is where you meet people who want to make something of
themselves. If you do not put yourself in this pool of people, you don't make those connections; you never make those
connections. I mean I know people like look at college and they're like, "Well, I don't need an education to, you know,
earn a paycheck," but if you want to excel -- if you're wondering how to meet people, this is where you meet people.
This is the start and, you know, you start from the bottom and you go from there. As much as I hated school -- I can
comfortably say that, I hated school. I loved learning, but I hated school. I hate textbooks. I hate reading. I hate studying
but I fully appreciate and comprehend the opportunities that going to college has given me. Yeah, I struggled through
and throughout most of my college years. It took me five and a half years to ->> That's not bad -- that's not bad at all.
>> -- to get a degree, yeah. You know, it psychs you because you think you're supposed to finish it in four.
>> Right.
>> When you come out of high school, you're like, "Okay, so like over the next four years, you're going to have your
freshmen, sophomore, junior and senior and you're going to finish college in four years and the longer those four years
become, the more discouraged you get.
>> Interesting.
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>> You know, I'm like, "All of my friends are graduating before me, I feel so inadequate." I failed Political Science two
times for sure, maybe three and that's one of your prerequisites to graduate.
>> It is?
>> You know.
>> Poli Science?
>> Yeah and I was terrible at it, but I was like, "I really had to get through this class," and it took me failing the class
two times to finally ask for help.
>> Wow.
>> Yeah, that was the harder lesson that I learned that all of that time and money wasted to take Political Science so
many times, I finally learned to ask for help and that's when I finally passed the class.
>> Who did you ask for help?
>> There were tutors. I asked friends to help me like study -- like "What does this mean? I'm not understanding this."
>> So group work ->> Yeah.
>> -- which has been proven to help, group work.
>> Yeah, I can't remember his name. I think remember his face but there was one Political Science teacher. I wish I
remember his name but he understood the importance of getting help, you know, because he had plenty of students, just
like me, fail and not pass the class, and all it takes is just a little bit more practice, you know, and just asking for help.
>> Thank you for telling me so much about your barriers. Do you think there are any other barriers that I didn't ask you?
If not, then I'm going to move onto success.
>> Let's see for my barriers, it's just ->> Because you talked about you had family barriers, you had job barriers, financial barriers, your amazing job ethnic, I
mean.
>> I'm going to be completely honest with you and I'm mentioning this not to like make me sound like it wasn't -- like
my work wasn't important at all, but in the moment of struggling through work and school in those really terrible hours,
I didn't feel like I was doing great. You know, I think when people are in the middle of their struggles, they feel
inadequate and they feel like they're not doing great, that they're not in a great place in their life but when you finally
push through that and you come out of it, you're like, "Holy cow, that was me! That was me struggling."
>> Yeah.
>> I know that when people struggle, it feels like you're not doing great but you are just by fighting.
>> Moving onto the success, you know, there are people who struggle, but they struggle by dropping out. So the
reaction is by dropping. What about your specific personality, you know, eliminating your parents? Why do you think
you made it when so many other people didn't? I mean they also struggled, right?
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>> Right.
>> And then whatever reason and they had similar barriers or different barriers, but they decide, "I will leave." What
about your personality? Why did you make it?
>> So I feel like part of the reason why I graduated was the push from my family from parents to push, you know, and
just watching them work so hard. Like I mostly live with my mom and just watching her work so hard everyday, would
have made me feel like crap if I didn't finish school -- that all of her hard work was for something.
>> Oh, interesting. Okay.
>> She built this foundation. She worked so hard. She puts a roof over my head. She feeds me and my dad too. Both my
parents work so hard to take care of me and all I have to do is finish school, that's it. So as much as I hated, I was just
like, "Just do it."
>> Wow! Is this your same personality that you had since third grade, and sixth and high school? Or is this a little
different personality?
>> Well, when I was a kid, I didn't fully comprehend the value of education. I knew it was important. I saw other kids
do it, so I did it too. It's just like a part of your life, a part of your personal culture to go to school but you don't fully
understand the value of it until maybe college or even after college.
>> You're so relatively young. Everyone is in their 30s. So you talked about your personal enablers. You talked about
family enablers. You talked about how you did cultural programs, you said the KEEP, right?
>> I mean I did it on and off, but not enough to feel like I was really part of it ->> But you did some.
>> -- it was there. It was there for me. Did I ask anything else that would bridges -- I mean because you did a lot of
things. You father as activist -- mother -- was there anything else that you think was a key to your success?
>> My teachers ->> Teachers, okay.
>> --definitely because at home, you have your parents to support, but when go into the classroom, the person that is
guiding you and encouraging you, are your teachers.
>> Your sisters at all?
>> My sisters, yeah ->> Did they open at first -- open the way?
>> Throughout most -- my older sister that went to college, she was away in Washington for a while. So she actually
came back to Fresno maybe halfway through I want to say or a little bit halfway and that's when she really kicked my
butt into gear. That's when she really started encouraging me, but it was mostly my parents and she did -- like when she
came back from Washington, she sat me down and really went over my classes, you know, with me. "Okay, this is what
you've done. This is what you have left to graduate." And when you sit down and really put everything on paper and
realize like it's doable, then it's doable, you know. I think a lot of times we get lost and like, "I failed this class. I failed
this class. I'm never going to make it," but when you just put it down on paper and delegate your time and commitment,
it's not that hard.
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>> Wow! Okay. So your sister did that for you?
>> My sister did that for me.
>> And she must have struggled because no one did that for her, right?
>> I mean she had a support base in Washington because, like I said, we had family over there but she had a much more
disciplined mind than I did. Yeah, I certainly have discipline issues. Like I mean I have the creativity and l love doing
stuff, but I certainly couldn't have done it without the help of my family and the people around me to push me.
>> Great. Thank you so much. So now the last part is -- just tell me yes or no, and small classes, do you want them or
no difference?
>> Yes and no.
>> Okay.
>> I personally think it depends on the subject.
>> Okay.
>> Yeah.
>> More co-ethnic professors, Asian professors, any difference? Did you any Asian-American studies class?
>> I never did.
[ LAUGHTER ]
>> I was in Mass Communication program, you know, it was one of those things. I took like the most artsy classes as
possible. If I had like the extra general ed classes I needed to take, I would always go for the artsy classes. Because, like
I said, anything that sounded like it involved textbooks and, you know, studying and stuff, I strayed away from, but it
just speaks on the type of classes that I took, but I think it is an advantage to have -- what was it like co-ethnic
professors?
>> Do you want all Cambodian professors, all Cambodian classmates, entire school of Cambodians?
>> I think a mix of professors from different backgrounds is definitely beneficial because one of my most memorable
was a [inaudible] Weather teacher. I can't remember his name but he was like from Nigeria or something and he was
just super cool, heavy accent, so you really had to pay attention to him in class, but he was just the most animated
teacher, you know. You know, you could tell that like from his background, he was excited to be here, you know. He
didn't just mosey onto becoming a teacher like I feel like some professors do. He wanted to become a teacher, and when
you have professors that want to be here, you can tell, the students can tell and it makes a difference in the classroom.
>> Okay, great. What about the clubs? You want 10 Cambodian clubs? Do you want an Asian club? Do you want an
Asian sorority?
>> I think it's -- it's difficult for me to speak on that because I'm doing just fine without having been a part of Asian
culture but I think it's important for other students to identify with that. Honestly, it's a lot easier for me to become
incorporated in American culture as an Asian woman.
>> Right.
>> I'm going to speak very honestly here. People love Asian women. It's a lot easier for them to be a part of American
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society as Asian women and it's no secret that Asian men struggle whether it be in school, or careers, or even dating.
You know, there are a lot of barriers that Asian men have to overcome. I recognize that. I can't imagine what that's like
because it's been incredible easy for me for the people around me to take notice of me.
>> Can you give any advice because the struggle is real and we've recognized it here at Fresno State? It does seem to be
more privileging to be an Asian woman.
>> Yeah.
>> What can Asian males do? I mean what advice can you give them?
>> I have to apologize because I don't know what it's like to be an Asian male, so I'm only going to say ->> Your household was all women, yeah.
>> Yeah, oh my gosh, that's another was that I grew up with a lot of women, a lot of strong, independent women but
when it comes to guys, I'm going to speak on my knowledge of the Asian guys that I do know, it's to be yourself and if
you have interests, go towards them whether it be like movies, or books, or games and stuff. Like put yourself in the
position to be a part of what you are interested in, and that is where you will be accepted.
>> So put yourself in your interests. Okay.
>> Yeah, you know, whether it be clubs, or classes and stuff like that, get involved and that's you meet peers.
>> Great. That's excellent advice. So you're second generation. You made it. That's incredible globally, as well, kind of
very prestigious. The third generation is coming in, I don't know, 60 years I guess. Twelve year-olds are going to hit it.
We'll see if they come at 18, but some of them will come. What advice do you have to the third and fourth, even maybe
to the second generation that are still here, but what advice do you have to the third fourth and second generation to
keep going in school and the value of education to graduate? Can you give any advice?
>> For the next generation coming in, some you guys are going to be super smart and do really well in school. Some of
you guys are going to hate school like I did, but recognize where you want to be in life and take the steps to get,
recognize the steps to get there because if you want to be successful, if you want to do greater things than just work at
some mediocre job, put yourself in a position to meet people who also want to make something of themselves and go to
college, and finish college not because everybody else is doing it but as a personal goal, so that you can tell yourself that
you did it. Nobody else can tell you that. And I mean as much as I struggled through school and as much as my parents
pushed me, they didn't do it for me; I did. So don't do it for other people. Finish school for yourself and do not believe
that you cannot do it. Do not believe that you are inadequate because you have it in you. And people before you have
done and people after you, will do it so there's no reason why you can't.
>> Okay, great.
>> So, yeah. I hope that's it.
>> Yeah, thank you.
>> I hope that was okay.
>> Yes, thank you. Let me thank you and this is the end of the interview. So I will turn it off. Thank you so much.
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>> -- part of our successful Southeast Asian voices in Central Valley. I can't thank you enough for your contribution.
Later on, you'll be a homework assignment and people will listen to your story, and hopefully be inspired by you.
>> Awesome.
>> Okay, all right, actually can I have your name? Can you actually spell your name and give me verbal permission to
interview for this?
>> Totally. I do this for my job too.
>> Okay.
>> My name is Sotheary Var, spelled S-O-T-H-E-A-R-Y, last name, V-A-R and I give you verbal permission to
interview me this project.
>> Great. Excellent, what is your gender?
>> I am female.
>> What is your birth year?
>> 1991.
>> What is your ethnic group and where were you born?
>> I am Cambodian. I was born here in Fresno, California in the United States.
>> Okay. What was your undergraduate major?
>> Mass Communication and Journalism and multimedia.
>> What was your generation in the United States? Are you a first generation, second generation or third?
>> My parents came here.
>> So if you were born here, you're second generation.
>> Okay, I'm second generation.
>> Okay. What is your father and mother's highest education?
>> My mom, I believe, she was in the middle of working on her GED. I don't know if she ever finished it, but my dad
has a college degree.
>> Wow.
>> And he actually also graduated from Fresno State.
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>> Yeah.
>> -- For a first generation?
>> Yeah, for a first generation. And it took him years, and years and years but ->> Please speak about that later ->> Yeah.
>> -- because, of course, our first generation, the average is probably no education or third grade education. So I feel
like for him to go -- for a first generation, that's very impressive.
>> Yeah.
>> Excellent. What about your brothers and sisters? What's your family composition like? How many brothers and
sisters you have? Who did you grow up with?
>> So, my brothers actually divorced when I was young, like around the age of four I think, so from their marriage,
there were three of us. I have two older sisters. I was the third of the three daughters and then after they divorced, my
mom had my younger sister, who is now 19?
>> Okay.
>> Yeah, 19. Then my dad has my two younger brothers who are now -- I feel terrible for not knowing what age -- I
think he's 13 now and I actually have a baby brother two years old -- two or three years old.
>> Did anyone go to college?
>> My two older sisters went to college. The oldest one has graduated from the University of Washington.
>> That's impressive or Washington State University. I know there's a difference. I'm sorry. I don't know that part.
>> But to go far, that's really great for a woman.
>> Yeah, we have family up there, so she moved over there with them and did school up there. My second sister, she
did not graduate college but she is currently in L.A. and she's done some stuff on her own, so, yeah.
>> Great.
>> I'm sorry, so then my younger, sister, who's 19; she is currently attending Fresno State.
>> Great. Okay, she can actually listen to your interview one day. So, what's your ultimate [inaudible] aspiration, a BA
or beyond?
>> So my thing about school is that I've always struggled in school, so I was just like I'll just get some sort of college
degree, you know. So I have my Bachelors in Arts [inaudible]. When I finished college, I didn't really have aspirations
to continue on with school, but I realized if I want to like become a teacher or something to like pass on my skills and
knowledge, that I would have to continue school.
>> Credentials.
>> Yeah, get my credentials and stuff and so, but right now, I'm just kind of doing fun stuff for work.
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>> Okay, great.
>> So I'll think about that later on.
>> Well, you already made the top. What is your social, not now, but when you grew up, was it working class, middle
class, was in full rich? No working?
>> My family was -- we grew up certainly poor. We did depend on welfare and financial aid and stuff like that from
what I remember when I was a kid after my parents got divorced and my dad was trying to continue school, from what
he told me afterwards, I mean he was certainly struggling with it because he was balancing taking care of kids and, you
know, he used financial aid to support his kids even ->> Oh, clever.
>> -- and he rented like a small one bedroom apartment with my two sisters and then like I had visitation with him. So
there'd be four of us in a one bedroom apartment. With my mom, she was also struggling and she was struggling to
support me and my younger sister and also the whole family thing. She was a single mom in a lot of aspects.
>> Was this in Fresno?
>> This was all in Fresno.
>> Oh, interesting.
>> Did you go to Duncan High School?
>> No, I graduated from Fresno High.
>> Fresno High, where is that located?
>> That is on McKinley and Palm.
>> Is that a public or private school?
>> It's a public school. Yeah, Fresno High School is a public.
>> Did you go through the AVID Program?
>> No, actually there was another program ->> Oh, interesting.
>> -- called IB Program.
>> What's that?
>> It starts with like International Baccalaureate Program.
>> Okay.
>> I'm going to be honest. I don't even know how I got into that program, but it's IB ->> It's a prestigious program, no?
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>> Yeah, I'm pretty sure it is. It's different from AP classes.
>> Yeah, it's international. I'm familiar with IB, okay.
>> Right.
>> So your school didn't do APs. They did IB.
>> I think they offered AP classes but they were trying to make IB a more predominant thing so it would attract student
because I think Fresno High was in a not so great school district, so they were trying to implement that would attract ->> -- like different people?
>> -- yeah, different students and stuff.
>> So speaking of students, what was the ratio in ethnic demographics for school? Was it all Asian? Was it Latinos,
African American?
>> For high school, it was very mixed. It was totally mixed.
>> Really, okay.
>> There was a solid evening out of white students, black students, Asians, Mexicans, so I really appreciated that aspect
because you learned a little bit of everything and you really immersed yourself in not just your own culture, and it gave
you a greater understanding of, you know, what kind of society we live in here in Fresno, California.
>> When you're speaking of the Asians, what kind of Asians went to your school?
>> Mostly Hmong people.
>> Oh, okay.
>> I don't even think -- there were other Cambodian students, but I never really interacted with them and all throughout
school, I hardly interacted with Cambodian students, maybe like once in elementary school.
>> What about Fresno State, did you join the Cambodian Student Club?
>> I did not. So my thing about that I was just so busy with work and school -- and also I felt detached from my
Cambodian community that I felt shy about joining the Cambodian club here. Yeah, so that was that.
>> Interesting. All right, so why do Cambodians go to college? Why do they go? Why they do not? My next question is
do Cambodians get mentored in College?
>> I couldn't speak on why or why not Cambodians student go because, like I said, I was detached from my Cambodian
community. I mean actually when I was younger, my parents were very involved with the Cambodian community.
>> Let's speak more about that.
>> Well, there was actually a Cambodian school program when I was younger. It was called KEEP. It stood for Khmer
Emerging Education Program, I think. I would have to check on that.
>> I think you're correct. You said emerging?
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>> Yeah, Khmer Emerging Educational Program.
>> You know, it's interesting because everyone who I've interviewed has been a successful Southeast Asian Cambodian
have been through KEEP.
>> Oh, okay.
>> What do they do in that program?
>> My dad was one of the teachers there and he would teach Cambodian, but like I was younger, and the story with me
because my parents were divorced, my dad was a part of that program. My mom did her own thing and worked and stuff
like that, but the child custody scheduling didn't allow me to attend Khmer school, so I didn't learn Khmer and from
that, I became more and more detached from my Cambodian community. Before I knew or before I was old enough to
really attend -- because, like I said, they divorced when I was like four, and then when I was old enough to go even
remotely consistently, the program kind of fell apart and it fell to maybe 20 kids literally trying to meet every week to
try to keep this program going, and I don't even think it exist now.
>> But I'm just saying, the very successful Cambodians have said that they had been part of the program. So something
about that program must have been very successful.
>> Yeah.
>> Because it affected somehow -- sometimes was better than nothing.
>> Yeah, for sure, and like my dad was a teacher, you know, so I still have that connection. I remember when I was
younger, I was so excited to be a part of that, but it was really was unfortunate that I wasn't able to attend consistently,
but, like I said, that's where I would have interacted with Cambodian, other Cambodian kids.
>> How old were you?
>> It was basically all throughout my childhood that I couldn't attend consistently and then by the time I was in middle
school, and high school, that's when the program really fell apart. So it's not like I could be a part of that.
>> Interesting. I would think like resurrecting that would be like positive.
>> Yeah, and I think, okay, so another branch off of that was that when these kids became older, they had more of a
voice about whether they wanted to go to Cambodian school anymore and I think a lot of them were like, "I don't need
this. ->> True.
>> -- I'm in the American world." You know, "I don't need to read and write Cambodian," and that makes me sad
because I really wish that I could speak, read and write my parent's language because went through a lot, they're resilient
people and I feel ashamed really that I'm so successful off of their hardships and the least that I could have done was be
a part of their culture.
>> Well, you're young. You could learn now.
>> Yeah. Now, it's just a matter of finding time and the commitment.
>> It's online. I'm [inaudible].
>> Awesome.
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>> I just interviewed Cambodian doctor and he learned Chinese online and Thai online and [inaudible] online. He just
did it by himself. I was like oh my God.
>> And I know some people say, "Well, it's your parents fault for not teaching you these things," but really they were so
focused on getting me up to speed to succeed in America and in this lifestyle that, you know, Cambodian culture took a
back side, so it doesn't speak on them at all. It's just they wanted the best for me here.
>> Right, just trying to survive.
>> What's your favorite subject and what's your least favorite at Fresno State?
>> So at Fresno State actually my least favorite subjects were like Political Science and stuff like that, anything that
involved a lot of reading and writing really mostly because I felt inadequate in those subjects, growing up in like
elementary school and high school and stuff. I grew up in a household -- two households really went I went in between
my parents -- of where they lacked English and it wasn't a strong subject for me going into school. I felt kind of,
honestly, kind of stupid. I know that not the right word to use but I felt not smart compared to these other kids, who
actually had help at home with their English-speaking parents to help them with words and essays and stuff like that. So
I actually ended up excelling math in high school ->> Oh, interesting ->> -- because my dad was good at that and him being super -- and school was super important to him. He grew up in an
educated family I guess, an elite family when he was in Cambodia, and education was a big thing, and he excelled in
that, and it was important to him and so he really pushed that on me.
>> Interesting. So he told you education was important?
>> Yes. My dad was the one that really pushed me to value education, my mom too, but my mom came from like a
farming background when she was in Cambodia. So my parents came from two very, very different backgrounds. My
mom taught me the value of hard work. My dad taught me the value of education.
>> Okay.
>> So I mean all around, I was kind of terrible student, and always like a terrible worker and from their marriage, being
the baby of three daughters, I was certainly very spoiled, so it took me a while to really value just like even household.
You know, in Cambodian, it's like important for you to learn, as a girl, how to cook, and clean, and stuff like that and I
got to run around and play while my two older sisters, that was really pushed on them.
>> Interesting, so it was also pushed on your sisters to value education and hard work.
>> Yes, totally coming from my dad.
>> Interesting. Are you Cambodian/Chinese?
>> No, I'm just Cambodian.
>> Okay. Interesting.
>> Then when communism struck Cambodia, my parents met at the refugee camp when they escaped to Thialand and
they came to America together.
>> Did they come to -- where did they migrate -- like what area first?
>> They went to actually the east coast in Virginia I believe they touched down there, and the climate over there was
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just too cold for them, too unfamiliar, so they came over here to California. You know, they heard about the Cambodian
->> Long Beach?
>> Actually, yeah, for a while some of my family went to Long Beach like my extended family on my dad's and mom's
side and then from there, they came to Fresno and this is where I was born.
>> Interesting. So you want to make Fresno State a warmer environment for students, [inaudible] environment. So what
makes a good professor and what makes a bad professor to make it a warmer environment?
>> Let me think back on the best professor that I've had -- the best ones that I've had were the ones that really took out
time of their day to figure out what was going with you, and really try to find solutions to your problem, but it's a twoway relationship because the student has to take the first step to ask for help.
>> That's the thing in all of the interviews, the males don't ask for help.
>> Yeah.
>> So it's hard.
>> Yeah, whether you're a guy or a girl, it's okay to ask for help and that was my thing for the longest throughout
elementary, throughout high school, I didn't know how to ask for help.
>> Okay.
>> That really hurt me.
>> How come you didn't ask for help? Was it a culturally thing?
>> I think I was just scared. I was shy. I didn't know that I could ask for help, you know. You know, you go and you see
your white teachers, you see your white or other American classmates and you see them excelling, and it doesn't look
like they're asking for help from their teachers, so you don't see your teacher ->> They probably have the most help, tutor in the background.
>> Yeah and when you don't see other people -- your peers going to your teacher, you don't see your teacher as
somebody you can reach out to, when in reality they really are.
>> Did you see other Asians ask for help?
>> I think I saw other Asians like definitely ask for tutoring and stuff like that, but it never clicked with me. It's not like
-- well, in high school eventually, my dad was like, "Hey, there are tutoring programs after school. I want you to attend
them."
>> He's so proactive to do that.
>> Yeah. It helped that my dad was part of Fresno Unified, so he knew about these things, you know. He learned about
things that the school district was offering, so he was like, "Hey, daughter, go take advantage of these after school
programs," things like that.
>> That's amazing because some parents wouldn't do anything or say anything.
>> That's where I became very lucky was that my dad was in a position to understand that the school district had
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programs to offer. I would imagine that other Asian families were, you know, the parents aren't involved. They don't
understand these things are out there for these kids.
>> That's a good point, yeah. So, it's only because your dad was in school.
>> Yeah.
>> In high school, it seems that your father was very activist in helping you succeed.
>> Yeah.
>> Do you think you were ever mentored in Fresno State?
>> Yes and no. I was mentored when I asked for help.
>> Okay.
>> So I started work at KC24.
>> How did you get that job as a Southeast Asian? Really, tell us?
>> Right, so let's go back to high school really because that was when I first discovered my interest in film or anything
involving video at all.
>> Okay.
>> No, I'm wrong actually back in middle school, they offered after school programs and stuff and these after school
programs were free, which I have learned that they have cut funding to after school programs at some of these schools,
which is very sad to me because this free after school program is what introduced me to my love to film.
>> It was a free film class?
>> Yeah, it was free after school program for film ->> Great.
>> -- [inaudible] basically, you know. It was just like this guy that came in and talked to you about the basics of like
shooting and composition of films, you know, like black and white films and the history of it and things like that,
anything film, you just learned the shallow basics. I learned the shallow basics of it there. So when I went to high
school, I took the film class. If I didn't learn about film in these free after school programs in middle school, I wouldn't
have realized my interest in films ->> How interesting.
>> -- and taking the film classes in high school. So, from there, I went onto college and I actually started out as a
business major in my first year of college and learned that I strongly disliked it, not because like I hated business -- I
think Business is awesome. I just don't have the mind for it. My mind doesn't tick in that way and I took it because my
mom is a business owner. She owns her own business. She sews linens. She's a seamstress. On top of alterations, she
makes tablecloths, napkins, and chair covers by the hundreds for weddings and stuff like, all local. She supplies a lot of
local businesses. So she's really awesome in that aspect and I look up to her so much.
>> It seems like you both have very prestigious parents.
>> Yeah.
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>> It comes from them working so hard, you know. My parents started out in America from nothing and they fought so
hard to be where they're at today, and I really appreciate that foundation from them.
>> Then you changed majors?
>> Yeah, I started out as Business because when you're growing up, people ask you what do you want to do when you
grow up, and deep down, you don't know, you say you want to do Business, you want to become a doctor. Deep down,
you don't know until you actually do it. It's okay to realize this isn't what you want. So I basically spent my first year in
Business. I just didn't click with the classes so I shifted over to Mass Communication and Journalism ->> Okay.
>> -- because it was the closest like programs that we had to film. Mass Communication/Journalism involves more
journalism, now these days, social media, multimedia video news. We actually have a full-on studio here at Fresno
State.
>> Really?
>> A lot of people don't even know.
>> There's a full studio here? Where?
>> There's a full studio with full studio cameras. That's where we record our -- I think it's called, "Fresno State Focus,"
it's a campus-based like newscast.
>> Okay.
>> I never worked on it, but it's something that people can totally look up.
>> Okay, great.
>> It's our campus's mini newscast station.
>> Did you do that?
>> No, I didn't work on Fresno State Focus, but I did take MCJ113, which showed the basics of studio work, taught you
how to use camera, how to technical direct, how to direct, how to use audio, the audio board and stuff like that. So,
literally, it was my first year of Business College. Then the next semester, my third semester, I became an MCJ major.
In that very first semester, I had a classmate who already worked at KC24, and she was like, "Hey, they're hiring.
They're looking for production people," me with absolutely no experience, no experience and hardly any job experience
really. I didn't really have any real jobs. I was like 19 and I was barely learning how to drive. I felt very inadequate in a
lot of aspects, but I was like, "Hey, what have I got to lose?" I was very nervous. I was confident I was not going to get
the job, but I applied anyway because I like, "I'm taking this class. I'm learning the basics of how to work in a real news
studio, so why not just apply?" Long story short, I got the job.
>> Great.
>> I was hired, [inaudible] working.
>> Wow!
>> I was so bad at my job in the first several months, and I think like the first year or two, I was not the best. On top of
like juggling work and school, it was hard, you know. Looking back on it now, in reality, production is quite easy when
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you get the hang of it.
>> Oh really?
>> But the mentality of going to school and doing this job was really difficult because I worked terrible hours. I would
work their sunrise show. I would wake up at four in the morning ->> Oh my gosh.
>> -- actually it's earlier than that, so my shift would like start at four or 4:30 and our morning newscast was five to
seven.
>> How did you make it to class?
>> My classes would start at eight.
>> Okay.
>> I remember I had one of my classes and like the upside to that was I would get like early parking, so I'd get the
closest parking possible, you know. Like everybody wants the best parking at Fresno State because it's a wreck here, so
that was one upside, but, honestly, I found myself trading in class for sleep because it was just so tough. I would go to
school from eight until to maybe noon. I would have noon classes and then I'd come back to work at 2:30 for our like 3
o'clock and 4 o'clock shows. We have a lot of evening shows, like 5:00 or 6:00. I'd be done with my day at 7:30 and
then I would too tired to do homework and I'd go to sleep and I'd wake up again and do it all over.
>> You're so impressive. Oh, my God.
>> I don't know how I did it. I'll be honest. It was miserable, but I was like, I just go to do this school thing. I skirted
through all of my classes. I didn't have the best grades but I was like just do enough to earn your degree. You know, just
do enough. It's important to be in school because, to me, just the fact that I got that job to begin with, you know, I
would've never met this person who gave me this opportunity to work at a local news station if I hadn't gone to college.
>> That's a good point.
>> College is full of people who are like-minded. That is where you meet people who want to make something of
themselves. If you do not put yourself in this pool of people, you don't make those connections; you never make those
connections. I mean I know people like look at college and they're like, "Well, I don't need an education to, you know,
earn a paycheck," but if you want to excel -- if you're wondering how to meet people, this is where you meet people.
This is the start and, you know, you start from the bottom and you go from there. As much as I hated school -- I can
comfortably say that, I hated school. I loved learning, but I hated school. I hate textbooks. I hate reading. I hate studying
but I fully appreciate and comprehend the opportunities that going to college has given me. Yeah, I struggled through
and throughout most of my college years. It took me five and a half years to ->> That's not bad -- that's not bad at all.
>> -- to get a degree, yeah. You know, it psychs you because you think you're supposed to finish it in four.
>> Right.
>> When you come out of high school, you're like, "Okay, so like over the next four years, you're going to have your
freshmen, sophomore, junior and senior and you're going to finish college in four years and the longer those four years
become, the more discouraged you get.
>> Interesting.
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>> You know, I'm like, "All of my friends are graduating before me, I feel so inadequate." I failed Political Science two
times for sure, maybe three and that's one of your prerequisites to graduate.
>> It is?
>> You know.
>> Poli Science?
>> Yeah and I was terrible at it, but I was like, "I really had to get through this class," and it took me failing the class
two times to finally ask for help.
>> Wow.
>> Yeah, that was the harder lesson that I learned that all of that time and money wasted to take Political Science so
many times, I finally learned to ask for help and that's when I finally passed the class.
>> Who did you ask for help?
>> There were tutors. I asked friends to help me like study -- like "What does this mean? I'm not understanding this."
>> So group work ->> Yeah.
>> -- which has been proven to help, group work.
>> Yeah, I can't remember his name. I think remember his face but there was one Political Science teacher. I wish I
remember his name but he understood the importance of getting help, you know, because he had plenty of students, just
like me, fail and not pass the class, and all it takes is just a little bit more practice, you know, and just asking for help.
>> Thank you for telling me so much about your barriers. Do you think there are any other barriers that I didn't ask you?
If not, then I'm going to move onto success.
>> Let's see for my barriers, it's just ->> Because you talked about you had family barriers, you had job barriers, financial barriers, your amazing job ethnic, I
mean.
>> I'm going to be completely honest with you and I'm mentioning this not to like make me sound like it wasn't -- like
my work wasn't important at all, but in the moment of struggling through work and school in those really terrible hours,
I didn't feel like I was doing great. You know, I think when people are in the middle of their struggles, they feel
inadequate and they feel like they're not doing great, that they're not in a great place in their life but when you finally
push through that and you come out of it, you're like, "Holy cow, that was me! That was me struggling."
>> Yeah.
>> I know that when people struggle, it feels like you're not doing great but you are just by fighting.
>> Moving onto the success, you know, there are people who struggle, but they struggle by dropping out. So the
reaction is by dropping. What about your specific personality, you know, eliminating your parents? Why do you think
you made it when so many other people didn't? I mean they also struggled, right?
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>> Right.
>> And then whatever reason and they had similar barriers or different barriers, but they decide, "I will leave." What
about your personality? Why did you make it?
>> So I feel like part of the reason why I graduated was the push from my family from parents to push, you know, and
just watching them work so hard. Like I mostly live with my mom and just watching her work so hard everyday, would
have made me feel like crap if I didn't finish school -- that all of her hard work was for something.
>> Oh, interesting. Okay.
>> She built this foundation. She worked so hard. She puts a roof over my head. She feeds me and my dad too. Both my
parents work so hard to take care of me and all I have to do is finish school, that's it. So as much as I hated, I was just
like, "Just do it."
>> Wow! Is this your same personality that you had since third grade, and sixth and high school? Or is this a little
different personality?
>> Well, when I was a kid, I didn't fully comprehend the value of education. I knew it was important. I saw other kids
do it, so I did it too. It's just like a part of your life, a part of your personal culture to go to school but you don't fully
understand the value of it until maybe college or even after college.
>> You're so relatively young. Everyone is in their 30s. So you talked about your personal enablers. You talked about
family enablers. You talked about how you did cultural programs, you said the KEEP, right?
>> I mean I did it on and off, but not enough to feel like I was really part of it ->> But you did some.
>> -- it was there. It was there for me. Did I ask anything else that would bridges -- I mean because you did a lot of
things. You father as activist -- mother -- was there anything else that you think was a key to your success?
>> My teachers ->> Teachers, okay.
>> --definitely because at home, you have your parents to support, but when go into the classroom, the person that is
guiding you and encouraging you, are your teachers.
>> Your sisters at all?
>> My sisters, yeah ->> Did they open at first -- open the way?
>> Throughout most -- my older sister that went to college, she was away in Washington for a while. So she actually
came back to Fresno maybe halfway through I want to say or a little bit halfway and that's when she really kicked my
butt into gear. That's when she really started encouraging me, but it was mostly my parents and she did -- like when she
came back from Washington, she sat me down and really went over my classes, you know, with me. "Okay, this is what
you've done. This is what you have left to graduate." And when you sit down and really put everything on paper and
realize like it's doable, then it's doable, you know. I think a lot of times we get lost and like, "I failed this class. I failed
this class. I'm never going to make it," but when you just put it down on paper and delegate your time and commitment,
it's not that hard.
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>> Wow! Okay. So your sister did that for you?
>> My sister did that for me.
>> And she must have struggled because no one did that for her, right?
>> I mean she had a support base in Washington because, like I said, we had family over there but she had a much more
disciplined mind than I did. Yeah, I certainly have discipline issues. Like I mean I have the creativity and l love doing
stuff, but I certainly couldn't have done it without the help of my family and the people around me to push me.
>> Great. Thank you so much. So now the last part is -- just tell me yes or no, and small classes, do you want them or
no difference?
>> Yes and no.
>> Okay.
>> I personally think it depends on the subject.
>> Okay.
>> Yeah.
>> More co-ethnic professors, Asian professors, any difference? Did you any Asian-American studies class?
>> I never did.
[ LAUGHTER ]
>> I was in Mass Communication program, you know, it was one of those things. I took like the most artsy classes as
possible. If I had like the extra general ed classes I needed to take, I would always go for the artsy classes. Because, like
I said, anything that sounded like it involved textbooks and, you know, studying and stuff, I strayed away from, but it
just speaks on the type of classes that I took, but I think it is an advantage to have -- what was it like co-ethnic
professors?
>> Do you want all Cambodian professors, all Cambodian classmates, entire school of Cambodians?
>> I think a mix of professors from different backgrounds is definitely beneficial because one of my most memorable
was a [inaudible] Weather teacher. I can't remember his name but he was like from Nigeria or something and he was
just super cool, heavy accent, so you really had to pay attention to him in class, but he was just the most animated
teacher, you know. You know, you could tell that like from his background, he was excited to be here, you know. He
didn't just mosey onto becoming a teacher like I feel like some professors do. He wanted to become a teacher, and when
you have professors that want to be here, you can tell, the students can tell and it makes a difference in the classroom.
>> Okay, great. What about the clubs? You want 10 Cambodian clubs? Do you want an Asian club? Do you want an
Asian sorority?
>> I think it's -- it's difficult for me to speak on that because I'm doing just fine without having been a part of Asian
culture but I think it's important for other students to identify with that. Honestly, it's a lot easier for me to become
incorporated in American culture as an Asian woman.
>> Right.
>> I'm going to speak very honestly here. People love Asian women. It's a lot easier for them to be a part of American
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society as Asian women and it's no secret that Asian men struggle whether it be in school, or careers, or even dating.
You know, there are a lot of barriers that Asian men have to overcome. I recognize that. I can't imagine what that's like
because it's been incredible easy for me for the people around me to take notice of me.
>> Can you give any advice because the struggle is real and we've recognized it here at Fresno State? It does seem to be
more privileging to be an Asian woman.
>> Yeah.
>> What can Asian males do? I mean what advice can you give them?
>> I have to apologize because I don't know what it's like to be an Asian male, so I'm only going to say ->> Your household was all women, yeah.
>> Yeah, oh my gosh, that's another was that I grew up with a lot of women, a lot of strong, independent women but
when it comes to guys, I'm going to speak on my knowledge of the Asian guys that I do know, it's to be yourself and if
you have interests, go towards them whether it be like movies, or books, or games and stuff. Like put yourself in the
position to be a part of what you are interested in, and that is where you will be accepted.
>> So put yourself in your interests. Okay.
>> Yeah, you know, whether it be clubs, or classes and stuff like that, get involved and that's you meet peers.
>> Great. That's excellent advice. So you're second generation. You made it. That's incredible globally, as well, kind of
very prestigious. The third generation is coming in, I don't know, 60 years I guess. Twelve year-olds are going to hit it.
We'll see if they come at 18, but some of them will come. What advice do you have to the third and fourth, even maybe
to the second generation that are still here, but what advice do you have to the third fourth and second generation to
keep going in school and the value of education to graduate? Can you give any advice?
>> For the next generation coming in, some you guys are going to be super smart and do really well in school. Some of
you guys are going to hate school like I did, but recognize where you want to be in life and take the steps to get,
recognize the steps to get there because if you want to be successful, if you want to do greater things than just work at
some mediocre job, put yourself in a position to meet people who also want to make something of themselves and go to
college, and finish college not because everybody else is doing it but as a personal goal, so that you can tell yourself that
you did it. Nobody else can tell you that. And I mean as much as I struggled through school and as much as my parents
pushed me, they didn't do it for me; I did. So don't do it for other people. Finish school for yourself and do not believe
that you cannot do it. Do not believe that you are inadequate because you have it in you. And people before you have
done and people after you, will do it so there's no reason why you can't.
>> Okay, great.
>> So, yeah. I hope that's it.
>> Yeah, thank you.
>> I hope that was okay.
>> Yes, thank you. Let me thank you and this is the end of the interview. So I will turn it off. Thank you so much.
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