Jason Fowler interview
Item
Title
Jason Fowler interview
Creator
Fowler, Jason
Banh, Jenny
Relation
Central Valley Southeast Asian Successful Voices
Coverage
Fresno, California
Date
5/24/2017
Rights
Copyright has been transferred to Fresno State
Identifier
SCMS_casv_00032
extracted text
>> All right. So today is June 1, 2017 and I am interviewing Jason. Jason, can you please spell your first and last name?
>> So, Jason Fowler. It's J-A-S-O-N, and then Fowler is F-O-W-L-E-R.
>> All right, Jason. I-- can ask your permission and can you say it that I can interview you for the central valley life
educational histories?
>> Yes.
>> All right. Great. Okay. So, Jason, I've already explained to you the actual procedure. And so now I'm going to write
on your name. And then Jason, can you spell your name one more time? Last name.
>> Last name?
>> Uh-huh.
>> F-O-W-L-E-R.
>> L-E-R. Okay.
[ Inaudible ]
And you are my number three. And I will actually email you this notes actually after so you are number three. Okay. All
right. What is your gender that you identify as?
>> Male.
>> Male?
>> What is your birth year?
>> 1994.
>> 1994. Okay. What is your ethnic group?
>> Black and Filipino.
>> What is your undergraduate major?
>> Kinesiology exercise science.
>> What is your-- what is your generation in America? Are you first, first-and-a-half, or second-generation?
>> First.
>> First? On both sides?
>> Yes. Well, first on my mom's side. But then for my dad's side I am 2-plus.
>> Two-plus.
>> My dad is black.
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>> Where is-- do you know the specific ethnic group? Or where originally he is from?
>> My dad is from Oakland.
>> Okay.
>> His-- my grandfather-- his dad is from the Caribbean. So->> Okay. Excellent. Okay. Mother and father's highest education? [inaudible] I'm going in order.
>> Okay. Oh, yeah. My mom got her BS in midwifery in the Philippines but then she got her LVN-- her vocational
nursing license in America. My dad's highest form of education was some college at the community college in Oakland.
>> Okay.
>> He ended up going to CO school to become a correctional officer.
>> Okay. Awesome. Okay. Is your family composition the same as before and now?
>> Before it was-- when I was a kid growing up it was my grandparents who are living with us. It was my grandparents,
my sister, my mom and my dad. And then my grandparents ended up moving back to the Philippines when I turned 10.
>> Oh.
>> Yeah.
>> Oh, wow.
>> They are still living over there.
>> Oh, wow.
>> Yeah.
>> Okay. Interesting.
>> So now there's just for us.
>> Interesting. What's your GPA?
>> So my cumulative GPA was a 2.82 but then my physical therapy GPA is a 3.6.
>> Oh, great.
>> Yeah.
>> Okay. All right. What is your ultimate degree aspiration?
>> My ultimate degree aspiration is to get a doctorate in physical therapy.
>> Okay. What would you say your economic is? Low, working-class, middle-class, affluent?
>> I would say middle.
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>> Middle? Okay. What was your high school? Private or public?
>> Public.
>> What was the racial demographics of your high school?
>> The high school's majority was Latino, Hispanic, Mexican. And the other dominant ethnic group was white,
Caucasian.
>> Okay. How many Filipinos, and again these next like five questions, if you don't know it's fine. Because actually no
one knows the answer. But how many Filipinos go to college? Why or why not?
>> How many Filipinos like in general?
>> Yeah. Like just a guess.
>> Oh, man.
>> If you are guessing, like what percentage?
>> If I were to guess a percentage?
>> Uh-huh.
>> Actually I could come up with a number just from what I see. I can probably say like more than 50.
>> More than 50.
>> [inaudible] 50 but between 50 and 60. I-- from what I know.
>> Percent. Okay.
>> 50 or 60. Well just like people in general.
>> Oh, people?
>> Yeah, people.
>> Okay. What do you think a percentage?
>> A percentage?
>> Yeah.
>> Oh, man.
>> If not, just pass it.
>> Probably like 3 or 4. It's pretty small. I don't see a lot of Filipinos, but I see them.
>> Okay. All right. [inaudible] okay. Okay. Why do-- why do Filipinos not go to college at a high rate in comparison to
other groups for instance you know, South Asians or East Asians?
>> Well I always believe that since a lot of the first generation Filipinos since a lot of the like especially the mothers are
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nurses, I feel as though like a lot of Filipinos strive to at least go into college and get an education. At least they are told
to in the beginning. But for the Filipinos that aren't striving towards education, I feel as though that their parents are
both farmworkers and they don't-- the farmworkers didn't necessarily have like access or money towards a college
education and they didn't believe that having their kids going to college was beneficial. Like for example, for my mom,
her grandparents-- well my grandparents-- her parents-- my grandfather was a farmer and my grandma was just a
housewife. And they told her that nursing school was a waste of time. This was back in the Philippines.
>> Okay.
>> They told her that was a waste of time, that you're just wasting money. So I feel like there is even though my mom
still want to nursing school and got a college degree I feel like a little bit there's probably another population of Filipinos
that had the traditional sense and say that college is a waste of time, just work in the field and you'll make money and
you don't need to make a lot of money. But that's what I believe in.
>> Okay. Excellent. Okay. Do Filipinos students have strong relations with administrators and faculty?
>> You know, I feel like I don't think that's the case. I think that goes towards like all Southeast Asians that we feel sort
of like-- there's like a masculine identity within the southeastern Asian American culture words like you have to do it
yourself.
>> Uh-huh.
>> Whereas that if you were asking for help it's like you are kind of-- in a way it's like kind of week. It's kind of a pride
thing where it's like you should be able to handle everything on your own. So for Filipinos asking for help I don't really
see it happening a lot. Like for me personally, I didn't really ask for help until my upper division. Like when I became
an upper division student when I actually started to realize I need help considering that like my GPA was pretty low. It
got better as my last years went on.
>> Excellent, thank you. Thanks for your insight.
>> Yeah.
>> So what is your favorite subject? What is your least favorite subject? Why and why not?
>> So, my favorite subject is any physiology class where it's neurophysiology, [inaudible] physiology. The reason why
is because I have always been fascinated by the human body. Before in high school I've always been fascinated on like
the way the body worked like the mechanics of it where it's like-- like how the body moves. Then I was like went to
college I started to realize there was more to then just like how the body moves like the anatomy and it was like the fact
that there's so much going on.
>> Do you think we could move back one?
>> Yeah, yeah, yeah. We can move back. Because of the door?
>> Oh, no. Because I can hear them. Okay.
>> Are you sure?
>> Yeah. I think like-- Better, thank you. All right. So we just moved a little bit so I can hear you better. All right.
>> So I was just really fascinated by how the body worked from a very-- from a whole perspective. And my least
favorite class out of my whole entire college career-- well, it wasn't necessarily like the class, but it was more the
professor. It was one of my kinesiology classes. It was a body composition class. And the only reason why I dislike that
class is because the professor didn't necessarily teach us well enough. She would let us go early and whenever she
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would read the PowerPoint she would just read off of it without actually like telling her take on it. So it was kind of-- it
kind of put me on edge where it's like this person got their masters in kinesiology and they should be knowledgeable
what they're talking about however this person is just reading off the power points. I even told her at the end of the
semester when she asked me how the semester went, I told her that. You know, the reason why didn't go to your class is
because all you did was read off the PowerPoint. So I honestly saw no point in going to your class. And that was
honestly my not my favorite class since-- just because I didn't learn anything. She was just reading off power points.
>> All right. Great. Good to know. Okay. What makes a good professor for you to pass the class and to do well?
>> Oh, passion. I love-- yeah. As long as the professor is passionate about what they are talking about, then that's all
that really matters. If I meet a professor is passionate on what they're talking about, then I'm able to share that passion or
if they are able to influence me and inspire me towards that passion, then I'm more willing to learn. They're just trying to
do their job then I understand the mentality but at the same time I'm here like going to the college where I'm trying to
learn. I'm paying so much money. I expect the fine professors or the faculty members are very passionate about their
field where they can teach me so then I-- when they become passionate about it. Passion. That's what I look for in a
good professor.
>> Great. Have you ever been mentored?
>> Mentored? In college?
>> Yeah. I think on my-- The next page.
>> Okay.
>> In what sense of being mentored?
>> Well, has anyone given you advice consistently on or intermediately?
>> Well, there was one time when I was taking Japanese. So they-- like before I wanted to take Japanese because I was
a very-- I was really into anime and all that stuff. But then as like-- as I figured-- as I learned about how hard Japanese
really was, that passion to learn the language kind of diminished. And at the mid-semester I just wanted to get it over
with. And one of the Japanese students, she was international student, she noticed that I was struggling in the class and I
was losing interest. So then she decided to have a one-on-one session with me every other time.
>> Oh, okay.
>> And started having conversations with me in Japanese.
>> All right.
>> But that was one time when I was matured. I passed that class.
>> Okay, great.
>> Thankfully.
>> All right. So there was an international student that mentored you?
>> Yeah.
>> Awesome. All right. And this is just a view. What is-- what was a teacher's-- what was a teacher's expectation of you
as a person? Was it low, wasn't medium, high, neutral?
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>> In general?
>> Yeah.
>> Or all professors?
>> In general.
>> Well->> Like teachers. It could be K-12 too. It could be->> Oh->> -- college.
>> Well I feel as though like now you mentioned like K-12 a lot of professors-- a lot of teachers in general they saw me
in the higher light only because since I was a minority and I was-- I feel like I broke the stereotypes since I was African- I am black and Filipino. And I didn't act out as much as other kids. I did have really good grades. So the expectations
that my teachers back then at the time were really high. They always saw that I had good grades and that I didn't have
good grades then there was something wrong. I was put in GATE or they would put me in the advanced classes and all
that stuff.
>> Oh, wow. Okay.
>> And even light compared to college, I didn't-- I feel as though like at the beginning of my college career I was
treated like everyone else.
>> Okay.
>> But considering this last-- my last year my fifth year in college, I made a really good connection with two of my
professors and they knew my name and they-- one of them would always like call me to speak in front of the class to
talk about my kinesiology club.
>> Okay.
>> So I always-- I still feel as though like for my whole entire school-- my school-- my school career that teachers have
some-- a higher-- not necessarily extremely high but a conservative-- a considerable high expectation of me as a student
and just overall as a person. People knew me.
>> All right, awesome. And your [inaudible].
>> Yeah.
>> All right, awesome. But now we are going to move to your co-ethnic peers. What do you think that-- how teachers
and you can talk about either K-12 or college thought about your co-ethnic peers?
>> Like people who are not my ethnicity?
>> Your exact same ethnicity.
>> Oh, my exact same ethnicity?
>> Or I mean not exactly-- you know what I'm talking about-- like in general minorities or what was the expectations?
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>> Well, okay. So that's rather an interesting question because back in-- from K-12 to like high school a lot of like the
African-American or black students they were pretty-- they weren't the most diligent. They were very-- they kind of
[inaudible] the stereotype that was seen in the media where they were very rude and they always interrupted. So they
weren't treated as just like me. I was treated completely different compared to how they were treated which I didn't think
was fair because I felt like those kids could have had a chance.
>> How were they treated?
>> So like, if they were to talk then it would-- you know it like if they were to talk out of place and it would be like a
snap whereas another-- someone else would be more like you know, please quiet down. It seems as though their patients
with them, with my co-ethnic peers that they weren't treated with the same respect as like me or any other student. I
don't know why, and on top of that, the school that I went to [inaudible] Elementary, my co-ethnic->> What was it called?
>> Dixieland Elementary. It's in->> How do you spell it?
>> Dixieland-- so can I write on this?
>> Yeah.
>> So->> D-I-C->> D-I-X-I-E->> Oh, X-I->> E-- yeah, Dixie.
>> Oh, uh-huh.
>> Dixie, then land.
>> Oh, wow.
>> So, D-I-X-I-E land.
>> Okay.
>> Dixieland.
>> Elementary?
>> Elementary.
>> Okay.
>> It was-- so even though it was called elementary, it was from kindergarten to eighth grade. Yeah. It was pretty
ridiculous. I still don't understand why I went to that school. It was in Madera.
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>> Okay.
>> Madera, California. And the thing about that school is that like a lot-- I did not have a lot of people with the same
ethnicity as me. For the majority of my-- the school-- the time I was in the school, I was the only black and Filipino
person there. There were no other Asians, there were no other black people. So I was->> Oh, wow.
>> -- I was literally in the-- it was really odd.
>> Oh, gosh.
>> Because I do have a friend and she's two years older than me and she is also have black and Filipino.
>> Oh, wow.
>> Like we are not related. So then she was part of the minority and then as soon as she graduated from eighth grade,
my sister came in who was the same. So it was literally just the three of us that were in that block in-- yeah. So I was->> Oh, interesting.
>> I was really outcast a lot. Especially since I was very different from everyone else. Like I talked differently. Actually
- I don't know if this is towards the premise of this question, but I went to speech therapy. Simply because I apparently
according to my parents I knew Ilocano, and I knew Tagalog when I was a kid. Yeah. But then like English started to
come about and then those three languages clashed with each other. So then my first couple years in elementary I had to
go to speech therapy just because my speech was so slurred I didn't know how to make proper sounds. I kept drooling.
>> Okay. Cool. I mean that's not cool, but I'm saying->> Yeah, yeah.
>> -- it's cool that you spoke multiple languages.
>> Yeah. I don't anymore. That's the thing.
>> Oh, okay.
>> Like I lost it.
>> But if you had it once you can always come back.
>> Yeah. That's true.
>> What do-- because-- what is the notable media depictions of your ethnic group?
>> Of my ethnic group? Towards the black or Filipino? Or just in general?
>> Both.
>> Okay, so->> Or you can separate or both. It doesn't matter.
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>> I'll put together because this is what I get a lot.
>> Okay.
>> A lot of people think I can sing and dance. Because they-- so it's like if you think about like the black culture and the
Filipino culture where it's like both cultures are very are seen as people who are well in the arts where they know how to
sing, they know how to dance, they know how to rap all that stuff. And I honestly cannot do any of that stuff. I can't
dance. I can't dance to save my life. Like maybe I could take a shot in order to dance. But as for the music part I mean I
do play guitar, but I'm not the best. I'm amateur, if anything. And I also play piano, but I'm also an amateur.
>> Okay.
>> But as far as like the heavily talented Filipino or the heavily talented black person, I do not fit that criteria.
>> Wow.
>> Yeah.
>> Okay. All right. Do you think that you had and then this is the last question and one-third of the interview is over. So
then we just go to barriers and bridges. But and very importantly, and focusing on the bridges. Because I want to
improve the graduation rate. So barriers are important but especially noted is things that we can do at school to help
you-- well, you've already graduated-- but help others like you to graduate. Okay. All right. Do you think that there any
barriers to your higher education success?
>> Yeah. I feel as though-- I feel like one of the biggest things was that high school doesn't necessarily prepare you for
college. Like I had this conversation with my roommate and as well as my sister and other classmates who have taken
AP classes and wanted to go to the UC and honestly whenever like a high school teacher says oh this will help you in
college that's not necessarily true because the thing about high school is that they tell you what to do. They tell you what
to do. They give you an assignment and you do it. Whereas in college, you literally have all the freedom like you can
just do whatever you want. Like if you mess up you mess up. If you-- you know. There's a lot more autonomy in college
which is a good and bad thing. I think the fact that high school at least a high school I went to, Madera High, it didn't
necessarily create individual leaders. Like people who are able to lead themselves and feels that they are in control of
what they're doing. And it's kind of just people it's just the teachers telling the students what to do following a format
and eventually congratulations you got your diploma. And then you going to college and then no one is telling you what
to do and you're just kind of just like floating there for a good minute. And that's like I kind of went into with my first
couple of years in college where I thought I knew how to study, and in my mind based on high school, I thought
studying was reading the book like the day before or the day before-- couple hours over the exam whereas in college I
learned that it was-- you have to dedicate a lot of time, a lot of time to just focus on your books, focus on your lectures.
You have to study three weeks in advance and high school did none of that. And ranking on the AP classes I hear my
friends taking I never took AP classes. Because they already knew they were stupid from the beginning. I never trusted
them in the beginning. Because it was his whole bunch of assignments. Unnecessary assignments. There was
assignments for history class where they would assign the students to make 100 flashcards on vocabulary and they had
to memorize all of them and they would only be tested on like 20 of the words of the 100 flashcards that they made
which made absolute no sense since there are other ways to study for vocabulary and just telling them to make the
flashcards-- it just didn't make any sense. It's not teaching students how to like giving them a toolset. It's more like
saying that do this and you will pass. And that's not the case. Everyone has a different study methods.
>> Okay. Great. Did you work outside of school? How many hours and did that impede your graduation?
>> I worked at Blackbeard's family entertainment center on my third year. I-- at the time-- during the semester.
>> Blackbeard's?
>> Blackbeard's.
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>> How do you spell it? Beards->> Blackbeard's like->> A beard? Like this?
>> Like Blackbeard-- like the pirate.
>> Oh, okay.
>> Yeah.
>> Family->> Family entertainment center.
>> What is that?
>> It's like a go cart place. So basically it's like-- it's this pirate themed arcade and go cart place. It's like a mini
amusement park in Fresno.
>> Is it the one that has that thing-- and that rolly [phonetic] thing on the back?
>> Yeah. It's like->> That driving thing?
>> Yeah, has the go carts on the track and then they have like this ship that does this.
>> Are you next to Home Depot?
>> No, it's next to-- it's on-- it's next to-- oh, my God. Ashland and Willow.
>> Okay.
>> Ashland and Willow. Ashland and Chestnut. Around that area.
>> Okay.
>> But it's right there.
>> So how many hours did you work there?
>> During the semester I would work 14 to 16 hours. And I would work on the weekends. And as a collective of
everything, during that year, where I was an officer and when I was working, I felt like that year was probably my worst
year where it did impede my graduation where I could have graduated in the four years instead of five years.
>> Wait, wait. Hold on. I've got to write that. Everything you just said.
>> Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
>> Sorry.
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>> It's okay.
>> Let's go back. Okay, so during [inaudible]
>> During my third year->> -- My third year-- my third year-- okay.
>> I was working at Blackbeard's while I was also->> I was working at Blackbeard's->> -- While I was also officer for the Filipino club->> I was an officer->> And I was also active in my fraternity and I feel like all of that as a collective was probably the reason why I ended
up just not graduating in four years like I should have.
>> So during my third year I was working at block beards while I was officer for the Filipino club and active in my
fraternity and that was the reason why I didn't graduate?
>> And I feel like all those things together was collectively brought to the point where I didn't get to graduate in four
years.
>> -- all these things together was why I did not graduate in four years. Can you elaborate on that? Because I'm also
very interested in the for your graduation rate.
>> So I guess in my case, it was like this. So I was active in the Filipino club and and in my Filipino fraternity. And I
was working at the same time. And then at the time I needed to work because I need money and that was literally my
first job on a payroll. And during my time in the Filipino club as an officer, I was public relations chair and I was also a
dance coordinator for the cultural dances for Filipino culture at night. What ended up happening the first semester was
that there was a little bit of drama that was going on in the club between officers that led me to focus more on that on
the club than my academics.
>> Oh.
>> On top of that I had-- on top of that since I didn't work on the weekends I didn't really have a lot of time to study. So
would be like-- it would be club stuff and then work and I'd have no time to study or be extremely tired. So then that
semester I ended up failing my chemistry class. I ended up getting a D which is actually kind of like sad for me because
that was one of the prerequisites I needed for physical therapy school. So I kind of felt kind of gross about it. Then the
following semester, the spring semester, that's the semester for Filipino culture night. While I was still being an officer
for the club and I was active in my fraternity and I was still working. What ended up happening was that the drama still
ensued for whatever reason and then once the president of the Filipino club failed out of college->> Whoa.
>> -- The vice president failed out of college. The treasurer->> Wait, let me write this down. I have to write this down. This is like really important.
>> Yeah.
>> Okay. So the president of the Filipino-- fraternity or Filipino club?
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>> The club.
>> So it's not your fraternity?
>> No, no, no. This is the club.
>> Filipino club.
>> At the time I was active in my fraternity->> Failed out->> But I was->> The vice president too?
>> Yeah. The vice president also.
>> Hold on. Let me-- I'm sorry. Okay. Because I would love for you to elaborate on them and why they failed out.
>> Oh, yeah.
>> Because let me just-- sorry. So you had a president, vice president and it was the last one?
>> And then there was the treasurer. She didn't fail, but she left her position because she wanted to focus on her senior
year.
>> Okay. So->> She was graduating.
>> So she didn't fail out?
>> She didn't fail out.
>> She left?
>> She left her position.
>> Okay.
>> And then another officer, the event coordinator, had left.
>> Event coordinator?
>> The event coordinator. She left because she just couldn't take it.
>> Okay.
>> So what ended up happening was that there was only three officers left. It was me, the public relations chair, and
then there was a secretary and then the remaining event coordinators since there were two events coordinators and only
one [inaudible] so it was only three officers and the same time we had to take care of the Filipino culture night, so then I
upheld the position-- I still upheld my position as the public relations chair. I was also teaching to cultural dances. I was
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teaching one-- I was teaching one of the cultural dances which is a martial arts to the Filipino club at the same time I
was trying to get my fraternity to come out and perform a tribal dance. So then I was also teaching my fraternity how to
do the tribal dance for Filipino culture night. And at the same time since we did have a leader, we all kind of split the
positions of the president, vice president amongst the three of us.
>> Okay.
>> So we were all doing everything. In fact, at some point-- oh, my God.
>> -- someone told me-- someone told me that you're the president, right? Because I was mostly-- because I was more
vocal. People thought-- and I was making more of the commands. They thought that I was president. I'm like nope. I'm
not president. I'm actually public relations chair. Got really bad.
>> Wow.
>> I spent a lot of time with that club and don't get me wrong, like I'm really proud of like what we did and we did pull
a successful PCN but regardless of the fact I felt that that was probably the reason why I didn't graduate in four years.
>> Wow, okay.
>> That year-- that third year really pushed me back. On top of that-- actually I can probably mention this too, so-- yeah,
I'll mention it. So on the fraternity side, beginning of my third year I moved out of my parents' house and I finally was
able to go to Fresno and move-- I moved into a rental house with my fraternity brothers. Well it was like-- it was me,
and then three of my fraternity brothers plus one of their girlfriends. So basically what ended up happening was that we
were cool-- we were okay with each other prior and we were very-- you know, we were friends. Then what ended up
happening was we started noticing our-- what's it called-- our habits in living-- like you know like little things that we
do. But then for like one of them-- well there was one roommate it was one of my fraternity brothers and his girlfriend
and they were very messy and they didn't-- they didn't listen to us and they never did their dishes and the boyfriend
never attended any of the roommate meetings. It got really, really bad to a point where it got really frustrated in fact this
same fraternity brothers who was very messy, he was actually president of my fraternity at the time.
>> Oh, wow.
>> Yeah. And he honestly did not do anything. Like I to this day I still don't know why he got elected into being
president because at the same time I was electing against him. But he ended up winning. So that happened. So then like
there was one day where-- okay. I'll tell this story. There was one day-- we were drinking and I probably had a little bit
too much and that's when I got into his face and I started yelling. I'm like why are you doing anything for [inaudible]
like why aren't you benefiting the fraternity? Like you are literally just sitting there and saying like you are doing these
things but you're not doing anything at all. And then it started going up and up and up where it's like it was me and him
back and forth and at some point in the house is started getting a very compacted stigma where it's like everyone was
like against each other. And that ended up actually being the fall like of our fraternity. At that point that's when it started
to decline because our cohesion started to break apart. Our leader wasn't strong and at that-- even though like he was our
leader and we knew that we needed to help them out, it was still frustrating the fact that he wouldn't even help himself
out when we tried helping him out. So we just kind of just said we're just going to let it be. And that's my kind of just
left and I needed to focus on my Filipino club because that was a priority since I had [inaudible] the position all the
officer positions were dropped. And on top of that I was still trying to get my fraternity to stay alive. So that's why I was
trying to teach them the cultural dance like hey guys we need to be active and we can't just be stagnant.
>> Okay.
>> But that whole year as a collective was very detrimental to my academics. Even though that's probably like honestly
like even though it was detrimental to my academics I feel as though that I learned a lot from that year. I learned how to
be patient, I learned how to deal with the whole bunch of situations. Even though that year literally socked the most. I
was exposed to whole bunch of people, I got to do my first internship, I got-- I gained all of this leadership skills I never
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thought I'd ever be able to get. And I feel like that led me to my success in becoming president for my academic club
and being cofounder for it and leading to my graduate. So it's kind of like a double-edged sword. Like yeah, it did suck
but like I feel like I really did grow from all that struggle.
>> Okay, cool. That's nice to hear. Can you speak more about you know you mentioned up here that your president of
your Filipino club failed out. He said your vice president of the Filipino club failed out. You said the treasurer of the
Filipino club left her position. You said that the event coordinator of the Filipino club failed out. Can you speak a little
bit about that? What are the reasons->> Oh, so->> -- is there any common reasons for those people? Or are they different reasons?
>> So, there are different reasons. It was actually two officers failed out and then the other two just left.
>> Okay.
>> So two failed and two just left.
>> Fail-- and two left.
>> So then->> What happened-- why?
>> On the president's behalf, me and him were actually we were taking chemistry together.
>> Okay.
>> And I don't know why, but he's a music major and he was taking chemistry. He needed to take a class that had five
units just so he could stay as a student and he needed to get-- he was-- he's already on academic probation so he needed
to get a high grade just to keep it up and that's why he picked a five unit class. Just so that he could-- he thought that he
could pass the class with like a B or a C and keep his units and he could still stay as a student. So then like we were both
struggling that class since that class is really hard on top of that at the time I still hadn't developed any of my studying
skills. I was still doing the whole entire cram, cram, cram, cram without any real preparation. And he ended up failing
because he just didn't know the material. On top of that, I have to give it to him, he was going through a lot. He was
really-- he was unsure of what his [inaudible] was in music. He knew that he wanted to become a music composer from
movies and video games. He always talked about that. But I feel though, there was something deeper in him that made
him sad. Like there were-- oh my God, okay-- yeah there was one day, and we were practicing for a cultural dance and
for whatever reason, I almost forgot the details, but he was just like breaking down crying and it was us and the other
officers trying to calm him down but then me and like I knew him like we studied a lot. So I was like come on, Nico,
like come on like snap out of it, let's go. He ended up lashing out at me and he almost like he looked like he was going
to grab me but he ended up collapsing on the ground and started crying. And I feel as those collective that the fact why
he failed that was he was sad and on top of that he had failed so maybe there was a correlation maybe saying that
whether he was sad prior and then it affected his academics or his academics affected him-- his emotions, you know?
But other way he was going through a lot. So I really have to give it to him. Even though it was very annoying the fact
that even though he had failed out of college, he literally just went ghost. He just left. He still did-- he's still composing
music for the Filipino club.
>> Okay.
>> Even though he had left. Like he had left his position as president.
>> And so he's no longer a Fresno State student anymore?
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>> Honestly, no. He's not. I think he goes to City now.
>> Oh, okay.
>> Yeah, I think he goes to City. Yeah.
>> So he officially-- was he kicked out? Or was he->> He failed. He failed out.
>> So he was academically dismissed?
>> Yeah.
>> What about the vice president?
>> Honestly the vice president->> Or who was the second person that failed? I mean what happened there?
>> So the vice president, he->> Is that the person that failed out too?
>> Yeah. He also failed out.
>> Okay.
>> I don't know necessarily a lot about him. During our-- during the time that I was in the cabinet, he didn't really speak
much. He mostly did what he did to do in the club. But as far as his academics I have no idea. I do know that he is a
physics major.
>> Oh, okay.
>> Yeah. So maybe was just because the courses were just too difficult. I really don't know. He could be having
personal problems. But I just didn't know him well enough. Under the present really well only because we had classes
together. The vice president I didn't know him too well. All I knew is that his major was hard.
>> Okay, yes.
>> So-- yeah.
>> And this probably won't actually apply to you, but if you were given-- because you talked about how you work. If
you were given work, fellowship, financial aid on campus, with that help you graduate?
>> Honestly, yes.
>> Yes.
>> I feel like I wouldn't have to stress over work and all that stuff. I would have to like deal with a BS job at
Blackbeard's.
>> Okay.
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>> If I were to be given financial aid I feel as well I wouldn't have to worry so much about finding a job. I wouldn't
have to struggle and just financing myself and feeling guilty that my parents have to give me money every other month.
>> Okay.
>> But, yeah. I really do feel it. If financial aid was given, I wouldn't be stressing over money. And even right now, like
I'm stressing over money. Just because I'm probably going to doctors school and all that stuff. So, and then I want to
work. Yeah. If I were given financial aid for like-- I would have an easier time.
>> So that's important to note.
>> Yeah.
>> Thank you.
>> I'm realizing that myself right now.
>> Okay. So a financial aid you said that would be a big difference in your graduating. Were there any barriers to your
educational success such as cultural, educational-- because we talked about financial. You said if you had financial aid
that would be a big difference. Is there any cultural barrier that you feel or educational barrier in educational success?
Or even gender or finance or structural? What do you think is your barrier? You talked about financial, anything else?
>> I feel as though like maybe there's a whole entire stigma of success the fact that-- a lot of people are rooting for me
in the Philippines and in my immediate family saying graduate and get your doctorate. But even though all that stress it's
like I don't even know like what to begin with. And no one really knows how to help me even though they tell me like
how to reach it. It wasn't like they were showering me or like drowning me in all of this stuff was saying like finish
school, do school. But I feel as though like if a lot more people in my family were already exposed to college and they
knew how college worked in America, I feel as though I would have an easier time. Because I didn't have anyone to
help me. I had to figure everything else out.
>> Okay.
>> I'm the oldest. I'm the oldest sibling.
>> Oh.
>> So I literally had to figure everything out on my own. And that's when I told my sister like do this, do that, do that.
And I also tell my girlfriend, she's also in the same boat I am in.
>> Right.
>> She's first-generation and she's also the oldest sibling. First one to go to college. So then I'm just like okay, so this is
what I did. Here's the mistakes I made. Don't do what I did.
>> Okay.
>> So I feel as though like-- I feel as though like more of my family members were like-- gone to college and actually
knew how it worked rather than just saying go there. I'm like how do I do that? I don't know. I might just go there. I'm
like well, it would help if you guys knew and so telling me what to do. I feel like that's where the culture barrier is. I
think it's just the stigma of like-- I think like the article I was mentioning to before where Asian Americans or just
Southeast Asian Americans are expected-- their perceived as people who are academically inclined where in reality it's
like a lot of them don't even know what they're doing.
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>> That is true.
>> That included me.
>> That is-- yes.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah, like-- goes into my professors probably thought oh, he's half Asian. He's probably good at school when in
reality I didn't know what I was doing. I never knew what I was doing. I just did it.
>> Very important, thank you. Were you ever in charge of taking care of anyone like children, your parents, siblings,
grandparents, others?
>> Just in general? Or-- I mean->> Kind of like-- I mean from going up. You lived at home. Did you-- I get that a lot from women.
>> A lot of the time I would just babysit my little sister but as far as like taking care of-- like change her diapers, I never
had to change my sister diapers.
>> Oh.
>> I was too young to do so anyway. We are only two years apart.
>> Oh. Okay.
>> Yeah, so->> Okay.
>> But other than like taking care of someone else it was just that. She was just my younger sister and I just had to stay
home because she was too young to be you know-- to leave or just be left alone.
>> Okay.
>> But other than that, no. I haven't really done anything like that.
>> Great. All right. Have you experienced any like regressions? Not like flat racism, I mean unless you have
experienced macro aggressions, but any like little things that have bothered you that you feel that you've experienced in
your higher education or earlier?
>> Towards me?
>> Yeah.
>> In higher education?
>> K-12 or higher education. Like micro. Not like full out racism I mean because you know there's racism two.
>> Yeah.
>> Like the little things, you know?
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>> So, I can tell you a couple of stories. A couple of big ones. So I will never forget this and I tell a lot of people this
that I'm really close to is that when I was I believe in kindergarten, I went to general elementary school. I will never
forget this day or I was just walking around the playground and then there was like this backstop. So you know like that
cage that they have for baseball like the baseball cage?
>> Yeah, yeah.
>> Where like the batter goes in->> Yeah, yeah.
>> -- behind there the empire's there.
>> Okay.
>> So when I was like I was walking-- me and my other friend we are walking behind it.
>> Okay.
>> And this group of kids comes over and they started throwing rocks at me. Like behind-- and they were like trying to
hit me through the holes of the fence.
>> Oh, wow.
>> And they were just telling me like what did you say were again? You're Filipino? And I was like yeah, I'm half black
half Filipino. And there like what the hell is that? Like, I've never heard of that. Considering the fact that my elementary
school was primarily Hispanic and like they didn't know anything about Asian culture so->> Mm-hmm.
>> -- I was-- that was where I was when I-- where it was-- there was like the macro aggression where they were
questioning my ethnicity and throwing rocks at me. I'll never forget this day and I also kind of suppress this because I
don't really think about it much and I didn't really react to it the same day, a there. There is this one day I was walking
down the hall with a couple of friends and I was in like in the hallway where-- I was just messing around with some
friends like you know just being goofy. This was in high school. And like there was this one kid and I just here like in
the hallway who says sit down, N-word. And I'm like oh, okay. But I didn't really like let it bother me. I was like
whatever. Macro aggressions so then following up with that I never really liked the nigga [phonetic] word. Like I never
really liked it back when I was in high school. Because a lot of my friends like group of friends like since they-- you
know, I was black they thought oh it would be okay to say it in front of me. But then at the time I didn't really like it so
then whenever they said nigga I'm like dude, don't say that. Like don't say that to me. Or I would get upset and I would
just leave. But then it's funny because now like considering the fact that I am an adult now I don't take that word too
seriously. In fact, I've used it myself jokingly because at this point in my mind that word is kind of like dude to me. But
yeah, back then I was very sensitive to the word. Now I just don't see anything wrong with it. I use it within my friend-my social group.
>> Oh, wow. Okay.
>> And then one for higher education->> Anything happen in higher education?
>> I don't think so. Not that I'm aware of.
>> Okay.
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>> No, now that I think-- no. I don't really->> Do you think that higher education that there was any kind of oppression based on your gender, your race, your
class? Any assumptions of inferiority in higher education?
>> I think class.
>> Class?
>> So, when I was a freshman my fraternity there was one other brother. And he comes from a low-- from a-- he's
lower-class. He's Laotian. And like->> So your-- you can have brothers that are not Filipino?
>> Oh, yeah. Yeah. No like Randy is Hispanic. Yeah.
>> Is Kyle from my class, is he Filipino?
>> Yeah, he's Filipino. He's from the Philippines.
>> So, they all can be in your club?
>> Mm-hmm.
>> Oh.
>> Yeah, yeah.
>> Okay.
>> Even though we are Filipino, like we were open to-- we have brothers who are Caucasian. We have brothers who are
Hispanic. We have brothers who are black.
>> Oh, wow. Okay.
>> It's very diverse. We just-- it's like we-- the way we see the Filipino culture is it's very integrated since it's all
towards like family and like closeness. And it's like I feel like other cultures are able to like identify with that and that's
why they come close with us and try to learn more about our culture.
>> Okay.
>> Since it's a very-- it's very well open. It's not-- it's not you know segregating in any way.
>> And then you said this Laotian brother-- what happened?
>> Yeah, so I really don't know what was going on with him but like he would always pick on me. Like verbally. And
he would call me like a spoiled or stuff like that because I was->> Oh.
>> -- because since I was better off. Because I-- you know like I said I didn't have to pay for any of my tuition. My
parents paid out-of-pocket.
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>> That's huge. Yeah.
>> So it's like he thought that I mean I got to give it to him. Like I was like kind of like I was not that I was spoiled and
like acknowledge did. I was very naïve to it because I never really met a lot of people who were in lower financial
states.
>> Oh.
>> And to me was normal. It was like okay. Like I didn't->> That's really rare for Fresno State.
>> -- I didn't act like I was you know like oh I'm rich. Like I just said oh, yeah this. And then it was like, must be nice.
And I'm like-- so I'm like they were-- he thought that I was just some spoiled kid that didn't know how to do anything
and in a way he was true. I didn't really know how to take care of myself like for my whole entire-- like when I was
younger my parents would take care of me and pay for everything. So then like I think he got annoyed by that the fact
there people like that. He finally got to meet someone like that.
>> Wow.
>> But I mean->> So he wasn't taken care of? He didn't have->> It's because he was a single child.
>> Uh-huh.
>> Yeah. So and his parents are-- their own a store. So he's first-- he's also first-generation. His parents just own a
Laotian store. And yeah and you know [inaudible] to me where my dad's a correctional officer my mom is an RN. So I
think that's where he kind of said that. He didn't like->> He probably had to work in the store.
>> Huh?
>> I assume he had to work in the store.
>> Yeah.
>> So->> Yeah he also worked in the store too. So and since I never really worked a day in my life until my junior year, then
he probably->> Wow.
>> -- he probably thought like okay this kid-- this is a kid. You know? So then that's when he kind of like pushed and
shoved me but yeah. In college that's probably the [inaudible] that's where I was kind of just nudged away.
>> The class?
>> The class.
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>> Okay. Interesting. Thank you. How did you feel on campus at Fresno State. Did you feel welcome? Or did you not
welcome? And what are the things that made you feel welcome or not welcome at Fresno State?
>> So, I can probably split up into groups so then like my first year or my first couple of years I was kind of like-- I was
kind of overwhelmed the fact that there was a lot of-- just different types of ethnicities. Like I had never seen so many
like Asians-- different types of Asians in one place.
>> What?
>> Yeah. Because I'm from Madera. I've never-- I've only met like Filipinos within like you know family and friends.
But then seeing them all around on the school campus I was like where they'll come from? Like I've never seen any of
these people before. I don't understand why-- well I finally go to college and I see all these Asian people that I feel like I
can identify with. So then like-- and that actually became the case. I made a lot of friends within the Filipino club and
with my fraternity. Because the fact that I saw that it was a Filipino group. It's like okay cool. Like these guys remind
me of my family the Philippines they remind me of my cousins and my uncles and all that stuff. And that's why felt
really welcome. It wasn't until the point that actually did get into my fraternity and then-- and within my fraternity was
fine. It was just that outside the fraternity with other Greeks it was rather odd. Because since at the time I was already
well [inaudible] into my own Filipino culture and I've felt that I have found my own identity I was able to-- I was finally
able to consider myself half black half Filipino. Before I would like think otherwise I didn't know who I really was until
I actually learned that my own culture and heritage.
>> What did you think before?
>> Oh, my God. So->> Like what was your identity?
>> So, and high school, it's like I feel as though like I was very I didn't like the fact that I was black. I feel-- I felt like I-I kind of just like didn't accept the fact that I was half black because like the whole entire mentality of like or the
prejudice and stereotypes of black people it's like there uneducated and rap, hip-hop, and all that stuff and drugs I felt
that that was not me. It was up until the point where I got into college I started seeing that people who are Filipino or
just Southeast Asian American they indulged into the black community, the black culture and listened to rap music,
listened to hip-hop and I just started to realize oh, crap. I'm black. Like you know like I suddenly had that realization
like hey, like this is my identity. Like this is my-- this is who I am and that's when I started getting more into hip-hop
and rap and started listening to more of these artists. So it's kind of funny how that works. Because I never really had a
really good group of friends who were black. And it's just that I kind of figured out that I accepted my black ethnicity
when I was in my Filipino fraternity. I realized that I was black and half Filipino at the same time I joined my fraternity
just because-- just the fact that I was able just to see both sides and to see that being black was very-- it's very different
especially in America since it influences almost everything. I don't know. That's the way I see it.
>> Question: Why not an African-American fraternity? Why a Filipino fraternity?
>> You know, a lot of people asked that question.
>> Okay.
>> And I think it's because throughout my whole entire childhood I've been raised as Filipino. My mom-- like my
grandparents were with me->> Right, right.
>> -- they would speak Tagalog and Ilocano to me and they would try to speak English to me. And then my mom would
do the same exact thing. I would eat nothing but Filipino food and I would eat rice every day.
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>> Oh, yeah.
>> And then like you know, my dad is there, but then like he doesn't necessarily like push his culture too much on me.
If anything, the only thing I know from what he did was that he would just play like jazz music. Which kind of did like
affect me in a way. Because the hip-hop I listen to right now or just in general is influenced by like you know jazz and
funk and all that stuff. So yeah. I really love 90s hip-hop since I hear a sample from a song that my dad used to listen to
I'm like hey. That's the song my dad listened to but this is rap. This is different. So->> Interesting.
>> Yeah. So->> So what is your identity right now knowing-- I know, that your identity will change in 10 years. But if someone
asked what are you? What would you say?
>> Half black half Filipino.
>> Okay.
>> I'm both.
>> All right. All right. So now it's the last I guess the last part of it. It's the success. Okay? This is the bread-and-butter.
So everything you say please be very specific because this->> On this one?
>> Yeah.
>> Because this is the-- the top part is great. But that's part I just say okay this is the barrier like financial, blah, blah.
But what you want Fresno State to change? How do you want to change? To get more of Southeast Asians to cross that
line. Okay? All right. So, what are personal things that you think that you had that enabled you to graduate? This all
about graduation.
>> All about graduation.
>> Like what do you think that we have to do for the new freshman who come in this fall? What are the personal
enablers that helped you? Like that you had to develop as a freshman to graduate?
>> I feel as though-- and this is a difficult question. So what I had that other people can have in order to graduate what I
learned at least-- maturity. I feel like there has to be some way that incoming freshman have to reach a certain amount of
maturity in order to succeed in college. Only because since I said before, there's a lot of autonomy. You have to really
really know what you need to do and be focus on what you do with and having a lot of people who go to parties and just
mess around their first years of college really can mess you up since you will never develop those skills. So->> Okay.
>> -- having a good-- so just setting the foundation, I should say. Setting the foundation for good maturity. And I feel as
though if you are a lot more mature a lot more responsible from the get go in your first year that I feel as that you will be
a lot more successful throughout your whole entire college career. As long as you are more responsible. As I feel as
though like no one is necessarily-- I believe no one is necessarily born smart. I never really liked it when people were
like oh, you are smart. Like no. Like people telling me I'm smart I'm like no. I'm just hard-working. It's-- I feel as
though like freshman need to learn what it means to be an adult.
>> Okay.
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>> And not go to parties and waste their parents' money.
>> Okay. Great. All right. Second question. What do families have to do to get their kids to graduate?
>> Pay for their college. Oh, my God.
>> That's not going to be a possibility for->> Yeah.
>> -- a majority of Fresno.
>> Yeah, I know.
>> That's the majority.
>> It's not possible for the majority of Fresno but I feel as though like parents should-- family should be educated on
how college works.
>> Okay, okay.
>> And how-- and you know like even though if they're not able to pay for they should at least know venues on how to
pay for it. How they can help their student-- their child. And how to support them because like I said before, a lot of
students don't necessarily know how college works especially if they are first generation. So->> Okay.
>> -- having families tell them to go to school without actually the family is not even knowing what to do is really not
necessarily fair. Like yeah that person-- that student should figure things out on their own->> Okay.
>> -- but if the family is spending all this money and putting all this investment on their child then the most they can do
in order to ensure that investment is that they should do their own research and figure out how they can make their child
successful and be more aware of where they are at. I'm not saying being a helicopter parent but like just so that they are
able to guide their child so then they are not doomed.
>> All right, excellent. Were the bridges specifically to your college success? Remember I asked you what the barriers?
Like oh, is is it a health barrier or gender barrier or a structural educational barrier? So this is the opposite question but
the same question. Remember I asked you what are the bridges-- what are the barriers? What were the bridges that got
you into the for your graduation? Did you have any bridges-- cultural bridges, educational bridges, financial bridges,
structural bridges, health bridges, gender bridges? Like what-- like so the opposite of the barrier what are those things
that helped you get to that graduation? First thing, cultural. Any cultural things that helped you graduate?
>> I feel that a cultural bridge was just the fact that the Filipino culture it's like-- I feel as though like we are always
hard-working. And it's always known that we are always hard-working. Especially since my family is generally farmers.
So it's like when I think about my mom especially the fact that she came from literally nothing and she was sleeping on
the floor I kind of have to always think back to like where my roots came from. Like my mom would just-- my mom
slept on the floor. She would go farming. My parents-- her parents would tell her that college was a waste of time. And I
feel as though like if I am able to identify or at least like acknowledge the fact that people have gone through worse than
I have-- then I am going through right now I need to you know, I need to stop complaining and just do the thing. Do the
damn thing.
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>> Okay.
>> Then I feel as though it will be a lot more-- students will be a lot more successful if they really look back and think
about maybe their culture like also-- I'm like you know, I'm half black. So it's like I think about slavery. Like dude. My
people have survived like a lot of trials and tribulations. So I think if you look back to where you are from then you're
able to say that I can do it. It's in my DNA. I can actually be successful in anything I put my mind to. If my people are
able to do all this stuff, then there's no reason why I should be able to. I feel as though like I was actually talking to a
patient about this today. We are talking about generations. And he was saying that this generation-- his opinion is that
this generation complains too much and they don't necessarily take things as they are. And they try to find the easier
way out and they are not patient. And then it compares them to the older generations there a lot more patient they take
things for what they are and in a way like these-- now these are my words-- I feel like our generation is a little bit softer
where they don't necessarily see where they're coming from and just see where things are now. But don't think about
hey, like things could be worse.
>> All right. Excellent. Okay. For-- so that was the cultural. Any educational, financial-- well I guess we will go in
order. Educational-- what is the one thing that helped you educationally to graduate?
>> Educationally?
>> Was there a program? Did you do the mentoring? I mean you know how there's like writing center? What is-- as a
kinesiology major, what was the one thing that does or what are the things that helped you graduate educationally here
Fresno State?
>> You know, there wasn't necessarily a program. I think it was just the fact that I was put in a position where I was
cofounder for an academic club.
>> What club was that?
>> It was the kinesiology exercise science club.
>> Okay.
>> So it was my-- it was my fourth year and fourth year spring semester and at the time I was talking to one of my
classmates and I was saying like hey, we should make a club. For whatever reason I don't know why, I was just-- I was
very-- I was really aspiring to make a club even though like my academics were that great I was still trying to pick
myself up and I realized what I needed to do as a student. And I suggested this idea to one of my classmates and I said
hey, we should start an academic club. I don't understand like why there is a club for this club for that, club for that but
then for our major we are the biggest major on campus why don't we start one.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah.
>> It's true.
>> What ended up happening is that we hadn't talked about it and then at some point like a week afterwards he had
messaged me and said hey like I found a group that's actually starting like a club for our major and I'm like oh, really?
So we went and then it was just one guy. One guy and the faculty member. So it ended up becoming three of us. So it
was the one guy who initiated it. He was president. I was vice president and my other friend that join me he was
treasurer and secretary. So then all three of us were trying to figure out how can we start of this club so the president a
lot of like-- he went to a lot of board meetings did a whole bunch of documentations and all that stuff. And then once the
club became established, our faculty advisor considered us the cofounders of the club and like we were the founding
fathers of the club. And at that point, since like it was an academic club I'm like okay, I should probably get myself
together-- you know get my ship together to have like really good academics since I am going to be seen. And the
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following semester I ended up becoming elected as president.
>> Oh, great.
>> And once I became president I was put in a position where it's like I am the face of the student body for my
department and at that point I felt like you know I felt heavy responsibility to keep my grades up and on top of that since
all of my professors knew what I was they knew who I-- it's like if I mess up in the class it's like well then they are
going to know me and it's like have this why is like-- why is Jason president of the club->> That is true.
>> -- and then he's like failing college, you know? So then like I feel as though when I was put in a position of
leadership where I was it was like okay I really have to make it-- make a difference. At the time prior like I wanted to
make a difference but just being president for my exercise science club really really pushed me just to be like I need to
be in charge of what I need to be. Like this is what I represent. And it made me be a lot more passionate towards my
field because at the time like even though I knew I wanted to pursue physical therapy, I wasn't necessarily too sure
because my academics weren't that good. But then once I started seeing more of myself the fact that I was I was able to
deal with a whole bunch more than I ever anticipated myself doing. Like in my personal statement, which I want you to
read->> Oh, yes. I will read it. Yes.
>> I talked about like how I did a speech in front of my whole entire graduating class for my kinesiology department
and just the fact that I did that it's like was a freshman-- as like the nerdy kid that didn't know Jack squat I never imagine
myself standing in front of like my whole graduating class and giving a speech.
>> Wow.
>> So it's-- yeah. So it's->> That's great.
>> I know.
>> That's great.
>> So I feel as though like that moment where I kind of figured-- it's literally right after my third year at the house and
the Filipino club fallout and all that stuff that's were made a total turn around and kind of realized like hey, I need to do
something about this because something's not going right. And putting myself in a position where I am supposed to be
held accountable really changed my mindset.
>> Right.
>> You know like-- officer hat. I've had an officer hat. I had the officer hat almost every day. Every day since everyone
knew who I was.
>> Wow.
>> They would come up to me, when are the club meetings? One's the club meeting? When is graduation happening?
Because of the time I was also helping out graduation ceremony. So it's like the fact that people knew me it pushed me
more to work harder.
>> Excellent.
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>> Yeah.
>> Anything financial bridge that-- well financially, your bridge was your parents paid. Right?
>> Yeah.
>> Anything structural, health, or gender?
>> What-- gender? I mean-- I don't necessarily know. I'm honestly not too aware of like how my gender affects other
people. I feel as though like maybe because I am a male and just from what I know statistically that males are you know
more significant leaders. Or you know just all that stuff. I feel like that could be a correlation but I'm not honestly not
too sure.
>> Okay.
>> I don't-- I really don't-- I'm not the type of person to differentiate too much between females and males and any other
gender. I'm pretty equal with everyone as it is. So I don't necessarily look at it that much. But I guess statistically
speaking it could be a factor, but->> Okay.
>> I'm honestly not too sure.
>> Awesome. Okay. All right. Is there anything in the community that enabled you to graduate? Actually, you talked a
lot about it. Actually talked about the clubs. So I'm just going to put clubs. Because you actually did talk about the-- but
other than the clubs, was there anything in the community because I mean you talked about other than the clubs-because you talked about a lot of clubs. Anything else?
>> In the community that helped me in my academic achievements?
>> Yes. Other than clubs.
>> Other than clubs.
>> Outside Fresno State.
>> Outside of Fresno State. As like community, just like anything?
>> Anything.
>> Okay. Well, I mean I guess there's is one example, I guess. I'll never forget-- so I don't know if this counts towards
his question, but I was sitting for human physiology which is like part of my breaking point. That was when I was really
tested academically and that's when I was really trying to figure myself out and I wanted to make a turnaround. And that
class is really hard. I was studying like I was pulling all nighter at the Denny's one day. And it was like 4 AM or 5 AM
and then there was like the cleaning lady who was sweeping up and then she just wanted to have some small talk. She
stopped next to me and said oh what are you studying for? Oh, human physiology? That sounds hard. What are you
trying to be? I'm trying to become a physical therapist. And it was like oh, well. That's really hard. And she said-- I'll
just never forget what she told me. She said you know, don't give up on what you're trying to do. Like I know it seems
hard to you right now but just keep doing what you need to do or don't be like me and sweep up like after Denny's at 5
AM if you don't want to be in my position. So it's just like the constant reminders when people ask me-- now this is in
general-- when people ask me what I'm trying to do in college and they say keep going and don't you know reach for
your dreams, that's like even though it's such a small incidence when they're telling me that it really does affect me a lot.
>> Okay.
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>> When I see people->> Wait, say it one more time. Say it one more time.
>> So when I see-- when I meet people that ask me about my college plans or like my academic goals or just my
professional goal, and they told me to just keep up-- just like to keep reaching for my dreams and keep succeeding at
what I'm doing then I feel like that really affects me a lot where it's like this whole stranger is telling me to succeed and
it just feels really heartwarming. The fact that they actually-- it seems like they really care. The fact that they care and
they want me to succeed it feels great. So whenever someone tells me that outside of college, outside of my clubs,
outside of my family, like total and complete strangers when they ask me about how I'm doing, and it's a good reminder
like that's right. Like these are the people and the-- because literally these are the people I'm going to end up serving one
day. Like who knows like someone that I met randomly and said things like make sure you achieve your dreams they
might become my patient one day.
>> Yeah.
>> One day I might meet them again in the future. So it's just a constant reminder like hey, remember who you are
doing it for. You're not just doing it for yourself. Like you are doing it for your family, your friends and just community
in general. So I guess I'm not too sure that's the question, but-- that fits the question but that's->> Yes.
>> -- how I'm able to do it.
>> Excellent. Okay. Was college-- and we are at the very end, actually. I think you kind of answer this already, but
what-- was college cultivated in your household? Did your parents talk about college?
>> My parents had a college fund for me since I was a kid.
>> Oh, that's very important.
>> So there we go. I mean they were already wanting me to go to college from the get go. My grandparents would-- oh,
my God. Filipino. Filipino grandparents-- they would just talk to me on and on and on and on and on about college in
school and get an education repeatedly almost like a broken record to the point where it's like I get it. I get it. Like I
know I'm supposed to go to college. I just->> Filipino parents or grandparents?
>> Grandparents.
>> Okay.
>> Grandparents were heavier on it. My parents told me to go in my grandparents which is heavy on it. I think it's the
fact that they were you know like I said before my grandpa was a farmer and my grandma was just a housewife. They
wanted to see like their first American you know child like make it. Make it. Like make it big.
>> Wow. Okay.
>> So->> Excellent.
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>> That's pretty intense.
>> Yeah.
>> Cultivation. All right. And I think you already answered that one. You already said the community we Artie did
Fresno State. All right. Is there now the last questions from smaller-- these are to graduate in four years. Okay? What do
you want the college change to help people graduate in four years and also specific how do you want the college to
change for people to graduate in-- graduate and also graduate in four years? What can Fresno State do for these
students? You did it, but what can Fresno State do. More what-- more smaller classes? More co-ethnic professors, more
co-ethnic clubs, what? I mean what do you need? So with down the line what do we need at Fresno State to get these
people to cross the line particularly Southeast Asians?
>> Particularly Southeast Asians?
>> Because they are not passing the line.
>> So, for classes, while considering my major and maybe just like in general education class, there needs to be more
faculty members and more-- and actually more classes.
>> Wait, hold on. More classes? And more faculty members?
>> More classes, more faculty members and with the size of classes I agree with small classes so it's more interpersonal.
>> More-- so you want smaller classes?
>> Smaller classes more faculty members so then there could be more classes.
>> Define smaller classes. How many people?
>> So->> 30 people?
>> Yeah, like 30.
>> Or like 10 people? Or 20 people?
>> 30 to 10.
>> 10 to 30?
>> Yeah, 10 to 30. Yeah.
>> Okay. So 10-- so you want more classes that are 10 to 30 students. And then you don't want any Doshi don't want
any class to have more 30 students?
>> Having like a lecture hall class where you are you know in the big really big classroom it's I don't really-- I mean it
was cool for the beginning but then when I started to realize that I'm not getting as much attention as I should have-should be, even though it's not necessarily the professor's job to attend to me personally, I feel as though just as college
goes I feel like if you are in a smaller group it's pretty easy to notice that someone is not there.
>> Right.
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>> And it's harder to just fade out because even though it's like->> Right.
>> -- Some people will go to class on the first day and then they will only show up during the exams.
>> That is correct.
>> Yeah. So like having it where the class is small where the student is more inclined to work and go to class I feel like
it will cultivate more of an academic success or more->> Okay.
>> More classes.
>> More classes.
>> Smaller classes.
>> More faculty members.
>> And more faculty members.
>> Okay.
>> So then you can distribute more courses throughout the semester.
>> Okay. There are 40%-- 47% of Fresno State is Latino. Do you want to see more co-ethnic professors particularly
African-American or Asian or Latino?
>> Yes. I can say that I-- now that I think about it, I've never had a black teacher. I've never had a black professor I've
never had a black teacher. The only one that I had was a black PE teacher and he was probably the best PE-- he was the
best PE teacher I ever had. Even though->> At Fresno State?
>> No. This was at my middle school.
>> Oh.
>> Elementary school, basically.
>> Okay.
>> Yeah. But yeah my whole entire college career, now that I'm thinking about it I've never had a black teacher.
>> Wow.
>> Yeah.
>> What about Asian, Latino?
>> I've had a few Asian professors. I only-- now that I think about it I only had three. I had-- -- I had Dr. [inaudible] my
freshman year.
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>> What majors?
>> Huh?
>> Who-- you mean Franklin [inaudible]?
>> Franklin [inaudible], yeah. There you go.
>> Oh, okay.
>> Yeah. I had him my freshman year.
>> Okay. How is he?
>> He was good.
>> Okay.
>> He was good. And then I already forgot the second one. And the last one was for biostatistics. So the first two
professors-- the first two Asian professors, they were from Asian-American studies.
>> Right.
>> The lower division and then the upper division GE and then my last Asian professor he taught biostatistics.
>> So the-- Dr. [inaudible]-- what class was that? Then what was the other Asian-American professor you had? Was it
Dr. [inaudible]?
>> Yeah, there we go. Dr. [inaudible] yeah.
>> Okay. So yeah. The first one was [inaudible] 10 and then the other one was-- I already forgot the-- what the name of
that thing. It was just Asian-American communities.
>> Okay.
>> Yeah.
>> That was 110? And then was that a positive experience?
>> So it's kind of funny. For-- since I was a freshman I didn't really understand how college worked, I actually didn't do
well in Franklin's class, Dr. Franklin's class. I learned a lot about my culture, though. Because at the time since I was in
my fraternity I was learning a lot more about Filipino culture and when I learned about Filipino culture I'd be like oh,
well. On top of that I will learn about other Asian cultures I had no idea existed. Honestly I didn't know that Laotian
existed until Fresno State. I didn't know Hmong existed until Fresno State. And then when I got that experience to learn
about their culture then I see the costumes I'd be like cool. The thing-- I did learn a lot but I didn't necessarily do will not
class.
>> Okay.
>> Because I didn't understand how school work. And for Dr. [inaudible] class, I learned a lot more about Southeast
Asians. Since like we talked about things like Sri Lanka and the Cambodian genocide and stuff like that. And those are
things I never ever ever learned in my high school. In my high school or elementary or middle school classes. So, I was
really thankful in the fact that I just took those classes so I'm more aware that hey there is a richer history and culture
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behind what you just have like in the textbooks about you know oh yeah, World War II, World War I and all that stuff.
All the stuff that we think we know but there's actually more to it.
>> All right. Last couple-- last four questions. Did you think that if you had more co-ethnics would that have made a
difference in your graduation? Do you think that if you had more ethnic clubs would that be-- and then what college
success workshops you want to see to-- for you to graduate and then anything that you see at Fresno that you think that
we should have to help you graduate and the last question is anything I should ask in the future for any college-- people
to help finish college? So the first thing is co-ethnics. Difference no difference?
>> I think like it would make a difference depending on how the professor handles the situation. If the professor does
>> I mean co-ethnic classmates, sorry.
>> Oh, co-ethnic classmates?
>> Yeah.
>> Oh.
>> Or no difference?
>> I feel like it would make a difference because especially what I kind of notice is that I tend to-- I tend to migrate
more to Asians or at least Filipinos more. So then if I'm like in the class like for example my [inaudible] class, right with
Dr. [inaudible]. All the Filipinos got together.
>> Oh, really?
>> Yeah. So all the Filipinos got together. All the Hmong people got together.
>> Oh, my God.
>> Yeah. I mean->> That's funny.
>> It's a good and bad thing. Because like yeah like it's good to have a small community like that but at the same time
it's like it's better to diversify. But I mean I'm-- I'm not too sure, but yeah. I'm not too sure whether would be a good or
bad thing. It's kind of like a double-edged sword. Like yeah I'll have people that I can easily connect with, but at the
same time it's kind of bad for just in general because I'm supposed to diversify I'm supposed to talk to other people. But>> Okay.
>> I don't really know how to answer that question, to be honest.
>> All right. Any college success workshops that you want to see?
>> College success workshops?
>> Since you said Southeast Asian males are trained to like not ask questions be like I can do it myself, what can we do
to get Southeast Asian men to ask questions or take these workshops that they might need? What can we do?
>> You know, this goes back into what I asked the question similar to that at the age of symposium on campus and one
respondent said that people like that specifically like my brothers who aren't doing academically well they need a safe
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space, you know, quote, unquote safe space where it's like they have a space where they can-- they are more-- they can
easily talk about the academics and where they want to be in life instead of saying that I got it, I got it, I got it. So when
they have a community or just a small group of people that they're able to discuss about like where they are at in life->> So you need a club of Asian men or do you need like cross-cultural center to have like a workshop for Asian men
every two weeks? Like what do you mean by safe space?
>> It's like->> Like a talking moment? Or->> It's like something that's less invasive and where it's like let's say like [inaudible] who was able to talk to them about
academics and push them forward. Because I feel as though like if-- like the cross-cultural centers and like learning
centers and stuff like that are really good opportunities but the thing is that I feel as though Southeast Asian Americans
are specifically Filipinos won't feel inclined to go to them. Only because they will feel that they are being attacked by
hey, they're not doing well in school.
>> Oh.
>> Even though their goals are to you know help them succeed, is like it's kind of like embarrassing especially if you're
not doing well. Like for me->> Okay.
>> -- it was very embarrassing for me to ask for help. Since my GPA was super low.
>> Okay.
>> So then I feel like the the way-- but it still can be used. I feel like the way it can be transitioned is that you have a
small community like say like my fraternity, right? You have my fraternity.
>> Small community, okay.
>> And then you have like a brother who was very you know attentive towards other brothers academics and that person
advises that brother who is feeling [inaudible] to go to the cross-cultural center and that's where they can benefit.
Because it's hard-- I feel like it's hard for Asian American men to initiate them you know initiate going to an
administrator or just getting some help.
>> What would-- when a Southeast Asian male if there was a mentorship program at the cross-cultural center just for
everyone, focus on males Southeast Asian Americans when they go or is it too embarrassing? If we institute a new
mentorship program for just Southeast Asian men not [inaudible] the grades but called the Southeast Asian men
mentorship program, would that be something that they would go to?
>> I think so. And the reason why say this is because so I actually go-- I'm going to go I'm going to talk about my
girlfriend for a second. So my girlfriend since she goes to UCSD she got into this new program that she had-- it's totally
started this year. And she knew nothing about prior but she was put into it.
>> Okay.
>> And then was asked if she should do it. I forgot what was called
>> So she was forced to participate.
>> Not necessarily. It was like she kept on being persuaded to get into it.
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>> Okay.
>> Is called like the success mentoring thing. I'm not too sure what is called. So then like she was asking me about it.
She was like I don't know this stupid thing is. I'm like and then like you know me making my mistakes, I told her like
just do it. Like I know you don't know what it is but just do it. And she said okay, but I think it's going to be stupid and
as she's like-- and now she's like this is totally like the best thing I ever had.
>> Tell me more.
>> She basically she has this student who is an upper division student->> Okay.
>> Who has thrown office and like they meet like once a month or every other month->> Meet once a month->> And they talk about like what their personal goals are whether it's work, academics, or like a professional goal.
>> So they talk once a month about professional->> Yeah.
>> -- about professional goals. Okay.
>> And basically like wherever she's not in life or what she wants that person will help. So that person will like outreach
and look for stuff. So like for like my girlfriend she wants to be-- she's premed. So then what the mentor is doing is that
she ended up signing her up-- no questions asked-- just she's like okay you are going to a premed conference this day,
this time.
>> Wow.
>> And she's like okay. I'm going to go.
>> So like they->> So the mentor signed her up?
>> -- like they really->> Without asking?
>> Yeah.
>> Okay.
>> They really really pressure to like do the things they want to do. Like once they tell her-- once she tells them what
she wants to do there like okay then you're going to do this, that, that, that. Go to it.
>> Is it for Asians? Who is it for?
>> To this day, she still has no idea why she got it or how she got into it and she asked her roommates and they don't
know anything about it.
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>> But they're not in it?
>> They are not in it.
>> So so are you sure it's not for minorities?
>> Honestly I have no idea.
>> Find out later. Tell me.
>> I have-- I can keep asking her but she really doesn't know.
>> But she's Southeast Asian.
>> Yes, she is. She's Thai.
>> Is so then they have the lowest graduation-- I mean-- they can->> That's what told her.
>> They can demographically locate you.
>> I think that's what they did.
>> Okay.
>> Because I told her like hey, you know-- I told her like Southeast Asians are less likely to be academically inclined.
So it could be a thing. But in another thing a really good positive about it is that if you are part of that mentorship
program, you get priority in classes. Yeah. So she gets class priority.
>> Oh, my God. That's such a plus, though.
>> Yeah. And she-- but she didn't know. She didn't know about that.
>> That's a big difference. That's a big difference in your graduating life.
>> Yeah.
>> Because they're always impacted classes.
>> Yeah.
>> So you have first dibs?
>> She has first dibs. She didn't know. She didn't know anything about that. She didn't know until like their third
meeting. Like okay so classes like-- there's going to be applying for classes she's like you get priority by the way
because you are in this program.
>> Oh, my God.
>> She was like, what? So like not only does she get that one on one like you know relationship with that person and
like she also said that that person knows her like for example like there was one workshop where the mentor wanted her
to go she's like oh and I signed you up for the afternoon because I already know that you don't want to wake up in the
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morning. And then she-- and then my girlfriend is just like yeah. She knows me. She knows who I am. So it's very
personal. Like it's like I feel as though like she has a big sister in way.
>> Okay.
>> But yeah, so->> If you can do me a favor. If you can like-- if she can like know about like what is the-- I would love to know the
program.
>> Oh, yeah.
>> Because if we could copy that program, bring it to Fresno State, [inaudible] for the southeast Asians, focus on males
that would be great. Like if you could just like if you could just like Google that program and give me the name of it?
>> Oh, yeah.
>> I will find that program. Like I will find it. But anyway, that's it. That's the entire interview. Is there anything if you
can think of like later I'm going to send it to you as a thing. If you can think of anything that we can do to get these
people and thank God your girlfriend is in the program. We obviously need that program.
>> Yeah, we need something like that.
>> We-- yeah.
>> I wish I had that.
>> We need that program, so-- I need like that's exactly what I need. Honestly so I'm going to say-- so Jason thank you
so much. That's the end of the interview. I'm going to send you back your noted transcript please read it and if you want
to add anything to it that you find out later feel free to change it. And please put I approve or disapprove and change it
once you get it. Okay? So thank you so much. And let me--
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>> So, Jason Fowler. It's J-A-S-O-N, and then Fowler is F-O-W-L-E-R.
>> All right, Jason. I-- can ask your permission and can you say it that I can interview you for the central valley life
educational histories?
>> Yes.
>> All right. Great. Okay. So, Jason, I've already explained to you the actual procedure. And so now I'm going to write
on your name. And then Jason, can you spell your name one more time? Last name.
>> Last name?
>> Uh-huh.
>> F-O-W-L-E-R.
>> L-E-R. Okay.
[ Inaudible ]
And you are my number three. And I will actually email you this notes actually after so you are number three. Okay. All
right. What is your gender that you identify as?
>> Male.
>> Male?
>> What is your birth year?
>> 1994.
>> 1994. Okay. What is your ethnic group?
>> Black and Filipino.
>> What is your undergraduate major?
>> Kinesiology exercise science.
>> What is your-- what is your generation in America? Are you first, first-and-a-half, or second-generation?
>> First.
>> First? On both sides?
>> Yes. Well, first on my mom's side. But then for my dad's side I am 2-plus.
>> Two-plus.
>> My dad is black.
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>> Where is-- do you know the specific ethnic group? Or where originally he is from?
>> My dad is from Oakland.
>> Okay.
>> His-- my grandfather-- his dad is from the Caribbean. So->> Okay. Excellent. Okay. Mother and father's highest education? [inaudible] I'm going in order.
>> Okay. Oh, yeah. My mom got her BS in midwifery in the Philippines but then she got her LVN-- her vocational
nursing license in America. My dad's highest form of education was some college at the community college in Oakland.
>> Okay.
>> He ended up going to CO school to become a correctional officer.
>> Okay. Awesome. Okay. Is your family composition the same as before and now?
>> Before it was-- when I was a kid growing up it was my grandparents who are living with us. It was my grandparents,
my sister, my mom and my dad. And then my grandparents ended up moving back to the Philippines when I turned 10.
>> Oh.
>> Yeah.
>> Oh, wow.
>> They are still living over there.
>> Oh, wow.
>> Yeah.
>> Okay. Interesting.
>> So now there's just for us.
>> Interesting. What's your GPA?
>> So my cumulative GPA was a 2.82 but then my physical therapy GPA is a 3.6.
>> Oh, great.
>> Yeah.
>> Okay. All right. What is your ultimate degree aspiration?
>> My ultimate degree aspiration is to get a doctorate in physical therapy.
>> Okay. What would you say your economic is? Low, working-class, middle-class, affluent?
>> I would say middle.
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>> Middle? Okay. What was your high school? Private or public?
>> Public.
>> What was the racial demographics of your high school?
>> The high school's majority was Latino, Hispanic, Mexican. And the other dominant ethnic group was white,
Caucasian.
>> Okay. How many Filipinos, and again these next like five questions, if you don't know it's fine. Because actually no
one knows the answer. But how many Filipinos go to college? Why or why not?
>> How many Filipinos like in general?
>> Yeah. Like just a guess.
>> Oh, man.
>> If you are guessing, like what percentage?
>> If I were to guess a percentage?
>> Uh-huh.
>> Actually I could come up with a number just from what I see. I can probably say like more than 50.
>> More than 50.
>> [inaudible] 50 but between 50 and 60. I-- from what I know.
>> Percent. Okay.
>> 50 or 60. Well just like people in general.
>> Oh, people?
>> Yeah, people.
>> Okay. What do you think a percentage?
>> A percentage?
>> Yeah.
>> Oh, man.
>> If not, just pass it.
>> Probably like 3 or 4. It's pretty small. I don't see a lot of Filipinos, but I see them.
>> Okay. All right. [inaudible] okay. Okay. Why do-- why do Filipinos not go to college at a high rate in comparison to
other groups for instance you know, South Asians or East Asians?
>> Well I always believe that since a lot of the first generation Filipinos since a lot of the like especially the mothers are
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nurses, I feel as though like a lot of Filipinos strive to at least go into college and get an education. At least they are told
to in the beginning. But for the Filipinos that aren't striving towards education, I feel as though that their parents are
both farmworkers and they don't-- the farmworkers didn't necessarily have like access or money towards a college
education and they didn't believe that having their kids going to college was beneficial. Like for example, for my mom,
her grandparents-- well my grandparents-- her parents-- my grandfather was a farmer and my grandma was just a
housewife. And they told her that nursing school was a waste of time. This was back in the Philippines.
>> Okay.
>> They told her that was a waste of time, that you're just wasting money. So I feel like there is even though my mom
still want to nursing school and got a college degree I feel like a little bit there's probably another population of Filipinos
that had the traditional sense and say that college is a waste of time, just work in the field and you'll make money and
you don't need to make a lot of money. But that's what I believe in.
>> Okay. Excellent. Okay. Do Filipinos students have strong relations with administrators and faculty?
>> You know, I feel like I don't think that's the case. I think that goes towards like all Southeast Asians that we feel sort
of like-- there's like a masculine identity within the southeastern Asian American culture words like you have to do it
yourself.
>> Uh-huh.
>> Whereas that if you were asking for help it's like you are kind of-- in a way it's like kind of week. It's kind of a pride
thing where it's like you should be able to handle everything on your own. So for Filipinos asking for help I don't really
see it happening a lot. Like for me personally, I didn't really ask for help until my upper division. Like when I became
an upper division student when I actually started to realize I need help considering that like my GPA was pretty low. It
got better as my last years went on.
>> Excellent, thank you. Thanks for your insight.
>> Yeah.
>> So what is your favorite subject? What is your least favorite subject? Why and why not?
>> So, my favorite subject is any physiology class where it's neurophysiology, [inaudible] physiology. The reason why
is because I have always been fascinated by the human body. Before in high school I've always been fascinated on like
the way the body worked like the mechanics of it where it's like-- like how the body moves. Then I was like went to
college I started to realize there was more to then just like how the body moves like the anatomy and it was like the fact
that there's so much going on.
>> Do you think we could move back one?
>> Yeah, yeah, yeah. We can move back. Because of the door?
>> Oh, no. Because I can hear them. Okay.
>> Are you sure?
>> Yeah. I think like-- Better, thank you. All right. So we just moved a little bit so I can hear you better. All right.
>> So I was just really fascinated by how the body worked from a very-- from a whole perspective. And my least
favorite class out of my whole entire college career-- well, it wasn't necessarily like the class, but it was more the
professor. It was one of my kinesiology classes. It was a body composition class. And the only reason why I dislike that
class is because the professor didn't necessarily teach us well enough. She would let us go early and whenever she
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would read the PowerPoint she would just read off of it without actually like telling her take on it. So it was kind of-- it
kind of put me on edge where it's like this person got their masters in kinesiology and they should be knowledgeable
what they're talking about however this person is just reading off the power points. I even told her at the end of the
semester when she asked me how the semester went, I told her that. You know, the reason why didn't go to your class is
because all you did was read off the PowerPoint. So I honestly saw no point in going to your class. And that was
honestly my not my favorite class since-- just because I didn't learn anything. She was just reading off power points.
>> All right. Great. Good to know. Okay. What makes a good professor for you to pass the class and to do well?
>> Oh, passion. I love-- yeah. As long as the professor is passionate about what they are talking about, then that's all
that really matters. If I meet a professor is passionate on what they're talking about, then I'm able to share that passion or
if they are able to influence me and inspire me towards that passion, then I'm more willing to learn. They're just trying to
do their job then I understand the mentality but at the same time I'm here like going to the college where I'm trying to
learn. I'm paying so much money. I expect the fine professors or the faculty members are very passionate about their
field where they can teach me so then I-- when they become passionate about it. Passion. That's what I look for in a
good professor.
>> Great. Have you ever been mentored?
>> Mentored? In college?
>> Yeah. I think on my-- The next page.
>> Okay.
>> In what sense of being mentored?
>> Well, has anyone given you advice consistently on or intermediately?
>> Well, there was one time when I was taking Japanese. So they-- like before I wanted to take Japanese because I was
a very-- I was really into anime and all that stuff. But then as like-- as I figured-- as I learned about how hard Japanese
really was, that passion to learn the language kind of diminished. And at the mid-semester I just wanted to get it over
with. And one of the Japanese students, she was international student, she noticed that I was struggling in the class and I
was losing interest. So then she decided to have a one-on-one session with me every other time.
>> Oh, okay.
>> And started having conversations with me in Japanese.
>> All right.
>> But that was one time when I was matured. I passed that class.
>> Okay, great.
>> Thankfully.
>> All right. So there was an international student that mentored you?
>> Yeah.
>> Awesome. All right. And this is just a view. What is-- what was a teacher's-- what was a teacher's expectation of you
as a person? Was it low, wasn't medium, high, neutral?
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>> In general?
>> Yeah.
>> Or all professors?
>> In general.
>> Well->> Like teachers. It could be K-12 too. It could be->> Oh->> -- college.
>> Well I feel as though like now you mentioned like K-12 a lot of professors-- a lot of teachers in general they saw me
in the higher light only because since I was a minority and I was-- I feel like I broke the stereotypes since I was African- I am black and Filipino. And I didn't act out as much as other kids. I did have really good grades. So the expectations
that my teachers back then at the time were really high. They always saw that I had good grades and that I didn't have
good grades then there was something wrong. I was put in GATE or they would put me in the advanced classes and all
that stuff.
>> Oh, wow. Okay.
>> And even light compared to college, I didn't-- I feel as though like at the beginning of my college career I was
treated like everyone else.
>> Okay.
>> But considering this last-- my last year my fifth year in college, I made a really good connection with two of my
professors and they knew my name and they-- one of them would always like call me to speak in front of the class to
talk about my kinesiology club.
>> Okay.
>> So I always-- I still feel as though like for my whole entire school-- my school-- my school career that teachers have
some-- a higher-- not necessarily extremely high but a conservative-- a considerable high expectation of me as a student
and just overall as a person. People knew me.
>> All right, awesome. And your [inaudible].
>> Yeah.
>> All right, awesome. But now we are going to move to your co-ethnic peers. What do you think that-- how teachers
and you can talk about either K-12 or college thought about your co-ethnic peers?
>> Like people who are not my ethnicity?
>> Your exact same ethnicity.
>> Oh, my exact same ethnicity?
>> Or I mean not exactly-- you know what I'm talking about-- like in general minorities or what was the expectations?
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>> Well, okay. So that's rather an interesting question because back in-- from K-12 to like high school a lot of like the
African-American or black students they were pretty-- they weren't the most diligent. They were very-- they kind of
[inaudible] the stereotype that was seen in the media where they were very rude and they always interrupted. So they
weren't treated as just like me. I was treated completely different compared to how they were treated which I didn't think
was fair because I felt like those kids could have had a chance.
>> How were they treated?
>> So like, if they were to talk then it would-- you know it like if they were to talk out of place and it would be like a
snap whereas another-- someone else would be more like you know, please quiet down. It seems as though their patients
with them, with my co-ethnic peers that they weren't treated with the same respect as like me or any other student. I
don't know why, and on top of that, the school that I went to [inaudible] Elementary, my co-ethnic->> What was it called?
>> Dixieland Elementary. It's in->> How do you spell it?
>> Dixieland-- so can I write on this?
>> Yeah.
>> So->> D-I-C->> D-I-X-I-E->> Oh, X-I->> E-- yeah, Dixie.
>> Oh, uh-huh.
>> Dixie, then land.
>> Oh, wow.
>> So, D-I-X-I-E land.
>> Okay.
>> Dixieland.
>> Elementary?
>> Elementary.
>> Okay.
>> It was-- so even though it was called elementary, it was from kindergarten to eighth grade. Yeah. It was pretty
ridiculous. I still don't understand why I went to that school. It was in Madera.
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>> Okay.
>> Madera, California. And the thing about that school is that like a lot-- I did not have a lot of people with the same
ethnicity as me. For the majority of my-- the school-- the time I was in the school, I was the only black and Filipino
person there. There were no other Asians, there were no other black people. So I was->> Oh, wow.
>> -- I was literally in the-- it was really odd.
>> Oh, gosh.
>> Because I do have a friend and she's two years older than me and she is also have black and Filipino.
>> Oh, wow.
>> Like we are not related. So then she was part of the minority and then as soon as she graduated from eighth grade,
my sister came in who was the same. So it was literally just the three of us that were in that block in-- yeah. So I was->> Oh, interesting.
>> I was really outcast a lot. Especially since I was very different from everyone else. Like I talked differently. Actually
- I don't know if this is towards the premise of this question, but I went to speech therapy. Simply because I apparently
according to my parents I knew Ilocano, and I knew Tagalog when I was a kid. Yeah. But then like English started to
come about and then those three languages clashed with each other. So then my first couple years in elementary I had to
go to speech therapy just because my speech was so slurred I didn't know how to make proper sounds. I kept drooling.
>> Okay. Cool. I mean that's not cool, but I'm saying->> Yeah, yeah.
>> -- it's cool that you spoke multiple languages.
>> Yeah. I don't anymore. That's the thing.
>> Oh, okay.
>> Like I lost it.
>> But if you had it once you can always come back.
>> Yeah. That's true.
>> What do-- because-- what is the notable media depictions of your ethnic group?
>> Of my ethnic group? Towards the black or Filipino? Or just in general?
>> Both.
>> Okay, so->> Or you can separate or both. It doesn't matter.
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>> I'll put together because this is what I get a lot.
>> Okay.
>> A lot of people think I can sing and dance. Because they-- so it's like if you think about like the black culture and the
Filipino culture where it's like both cultures are very are seen as people who are well in the arts where they know how to
sing, they know how to dance, they know how to rap all that stuff. And I honestly cannot do any of that stuff. I can't
dance. I can't dance to save my life. Like maybe I could take a shot in order to dance. But as for the music part I mean I
do play guitar, but I'm not the best. I'm amateur, if anything. And I also play piano, but I'm also an amateur.
>> Okay.
>> But as far as like the heavily talented Filipino or the heavily talented black person, I do not fit that criteria.
>> Wow.
>> Yeah.
>> Okay. All right. Do you think that you had and then this is the last question and one-third of the interview is over. So
then we just go to barriers and bridges. But and very importantly, and focusing on the bridges. Because I want to
improve the graduation rate. So barriers are important but especially noted is things that we can do at school to help
you-- well, you've already graduated-- but help others like you to graduate. Okay. All right. Do you think that there any
barriers to your higher education success?
>> Yeah. I feel as though-- I feel like one of the biggest things was that high school doesn't necessarily prepare you for
college. Like I had this conversation with my roommate and as well as my sister and other classmates who have taken
AP classes and wanted to go to the UC and honestly whenever like a high school teacher says oh this will help you in
college that's not necessarily true because the thing about high school is that they tell you what to do. They tell you what
to do. They give you an assignment and you do it. Whereas in college, you literally have all the freedom like you can
just do whatever you want. Like if you mess up you mess up. If you-- you know. There's a lot more autonomy in college
which is a good and bad thing. I think the fact that high school at least a high school I went to, Madera High, it didn't
necessarily create individual leaders. Like people who are able to lead themselves and feels that they are in control of
what they're doing. And it's kind of just people it's just the teachers telling the students what to do following a format
and eventually congratulations you got your diploma. And then you going to college and then no one is telling you what
to do and you're just kind of just like floating there for a good minute. And that's like I kind of went into with my first
couple of years in college where I thought I knew how to study, and in my mind based on high school, I thought
studying was reading the book like the day before or the day before-- couple hours over the exam whereas in college I
learned that it was-- you have to dedicate a lot of time, a lot of time to just focus on your books, focus on your lectures.
You have to study three weeks in advance and high school did none of that. And ranking on the AP classes I hear my
friends taking I never took AP classes. Because they already knew they were stupid from the beginning. I never trusted
them in the beginning. Because it was his whole bunch of assignments. Unnecessary assignments. There was
assignments for history class where they would assign the students to make 100 flashcards on vocabulary and they had
to memorize all of them and they would only be tested on like 20 of the words of the 100 flashcards that they made
which made absolute no sense since there are other ways to study for vocabulary and just telling them to make the
flashcards-- it just didn't make any sense. It's not teaching students how to like giving them a toolset. It's more like
saying that do this and you will pass. And that's not the case. Everyone has a different study methods.
>> Okay. Great. Did you work outside of school? How many hours and did that impede your graduation?
>> I worked at Blackbeard's family entertainment center on my third year. I-- at the time-- during the semester.
>> Blackbeard's?
>> Blackbeard's.
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>> How do you spell it? Beards->> Blackbeard's like->> A beard? Like this?
>> Like Blackbeard-- like the pirate.
>> Oh, okay.
>> Yeah.
>> Family->> Family entertainment center.
>> What is that?
>> It's like a go cart place. So basically it's like-- it's this pirate themed arcade and go cart place. It's like a mini
amusement park in Fresno.
>> Is it the one that has that thing-- and that rolly [phonetic] thing on the back?
>> Yeah. It's like->> That driving thing?
>> Yeah, has the go carts on the track and then they have like this ship that does this.
>> Are you next to Home Depot?
>> No, it's next to-- it's on-- it's next to-- oh, my God. Ashland and Willow.
>> Okay.
>> Ashland and Willow. Ashland and Chestnut. Around that area.
>> Okay.
>> But it's right there.
>> So how many hours did you work there?
>> During the semester I would work 14 to 16 hours. And I would work on the weekends. And as a collective of
everything, during that year, where I was an officer and when I was working, I felt like that year was probably my worst
year where it did impede my graduation where I could have graduated in the four years instead of five years.
>> Wait, wait. Hold on. I've got to write that. Everything you just said.
>> Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
>> Sorry.
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>> It's okay.
>> Let's go back. Okay, so during [inaudible]
>> During my third year->> -- My third year-- my third year-- okay.
>> I was working at Blackbeard's while I was also->> I was working at Blackbeard's->> -- While I was also officer for the Filipino club->> I was an officer->> And I was also active in my fraternity and I feel like all of that as a collective was probably the reason why I ended
up just not graduating in four years like I should have.
>> So during my third year I was working at block beards while I was officer for the Filipino club and active in my
fraternity and that was the reason why I didn't graduate?
>> And I feel like all those things together was collectively brought to the point where I didn't get to graduate in four
years.
>> -- all these things together was why I did not graduate in four years. Can you elaborate on that? Because I'm also
very interested in the for your graduation rate.
>> So I guess in my case, it was like this. So I was active in the Filipino club and and in my Filipino fraternity. And I
was working at the same time. And then at the time I needed to work because I need money and that was literally my
first job on a payroll. And during my time in the Filipino club as an officer, I was public relations chair and I was also a
dance coordinator for the cultural dances for Filipino culture at night. What ended up happening the first semester was
that there was a little bit of drama that was going on in the club between officers that led me to focus more on that on
the club than my academics.
>> Oh.
>> On top of that I had-- on top of that since I didn't work on the weekends I didn't really have a lot of time to study. So
would be like-- it would be club stuff and then work and I'd have no time to study or be extremely tired. So then that
semester I ended up failing my chemistry class. I ended up getting a D which is actually kind of like sad for me because
that was one of the prerequisites I needed for physical therapy school. So I kind of felt kind of gross about it. Then the
following semester, the spring semester, that's the semester for Filipino culture night. While I was still being an officer
for the club and I was active in my fraternity and I was still working. What ended up happening was that the drama still
ensued for whatever reason and then once the president of the Filipino club failed out of college->> Whoa.
>> -- The vice president failed out of college. The treasurer->> Wait, let me write this down. I have to write this down. This is like really important.
>> Yeah.
>> Okay. So the president of the Filipino-- fraternity or Filipino club?
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>> The club.
>> So it's not your fraternity?
>> No, no, no. This is the club.
>> Filipino club.
>> At the time I was active in my fraternity->> Failed out->> But I was->> The vice president too?
>> Yeah. The vice president also.
>> Hold on. Let me-- I'm sorry. Okay. Because I would love for you to elaborate on them and why they failed out.
>> Oh, yeah.
>> Because let me just-- sorry. So you had a president, vice president and it was the last one?
>> And then there was the treasurer. She didn't fail, but she left her position because she wanted to focus on her senior
year.
>> Okay. So->> She was graduating.
>> So she didn't fail out?
>> She didn't fail out.
>> She left?
>> She left her position.
>> Okay.
>> And then another officer, the event coordinator, had left.
>> Event coordinator?
>> The event coordinator. She left because she just couldn't take it.
>> Okay.
>> So what ended up happening was that there was only three officers left. It was me, the public relations chair, and
then there was a secretary and then the remaining event coordinators since there were two events coordinators and only
one [inaudible] so it was only three officers and the same time we had to take care of the Filipino culture night, so then I
upheld the position-- I still upheld my position as the public relations chair. I was also teaching to cultural dances. I was
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teaching one-- I was teaching one of the cultural dances which is a martial arts to the Filipino club at the same time I
was trying to get my fraternity to come out and perform a tribal dance. So then I was also teaching my fraternity how to
do the tribal dance for Filipino culture night. And at the same time since we did have a leader, we all kind of split the
positions of the president, vice president amongst the three of us.
>> Okay.
>> So we were all doing everything. In fact, at some point-- oh, my God.
>> -- someone told me-- someone told me that you're the president, right? Because I was mostly-- because I was more
vocal. People thought-- and I was making more of the commands. They thought that I was president. I'm like nope. I'm
not president. I'm actually public relations chair. Got really bad.
>> Wow.
>> I spent a lot of time with that club and don't get me wrong, like I'm really proud of like what we did and we did pull
a successful PCN but regardless of the fact I felt that that was probably the reason why I didn't graduate in four years.
>> Wow, okay.
>> That year-- that third year really pushed me back. On top of that-- actually I can probably mention this too, so-- yeah,
I'll mention it. So on the fraternity side, beginning of my third year I moved out of my parents' house and I finally was
able to go to Fresno and move-- I moved into a rental house with my fraternity brothers. Well it was like-- it was me,
and then three of my fraternity brothers plus one of their girlfriends. So basically what ended up happening was that we
were cool-- we were okay with each other prior and we were very-- you know, we were friends. Then what ended up
happening was we started noticing our-- what's it called-- our habits in living-- like you know like little things that we
do. But then for like one of them-- well there was one roommate it was one of my fraternity brothers and his girlfriend
and they were very messy and they didn't-- they didn't listen to us and they never did their dishes and the boyfriend
never attended any of the roommate meetings. It got really, really bad to a point where it got really frustrated in fact this
same fraternity brothers who was very messy, he was actually president of my fraternity at the time.
>> Oh, wow.
>> Yeah. And he honestly did not do anything. Like I to this day I still don't know why he got elected into being
president because at the same time I was electing against him. But he ended up winning. So that happened. So then like
there was one day where-- okay. I'll tell this story. There was one day-- we were drinking and I probably had a little bit
too much and that's when I got into his face and I started yelling. I'm like why are you doing anything for [inaudible]
like why aren't you benefiting the fraternity? Like you are literally just sitting there and saying like you are doing these
things but you're not doing anything at all. And then it started going up and up and up where it's like it was me and him
back and forth and at some point in the house is started getting a very compacted stigma where it's like everyone was
like against each other. And that ended up actually being the fall like of our fraternity. At that point that's when it started
to decline because our cohesion started to break apart. Our leader wasn't strong and at that-- even though like he was our
leader and we knew that we needed to help them out, it was still frustrating the fact that he wouldn't even help himself
out when we tried helping him out. So we just kind of just said we're just going to let it be. And that's my kind of just
left and I needed to focus on my Filipino club because that was a priority since I had [inaudible] the position all the
officer positions were dropped. And on top of that I was still trying to get my fraternity to stay alive. So that's why I was
trying to teach them the cultural dance like hey guys we need to be active and we can't just be stagnant.
>> Okay.
>> But that whole year as a collective was very detrimental to my academics. Even though that's probably like honestly
like even though it was detrimental to my academics I feel as though that I learned a lot from that year. I learned how to
be patient, I learned how to deal with the whole bunch of situations. Even though that year literally socked the most. I
was exposed to whole bunch of people, I got to do my first internship, I got-- I gained all of this leadership skills I never
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thought I'd ever be able to get. And I feel like that led me to my success in becoming president for my academic club
and being cofounder for it and leading to my graduate. So it's kind of like a double-edged sword. Like yeah, it did suck
but like I feel like I really did grow from all that struggle.
>> Okay, cool. That's nice to hear. Can you speak more about you know you mentioned up here that your president of
your Filipino club failed out. He said your vice president of the Filipino club failed out. You said the treasurer of the
Filipino club left her position. You said that the event coordinator of the Filipino club failed out. Can you speak a little
bit about that? What are the reasons->> Oh, so->> -- is there any common reasons for those people? Or are they different reasons?
>> So, there are different reasons. It was actually two officers failed out and then the other two just left.
>> Okay.
>> So two failed and two just left.
>> Fail-- and two left.
>> So then->> What happened-- why?
>> On the president's behalf, me and him were actually we were taking chemistry together.
>> Okay.
>> And I don't know why, but he's a music major and he was taking chemistry. He needed to take a class that had five
units just so he could stay as a student and he needed to get-- he was-- he's already on academic probation so he needed
to get a high grade just to keep it up and that's why he picked a five unit class. Just so that he could-- he thought that he
could pass the class with like a B or a C and keep his units and he could still stay as a student. So then like we were both
struggling that class since that class is really hard on top of that at the time I still hadn't developed any of my studying
skills. I was still doing the whole entire cram, cram, cram, cram without any real preparation. And he ended up failing
because he just didn't know the material. On top of that, I have to give it to him, he was going through a lot. He was
really-- he was unsure of what his [inaudible] was in music. He knew that he wanted to become a music composer from
movies and video games. He always talked about that. But I feel though, there was something deeper in him that made
him sad. Like there were-- oh my God, okay-- yeah there was one day, and we were practicing for a cultural dance and
for whatever reason, I almost forgot the details, but he was just like breaking down crying and it was us and the other
officers trying to calm him down but then me and like I knew him like we studied a lot. So I was like come on, Nico,
like come on like snap out of it, let's go. He ended up lashing out at me and he almost like he looked like he was going
to grab me but he ended up collapsing on the ground and started crying. And I feel as those collective that the fact why
he failed that was he was sad and on top of that he had failed so maybe there was a correlation maybe saying that
whether he was sad prior and then it affected his academics or his academics affected him-- his emotions, you know?
But other way he was going through a lot. So I really have to give it to him. Even though it was very annoying the fact
that even though he had failed out of college, he literally just went ghost. He just left. He still did-- he's still composing
music for the Filipino club.
>> Okay.
>> Even though he had left. Like he had left his position as president.
>> And so he's no longer a Fresno State student anymore?
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>> Honestly, no. He's not. I think he goes to City now.
>> Oh, okay.
>> Yeah, I think he goes to City. Yeah.
>> So he officially-- was he kicked out? Or was he->> He failed. He failed out.
>> So he was academically dismissed?
>> Yeah.
>> What about the vice president?
>> Honestly the vice president->> Or who was the second person that failed? I mean what happened there?
>> So the vice president, he->> Is that the person that failed out too?
>> Yeah. He also failed out.
>> Okay.
>> I don't know necessarily a lot about him. During our-- during the time that I was in the cabinet, he didn't really speak
much. He mostly did what he did to do in the club. But as far as his academics I have no idea. I do know that he is a
physics major.
>> Oh, okay.
>> Yeah. So maybe was just because the courses were just too difficult. I really don't know. He could be having
personal problems. But I just didn't know him well enough. Under the present really well only because we had classes
together. The vice president I didn't know him too well. All I knew is that his major was hard.
>> Okay, yes.
>> So-- yeah.
>> And this probably won't actually apply to you, but if you were given-- because you talked about how you work. If
you were given work, fellowship, financial aid on campus, with that help you graduate?
>> Honestly, yes.
>> Yes.
>> I feel like I wouldn't have to stress over work and all that stuff. I would have to like deal with a BS job at
Blackbeard's.
>> Okay.
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>> If I were to be given financial aid I feel as well I wouldn't have to worry so much about finding a job. I wouldn't
have to struggle and just financing myself and feeling guilty that my parents have to give me money every other month.
>> Okay.
>> But, yeah. I really do feel it. If financial aid was given, I wouldn't be stressing over money. And even right now, like
I'm stressing over money. Just because I'm probably going to doctors school and all that stuff. So, and then I want to
work. Yeah. If I were given financial aid for like-- I would have an easier time.
>> So that's important to note.
>> Yeah.
>> Thank you.
>> I'm realizing that myself right now.
>> Okay. So a financial aid you said that would be a big difference in your graduating. Were there any barriers to your
educational success such as cultural, educational-- because we talked about financial. You said if you had financial aid
that would be a big difference. Is there any cultural barrier that you feel or educational barrier in educational success?
Or even gender or finance or structural? What do you think is your barrier? You talked about financial, anything else?
>> I feel as though like maybe there's a whole entire stigma of success the fact that-- a lot of people are rooting for me
in the Philippines and in my immediate family saying graduate and get your doctorate. But even though all that stress it's
like I don't even know like what to begin with. And no one really knows how to help me even though they tell me like
how to reach it. It wasn't like they were showering me or like drowning me in all of this stuff was saying like finish
school, do school. But I feel as though like if a lot more people in my family were already exposed to college and they
knew how college worked in America, I feel as though I would have an easier time. Because I didn't have anyone to
help me. I had to figure everything else out.
>> Okay.
>> I'm the oldest. I'm the oldest sibling.
>> Oh.
>> So I literally had to figure everything out on my own. And that's when I told my sister like do this, do that, do that.
And I also tell my girlfriend, she's also in the same boat I am in.
>> Right.
>> She's first-generation and she's also the oldest sibling. First one to go to college. So then I'm just like okay, so this is
what I did. Here's the mistakes I made. Don't do what I did.
>> Okay.
>> So I feel as though like-- I feel as though like more of my family members were like-- gone to college and actually
knew how it worked rather than just saying go there. I'm like how do I do that? I don't know. I might just go there. I'm
like well, it would help if you guys knew and so telling me what to do. I feel like that's where the culture barrier is. I
think it's just the stigma of like-- I think like the article I was mentioning to before where Asian Americans or just
Southeast Asian Americans are expected-- their perceived as people who are academically inclined where in reality it's
like a lot of them don't even know what they're doing.
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>> That is true.
>> That included me.
>> That is-- yes.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah, like-- goes into my professors probably thought oh, he's half Asian. He's probably good at school when in
reality I didn't know what I was doing. I never knew what I was doing. I just did it.
>> Very important, thank you. Were you ever in charge of taking care of anyone like children, your parents, siblings,
grandparents, others?
>> Just in general? Or-- I mean->> Kind of like-- I mean from going up. You lived at home. Did you-- I get that a lot from women.
>> A lot of the time I would just babysit my little sister but as far as like taking care of-- like change her diapers, I never
had to change my sister diapers.
>> Oh.
>> I was too young to do so anyway. We are only two years apart.
>> Oh. Okay.
>> Yeah, so->> Okay.
>> But other than like taking care of someone else it was just that. She was just my younger sister and I just had to stay
home because she was too young to be you know-- to leave or just be left alone.
>> Okay.
>> But other than that, no. I haven't really done anything like that.
>> Great. All right. Have you experienced any like regressions? Not like flat racism, I mean unless you have
experienced macro aggressions, but any like little things that have bothered you that you feel that you've experienced in
your higher education or earlier?
>> Towards me?
>> Yeah.
>> In higher education?
>> K-12 or higher education. Like micro. Not like full out racism I mean because you know there's racism two.
>> Yeah.
>> Like the little things, you know?
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>> So, I can tell you a couple of stories. A couple of big ones. So I will never forget this and I tell a lot of people this
that I'm really close to is that when I was I believe in kindergarten, I went to general elementary school. I will never
forget this day or I was just walking around the playground and then there was like this backstop. So you know like that
cage that they have for baseball like the baseball cage?
>> Yeah, yeah.
>> Where like the batter goes in->> Yeah, yeah.
>> -- behind there the empire's there.
>> Okay.
>> So when I was like I was walking-- me and my other friend we are walking behind it.
>> Okay.
>> And this group of kids comes over and they started throwing rocks at me. Like behind-- and they were like trying to
hit me through the holes of the fence.
>> Oh, wow.
>> And they were just telling me like what did you say were again? You're Filipino? And I was like yeah, I'm half black
half Filipino. And there like what the hell is that? Like, I've never heard of that. Considering the fact that my elementary
school was primarily Hispanic and like they didn't know anything about Asian culture so->> Mm-hmm.
>> -- I was-- that was where I was when I-- where it was-- there was like the macro aggression where they were
questioning my ethnicity and throwing rocks at me. I'll never forget this day and I also kind of suppress this because I
don't really think about it much and I didn't really react to it the same day, a there. There is this one day I was walking
down the hall with a couple of friends and I was in like in the hallway where-- I was just messing around with some
friends like you know just being goofy. This was in high school. And like there was this one kid and I just here like in
the hallway who says sit down, N-word. And I'm like oh, okay. But I didn't really like let it bother me. I was like
whatever. Macro aggressions so then following up with that I never really liked the nigga [phonetic] word. Like I never
really liked it back when I was in high school. Because a lot of my friends like group of friends like since they-- you
know, I was black they thought oh it would be okay to say it in front of me. But then at the time I didn't really like it so
then whenever they said nigga I'm like dude, don't say that. Like don't say that to me. Or I would get upset and I would
just leave. But then it's funny because now like considering the fact that I am an adult now I don't take that word too
seriously. In fact, I've used it myself jokingly because at this point in my mind that word is kind of like dude to me. But
yeah, back then I was very sensitive to the word. Now I just don't see anything wrong with it. I use it within my friend-my social group.
>> Oh, wow. Okay.
>> And then one for higher education->> Anything happen in higher education?
>> I don't think so. Not that I'm aware of.
>> Okay.
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>> No, now that I think-- no. I don't really->> Do you think that higher education that there was any kind of oppression based on your gender, your race, your
class? Any assumptions of inferiority in higher education?
>> I think class.
>> Class?
>> So, when I was a freshman my fraternity there was one other brother. And he comes from a low-- from a-- he's
lower-class. He's Laotian. And like->> So your-- you can have brothers that are not Filipino?
>> Oh, yeah. Yeah. No like Randy is Hispanic. Yeah.
>> Is Kyle from my class, is he Filipino?
>> Yeah, he's Filipino. He's from the Philippines.
>> So, they all can be in your club?
>> Mm-hmm.
>> Oh.
>> Yeah, yeah.
>> Okay.
>> Even though we are Filipino, like we were open to-- we have brothers who are Caucasian. We have brothers who are
Hispanic. We have brothers who are black.
>> Oh, wow. Okay.
>> It's very diverse. We just-- it's like we-- the way we see the Filipino culture is it's very integrated since it's all
towards like family and like closeness. And it's like I feel like other cultures are able to like identify with that and that's
why they come close with us and try to learn more about our culture.
>> Okay.
>> Since it's a very-- it's very well open. It's not-- it's not you know segregating in any way.
>> And then you said this Laotian brother-- what happened?
>> Yeah, so I really don't know what was going on with him but like he would always pick on me. Like verbally. And
he would call me like a spoiled or stuff like that because I was->> Oh.
>> -- because since I was better off. Because I-- you know like I said I didn't have to pay for any of my tuition. My
parents paid out-of-pocket.
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>> That's huge. Yeah.
>> So it's like he thought that I mean I got to give it to him. Like I was like kind of like I was not that I was spoiled and
like acknowledge did. I was very naïve to it because I never really met a lot of people who were in lower financial
states.
>> Oh.
>> And to me was normal. It was like okay. Like I didn't->> That's really rare for Fresno State.
>> -- I didn't act like I was you know like oh I'm rich. Like I just said oh, yeah this. And then it was like, must be nice.
And I'm like-- so I'm like they were-- he thought that I was just some spoiled kid that didn't know how to do anything
and in a way he was true. I didn't really know how to take care of myself like for my whole entire-- like when I was
younger my parents would take care of me and pay for everything. So then like I think he got annoyed by that the fact
there people like that. He finally got to meet someone like that.
>> Wow.
>> But I mean->> So he wasn't taken care of? He didn't have->> It's because he was a single child.
>> Uh-huh.
>> Yeah. So and his parents are-- their own a store. So he's first-- he's also first-generation. His parents just own a
Laotian store. And yeah and you know [inaudible] to me where my dad's a correctional officer my mom is an RN. So I
think that's where he kind of said that. He didn't like->> He probably had to work in the store.
>> Huh?
>> I assume he had to work in the store.
>> Yeah.
>> So->> Yeah he also worked in the store too. So and since I never really worked a day in my life until my junior year, then
he probably->> Wow.
>> -- he probably thought like okay this kid-- this is a kid. You know? So then that's when he kind of like pushed and
shoved me but yeah. In college that's probably the [inaudible] that's where I was kind of just nudged away.
>> The class?
>> The class.
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>> Okay. Interesting. Thank you. How did you feel on campus at Fresno State. Did you feel welcome? Or did you not
welcome? And what are the things that made you feel welcome or not welcome at Fresno State?
>> So, I can probably split up into groups so then like my first year or my first couple of years I was kind of like-- I was
kind of overwhelmed the fact that there was a lot of-- just different types of ethnicities. Like I had never seen so many
like Asians-- different types of Asians in one place.
>> What?
>> Yeah. Because I'm from Madera. I've never-- I've only met like Filipinos within like you know family and friends.
But then seeing them all around on the school campus I was like where they'll come from? Like I've never seen any of
these people before. I don't understand why-- well I finally go to college and I see all these Asian people that I feel like I
can identify with. So then like-- and that actually became the case. I made a lot of friends within the Filipino club and
with my fraternity. Because the fact that I saw that it was a Filipino group. It's like okay cool. Like these guys remind
me of my family the Philippines they remind me of my cousins and my uncles and all that stuff. And that's why felt
really welcome. It wasn't until the point that actually did get into my fraternity and then-- and within my fraternity was
fine. It was just that outside the fraternity with other Greeks it was rather odd. Because since at the time I was already
well [inaudible] into my own Filipino culture and I've felt that I have found my own identity I was able to-- I was finally
able to consider myself half black half Filipino. Before I would like think otherwise I didn't know who I really was until
I actually learned that my own culture and heritage.
>> What did you think before?
>> Oh, my God. So->> Like what was your identity?
>> So, and high school, it's like I feel as though like I was very I didn't like the fact that I was black. I feel-- I felt like I-I kind of just like didn't accept the fact that I was half black because like the whole entire mentality of like or the
prejudice and stereotypes of black people it's like there uneducated and rap, hip-hop, and all that stuff and drugs I felt
that that was not me. It was up until the point where I got into college I started seeing that people who are Filipino or
just Southeast Asian American they indulged into the black community, the black culture and listened to rap music,
listened to hip-hop and I just started to realize oh, crap. I'm black. Like you know like I suddenly had that realization
like hey, like this is my identity. Like this is my-- this is who I am and that's when I started getting more into hip-hop
and rap and started listening to more of these artists. So it's kind of funny how that works. Because I never really had a
really good group of friends who were black. And it's just that I kind of figured out that I accepted my black ethnicity
when I was in my Filipino fraternity. I realized that I was black and half Filipino at the same time I joined my fraternity
just because-- just the fact that I was able just to see both sides and to see that being black was very-- it's very different
especially in America since it influences almost everything. I don't know. That's the way I see it.
>> Question: Why not an African-American fraternity? Why a Filipino fraternity?
>> You know, a lot of people asked that question.
>> Okay.
>> And I think it's because throughout my whole entire childhood I've been raised as Filipino. My mom-- like my
grandparents were with me->> Right, right.
>> -- they would speak Tagalog and Ilocano to me and they would try to speak English to me. And then my mom would
do the same exact thing. I would eat nothing but Filipino food and I would eat rice every day.
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>> Oh, yeah.
>> And then like you know, my dad is there, but then like he doesn't necessarily like push his culture too much on me.
If anything, the only thing I know from what he did was that he would just play like jazz music. Which kind of did like
affect me in a way. Because the hip-hop I listen to right now or just in general is influenced by like you know jazz and
funk and all that stuff. So yeah. I really love 90s hip-hop since I hear a sample from a song that my dad used to listen to
I'm like hey. That's the song my dad listened to but this is rap. This is different. So->> Interesting.
>> Yeah. So->> So what is your identity right now knowing-- I know, that your identity will change in 10 years. But if someone
asked what are you? What would you say?
>> Half black half Filipino.
>> Okay.
>> I'm both.
>> All right. All right. So now it's the last I guess the last part of it. It's the success. Okay? This is the bread-and-butter.
So everything you say please be very specific because this->> On this one?
>> Yeah.
>> Because this is the-- the top part is great. But that's part I just say okay this is the barrier like financial, blah, blah.
But what you want Fresno State to change? How do you want to change? To get more of Southeast Asians to cross that
line. Okay? All right. So, what are personal things that you think that you had that enabled you to graduate? This all
about graduation.
>> All about graduation.
>> Like what do you think that we have to do for the new freshman who come in this fall? What are the personal
enablers that helped you? Like that you had to develop as a freshman to graduate?
>> I feel as though-- and this is a difficult question. So what I had that other people can have in order to graduate what I
learned at least-- maturity. I feel like there has to be some way that incoming freshman have to reach a certain amount of
maturity in order to succeed in college. Only because since I said before, there's a lot of autonomy. You have to really
really know what you need to do and be focus on what you do with and having a lot of people who go to parties and just
mess around their first years of college really can mess you up since you will never develop those skills. So->> Okay.
>> -- having a good-- so just setting the foundation, I should say. Setting the foundation for good maturity. And I feel as
though if you are a lot more mature a lot more responsible from the get go in your first year that I feel as that you will be
a lot more successful throughout your whole entire college career. As long as you are more responsible. As I feel as
though like no one is necessarily-- I believe no one is necessarily born smart. I never really liked it when people were
like oh, you are smart. Like no. Like people telling me I'm smart I'm like no. I'm just hard-working. It's-- I feel as
though like freshman need to learn what it means to be an adult.
>> Okay.
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>> And not go to parties and waste their parents' money.
>> Okay. Great. All right. Second question. What do families have to do to get their kids to graduate?
>> Pay for their college. Oh, my God.
>> That's not going to be a possibility for->> Yeah.
>> -- a majority of Fresno.
>> Yeah, I know.
>> That's the majority.
>> It's not possible for the majority of Fresno but I feel as though like parents should-- family should be educated on
how college works.
>> Okay, okay.
>> And how-- and you know like even though if they're not able to pay for they should at least know venues on how to
pay for it. How they can help their student-- their child. And how to support them because like I said before, a lot of
students don't necessarily know how college works especially if they are first generation. So->> Okay.
>> -- having families tell them to go to school without actually the family is not even knowing what to do is really not
necessarily fair. Like yeah that person-- that student should figure things out on their own->> Okay.
>> -- but if the family is spending all this money and putting all this investment on their child then the most they can do
in order to ensure that investment is that they should do their own research and figure out how they can make their child
successful and be more aware of where they are at. I'm not saying being a helicopter parent but like just so that they are
able to guide their child so then they are not doomed.
>> All right, excellent. Were the bridges specifically to your college success? Remember I asked you what the barriers?
Like oh, is is it a health barrier or gender barrier or a structural educational barrier? So this is the opposite question but
the same question. Remember I asked you what are the bridges-- what are the barriers? What were the bridges that got
you into the for your graduation? Did you have any bridges-- cultural bridges, educational bridges, financial bridges,
structural bridges, health bridges, gender bridges? Like what-- like so the opposite of the barrier what are those things
that helped you get to that graduation? First thing, cultural. Any cultural things that helped you graduate?
>> I feel that a cultural bridge was just the fact that the Filipino culture it's like-- I feel as though like we are always
hard-working. And it's always known that we are always hard-working. Especially since my family is generally farmers.
So it's like when I think about my mom especially the fact that she came from literally nothing and she was sleeping on
the floor I kind of have to always think back to like where my roots came from. Like my mom would just-- my mom
slept on the floor. She would go farming. My parents-- her parents would tell her that college was a waste of time. And I
feel as though like if I am able to identify or at least like acknowledge the fact that people have gone through worse than
I have-- then I am going through right now I need to you know, I need to stop complaining and just do the thing. Do the
damn thing.
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>> Okay.
>> Then I feel as though it will be a lot more-- students will be a lot more successful if they really look back and think
about maybe their culture like also-- I'm like you know, I'm half black. So it's like I think about slavery. Like dude. My
people have survived like a lot of trials and tribulations. So I think if you look back to where you are from then you're
able to say that I can do it. It's in my DNA. I can actually be successful in anything I put my mind to. If my people are
able to do all this stuff, then there's no reason why I should be able to. I feel as though like I was actually talking to a
patient about this today. We are talking about generations. And he was saying that this generation-- his opinion is that
this generation complains too much and they don't necessarily take things as they are. And they try to find the easier
way out and they are not patient. And then it compares them to the older generations there a lot more patient they take
things for what they are and in a way like these-- now these are my words-- I feel like our generation is a little bit softer
where they don't necessarily see where they're coming from and just see where things are now. But don't think about
hey, like things could be worse.
>> All right. Excellent. Okay. For-- so that was the cultural. Any educational, financial-- well I guess we will go in
order. Educational-- what is the one thing that helped you educationally to graduate?
>> Educationally?
>> Was there a program? Did you do the mentoring? I mean you know how there's like writing center? What is-- as a
kinesiology major, what was the one thing that does or what are the things that helped you graduate educationally here
Fresno State?
>> You know, there wasn't necessarily a program. I think it was just the fact that I was put in a position where I was
cofounder for an academic club.
>> What club was that?
>> It was the kinesiology exercise science club.
>> Okay.
>> So it was my-- it was my fourth year and fourth year spring semester and at the time I was talking to one of my
classmates and I was saying like hey, we should make a club. For whatever reason I don't know why, I was just-- I was
very-- I was really aspiring to make a club even though like my academics were that great I was still trying to pick
myself up and I realized what I needed to do as a student. And I suggested this idea to one of my classmates and I said
hey, we should start an academic club. I don't understand like why there is a club for this club for that, club for that but
then for our major we are the biggest major on campus why don't we start one.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah.
>> It's true.
>> What ended up happening is that we hadn't talked about it and then at some point like a week afterwards he had
messaged me and said hey like I found a group that's actually starting like a club for our major and I'm like oh, really?
So we went and then it was just one guy. One guy and the faculty member. So it ended up becoming three of us. So it
was the one guy who initiated it. He was president. I was vice president and my other friend that join me he was
treasurer and secretary. So then all three of us were trying to figure out how can we start of this club so the president a
lot of like-- he went to a lot of board meetings did a whole bunch of documentations and all that stuff. And then once the
club became established, our faculty advisor considered us the cofounders of the club and like we were the founding
fathers of the club. And at that point, since like it was an academic club I'm like okay, I should probably get myself
together-- you know get my ship together to have like really good academics since I am going to be seen. And the
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following semester I ended up becoming elected as president.
>> Oh, great.
>> And once I became president I was put in a position where it's like I am the face of the student body for my
department and at that point I felt like you know I felt heavy responsibility to keep my grades up and on top of that since
all of my professors knew what I was they knew who I-- it's like if I mess up in the class it's like well then they are
going to know me and it's like have this why is like-- why is Jason president of the club->> That is true.
>> -- and then he's like failing college, you know? So then like I feel as though when I was put in a position of
leadership where I was it was like okay I really have to make it-- make a difference. At the time prior like I wanted to
make a difference but just being president for my exercise science club really really pushed me just to be like I need to
be in charge of what I need to be. Like this is what I represent. And it made me be a lot more passionate towards my
field because at the time like even though I knew I wanted to pursue physical therapy, I wasn't necessarily too sure
because my academics weren't that good. But then once I started seeing more of myself the fact that I was I was able to
deal with a whole bunch more than I ever anticipated myself doing. Like in my personal statement, which I want you to
read->> Oh, yes. I will read it. Yes.
>> I talked about like how I did a speech in front of my whole entire graduating class for my kinesiology department
and just the fact that I did that it's like was a freshman-- as like the nerdy kid that didn't know Jack squat I never imagine
myself standing in front of like my whole graduating class and giving a speech.
>> Wow.
>> So it's-- yeah. So it's->> That's great.
>> I know.
>> That's great.
>> So I feel as though like that moment where I kind of figured-- it's literally right after my third year at the house and
the Filipino club fallout and all that stuff that's were made a total turn around and kind of realized like hey, I need to do
something about this because something's not going right. And putting myself in a position where I am supposed to be
held accountable really changed my mindset.
>> Right.
>> You know like-- officer hat. I've had an officer hat. I had the officer hat almost every day. Every day since everyone
knew who I was.
>> Wow.
>> They would come up to me, when are the club meetings? One's the club meeting? When is graduation happening?
Because of the time I was also helping out graduation ceremony. So it's like the fact that people knew me it pushed me
more to work harder.
>> Excellent.
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>> Yeah.
>> Anything financial bridge that-- well financially, your bridge was your parents paid. Right?
>> Yeah.
>> Anything structural, health, or gender?
>> What-- gender? I mean-- I don't necessarily know. I'm honestly not too aware of like how my gender affects other
people. I feel as though like maybe because I am a male and just from what I know statistically that males are you know
more significant leaders. Or you know just all that stuff. I feel like that could be a correlation but I'm not honestly not
too sure.
>> Okay.
>> I don't-- I really don't-- I'm not the type of person to differentiate too much between females and males and any other
gender. I'm pretty equal with everyone as it is. So I don't necessarily look at it that much. But I guess statistically
speaking it could be a factor, but->> Okay.
>> I'm honestly not too sure.
>> Awesome. Okay. All right. Is there anything in the community that enabled you to graduate? Actually, you talked a
lot about it. Actually talked about the clubs. So I'm just going to put clubs. Because you actually did talk about the-- but
other than the clubs, was there anything in the community because I mean you talked about other than the clubs-because you talked about a lot of clubs. Anything else?
>> In the community that helped me in my academic achievements?
>> Yes. Other than clubs.
>> Other than clubs.
>> Outside Fresno State.
>> Outside of Fresno State. As like community, just like anything?
>> Anything.
>> Okay. Well, I mean I guess there's is one example, I guess. I'll never forget-- so I don't know if this counts towards
his question, but I was sitting for human physiology which is like part of my breaking point. That was when I was really
tested academically and that's when I was really trying to figure myself out and I wanted to make a turnaround. And that
class is really hard. I was studying like I was pulling all nighter at the Denny's one day. And it was like 4 AM or 5 AM
and then there was like the cleaning lady who was sweeping up and then she just wanted to have some small talk. She
stopped next to me and said oh what are you studying for? Oh, human physiology? That sounds hard. What are you
trying to be? I'm trying to become a physical therapist. And it was like oh, well. That's really hard. And she said-- I'll
just never forget what she told me. She said you know, don't give up on what you're trying to do. Like I know it seems
hard to you right now but just keep doing what you need to do or don't be like me and sweep up like after Denny's at 5
AM if you don't want to be in my position. So it's just like the constant reminders when people ask me-- now this is in
general-- when people ask me what I'm trying to do in college and they say keep going and don't you know reach for
your dreams, that's like even though it's such a small incidence when they're telling me that it really does affect me a lot.
>> Okay.
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>> When I see people->> Wait, say it one more time. Say it one more time.
>> So when I see-- when I meet people that ask me about my college plans or like my academic goals or just my
professional goal, and they told me to just keep up-- just like to keep reaching for my dreams and keep succeeding at
what I'm doing then I feel like that really affects me a lot where it's like this whole stranger is telling me to succeed and
it just feels really heartwarming. The fact that they actually-- it seems like they really care. The fact that they care and
they want me to succeed it feels great. So whenever someone tells me that outside of college, outside of my clubs,
outside of my family, like total and complete strangers when they ask me about how I'm doing, and it's a good reminder
like that's right. Like these are the people and the-- because literally these are the people I'm going to end up serving one
day. Like who knows like someone that I met randomly and said things like make sure you achieve your dreams they
might become my patient one day.
>> Yeah.
>> One day I might meet them again in the future. So it's just a constant reminder like hey, remember who you are
doing it for. You're not just doing it for yourself. Like you are doing it for your family, your friends and just community
in general. So I guess I'm not too sure that's the question, but-- that fits the question but that's->> Yes.
>> -- how I'm able to do it.
>> Excellent. Okay. Was college-- and we are at the very end, actually. I think you kind of answer this already, but
what-- was college cultivated in your household? Did your parents talk about college?
>> My parents had a college fund for me since I was a kid.
>> Oh, that's very important.
>> So there we go. I mean they were already wanting me to go to college from the get go. My grandparents would-- oh,
my God. Filipino. Filipino grandparents-- they would just talk to me on and on and on and on and on about college in
school and get an education repeatedly almost like a broken record to the point where it's like I get it. I get it. Like I
know I'm supposed to go to college. I just->> Filipino parents or grandparents?
>> Grandparents.
>> Okay.
>> Grandparents were heavier on it. My parents told me to go in my grandparents which is heavy on it. I think it's the
fact that they were you know like I said before my grandpa was a farmer and my grandma was just a housewife. They
wanted to see like their first American you know child like make it. Make it. Like make it big.
>> Wow. Okay.
>> So->> Excellent.
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>> That's pretty intense.
>> Yeah.
>> Cultivation. All right. And I think you already answered that one. You already said the community we Artie did
Fresno State. All right. Is there now the last questions from smaller-- these are to graduate in four years. Okay? What do
you want the college change to help people graduate in four years and also specific how do you want the college to
change for people to graduate in-- graduate and also graduate in four years? What can Fresno State do for these
students? You did it, but what can Fresno State do. More what-- more smaller classes? More co-ethnic professors, more
co-ethnic clubs, what? I mean what do you need? So with down the line what do we need at Fresno State to get these
people to cross the line particularly Southeast Asians?
>> Particularly Southeast Asians?
>> Because they are not passing the line.
>> So, for classes, while considering my major and maybe just like in general education class, there needs to be more
faculty members and more-- and actually more classes.
>> Wait, hold on. More classes? And more faculty members?
>> More classes, more faculty members and with the size of classes I agree with small classes so it's more interpersonal.
>> More-- so you want smaller classes?
>> Smaller classes more faculty members so then there could be more classes.
>> Define smaller classes. How many people?
>> So->> 30 people?
>> Yeah, like 30.
>> Or like 10 people? Or 20 people?
>> 30 to 10.
>> 10 to 30?
>> Yeah, 10 to 30. Yeah.
>> Okay. So 10-- so you want more classes that are 10 to 30 students. And then you don't want any Doshi don't want
any class to have more 30 students?
>> Having like a lecture hall class where you are you know in the big really big classroom it's I don't really-- I mean it
was cool for the beginning but then when I started to realize that I'm not getting as much attention as I should have-should be, even though it's not necessarily the professor's job to attend to me personally, I feel as though just as college
goes I feel like if you are in a smaller group it's pretty easy to notice that someone is not there.
>> Right.
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>> And it's harder to just fade out because even though it's like->> Right.
>> -- Some people will go to class on the first day and then they will only show up during the exams.
>> That is correct.
>> Yeah. So like having it where the class is small where the student is more inclined to work and go to class I feel like
it will cultivate more of an academic success or more->> Okay.
>> More classes.
>> More classes.
>> Smaller classes.
>> More faculty members.
>> And more faculty members.
>> Okay.
>> So then you can distribute more courses throughout the semester.
>> Okay. There are 40%-- 47% of Fresno State is Latino. Do you want to see more co-ethnic professors particularly
African-American or Asian or Latino?
>> Yes. I can say that I-- now that I think about it, I've never had a black teacher. I've never had a black professor I've
never had a black teacher. The only one that I had was a black PE teacher and he was probably the best PE-- he was the
best PE teacher I ever had. Even though->> At Fresno State?
>> No. This was at my middle school.
>> Oh.
>> Elementary school, basically.
>> Okay.
>> Yeah. But yeah my whole entire college career, now that I'm thinking about it I've never had a black teacher.
>> Wow.
>> Yeah.
>> What about Asian, Latino?
>> I've had a few Asian professors. I only-- now that I think about it I only had three. I had-- -- I had Dr. [inaudible] my
freshman year.
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>> What majors?
>> Huh?
>> Who-- you mean Franklin [inaudible]?
>> Franklin [inaudible], yeah. There you go.
>> Oh, okay.
>> Yeah. I had him my freshman year.
>> Okay. How is he?
>> He was good.
>> Okay.
>> He was good. And then I already forgot the second one. And the last one was for biostatistics. So the first two
professors-- the first two Asian professors, they were from Asian-American studies.
>> Right.
>> The lower division and then the upper division GE and then my last Asian professor he taught biostatistics.
>> So the-- Dr. [inaudible]-- what class was that? Then what was the other Asian-American professor you had? Was it
Dr. [inaudible]?
>> Yeah, there we go. Dr. [inaudible] yeah.
>> Okay. So yeah. The first one was [inaudible] 10 and then the other one was-- I already forgot the-- what the name of
that thing. It was just Asian-American communities.
>> Okay.
>> Yeah.
>> That was 110? And then was that a positive experience?
>> So it's kind of funny. For-- since I was a freshman I didn't really understand how college worked, I actually didn't do
well in Franklin's class, Dr. Franklin's class. I learned a lot about my culture, though. Because at the time since I was in
my fraternity I was learning a lot more about Filipino culture and when I learned about Filipino culture I'd be like oh,
well. On top of that I will learn about other Asian cultures I had no idea existed. Honestly I didn't know that Laotian
existed until Fresno State. I didn't know Hmong existed until Fresno State. And then when I got that experience to learn
about their culture then I see the costumes I'd be like cool. The thing-- I did learn a lot but I didn't necessarily do will not
class.
>> Okay.
>> Because I didn't understand how school work. And for Dr. [inaudible] class, I learned a lot more about Southeast
Asians. Since like we talked about things like Sri Lanka and the Cambodian genocide and stuff like that. And those are
things I never ever ever learned in my high school. In my high school or elementary or middle school classes. So, I was
really thankful in the fact that I just took those classes so I'm more aware that hey there is a richer history and culture
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behind what you just have like in the textbooks about you know oh yeah, World War II, World War I and all that stuff.
All the stuff that we think we know but there's actually more to it.
>> All right. Last couple-- last four questions. Did you think that if you had more co-ethnics would that have made a
difference in your graduation? Do you think that if you had more ethnic clubs would that be-- and then what college
success workshops you want to see to-- for you to graduate and then anything that you see at Fresno that you think that
we should have to help you graduate and the last question is anything I should ask in the future for any college-- people
to help finish college? So the first thing is co-ethnics. Difference no difference?
>> I think like it would make a difference depending on how the professor handles the situation. If the professor does
>> I mean co-ethnic classmates, sorry.
>> Oh, co-ethnic classmates?
>> Yeah.
>> Oh.
>> Or no difference?
>> I feel like it would make a difference because especially what I kind of notice is that I tend to-- I tend to migrate
more to Asians or at least Filipinos more. So then if I'm like in the class like for example my [inaudible] class, right with
Dr. [inaudible]. All the Filipinos got together.
>> Oh, really?
>> Yeah. So all the Filipinos got together. All the Hmong people got together.
>> Oh, my God.
>> Yeah. I mean->> That's funny.
>> It's a good and bad thing. Because like yeah like it's good to have a small community like that but at the same time
it's like it's better to diversify. But I mean I'm-- I'm not too sure, but yeah. I'm not too sure whether would be a good or
bad thing. It's kind of like a double-edged sword. Like yeah I'll have people that I can easily connect with, but at the
same time it's kind of bad for just in general because I'm supposed to diversify I'm supposed to talk to other people. But>> Okay.
>> I don't really know how to answer that question, to be honest.
>> All right. Any college success workshops that you want to see?
>> College success workshops?
>> Since you said Southeast Asian males are trained to like not ask questions be like I can do it myself, what can we do
to get Southeast Asian men to ask questions or take these workshops that they might need? What can we do?
>> You know, this goes back into what I asked the question similar to that at the age of symposium on campus and one
respondent said that people like that specifically like my brothers who aren't doing academically well they need a safe
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space, you know, quote, unquote safe space where it's like they have a space where they can-- they are more-- they can
easily talk about the academics and where they want to be in life instead of saying that I got it, I got it, I got it. So when
they have a community or just a small group of people that they're able to discuss about like where they are at in life->> So you need a club of Asian men or do you need like cross-cultural center to have like a workshop for Asian men
every two weeks? Like what do you mean by safe space?
>> It's like->> Like a talking moment? Or->> It's like something that's less invasive and where it's like let's say like [inaudible] who was able to talk to them about
academics and push them forward. Because I feel as though like if-- like the cross-cultural centers and like learning
centers and stuff like that are really good opportunities but the thing is that I feel as though Southeast Asian Americans
are specifically Filipinos won't feel inclined to go to them. Only because they will feel that they are being attacked by
hey, they're not doing well in school.
>> Oh.
>> Even though their goals are to you know help them succeed, is like it's kind of like embarrassing especially if you're
not doing well. Like for me->> Okay.
>> -- it was very embarrassing for me to ask for help. Since my GPA was super low.
>> Okay.
>> So then I feel like the the way-- but it still can be used. I feel like the way it can be transitioned is that you have a
small community like say like my fraternity, right? You have my fraternity.
>> Small community, okay.
>> And then you have like a brother who was very you know attentive towards other brothers academics and that person
advises that brother who is feeling [inaudible] to go to the cross-cultural center and that's where they can benefit.
Because it's hard-- I feel like it's hard for Asian American men to initiate them you know initiate going to an
administrator or just getting some help.
>> What would-- when a Southeast Asian male if there was a mentorship program at the cross-cultural center just for
everyone, focus on males Southeast Asian Americans when they go or is it too embarrassing? If we institute a new
mentorship program for just Southeast Asian men not [inaudible] the grades but called the Southeast Asian men
mentorship program, would that be something that they would go to?
>> I think so. And the reason why say this is because so I actually go-- I'm going to go I'm going to talk about my
girlfriend for a second. So my girlfriend since she goes to UCSD she got into this new program that she had-- it's totally
started this year. And she knew nothing about prior but she was put into it.
>> Okay.
>> And then was asked if she should do it. I forgot what was called
>> So she was forced to participate.
>> Not necessarily. It was like she kept on being persuaded to get into it.
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>> Okay.
>> Is called like the success mentoring thing. I'm not too sure what is called. So then like she was asking me about it.
She was like I don't know this stupid thing is. I'm like and then like you know me making my mistakes, I told her like
just do it. Like I know you don't know what it is but just do it. And she said okay, but I think it's going to be stupid and
as she's like-- and now she's like this is totally like the best thing I ever had.
>> Tell me more.
>> She basically she has this student who is an upper division student->> Okay.
>> Who has thrown office and like they meet like once a month or every other month->> Meet once a month->> And they talk about like what their personal goals are whether it's work, academics, or like a professional goal.
>> So they talk once a month about professional->> Yeah.
>> -- about professional goals. Okay.
>> And basically like wherever she's not in life or what she wants that person will help. So that person will like outreach
and look for stuff. So like for like my girlfriend she wants to be-- she's premed. So then what the mentor is doing is that
she ended up signing her up-- no questions asked-- just she's like okay you are going to a premed conference this day,
this time.
>> Wow.
>> And she's like okay. I'm going to go.
>> So like they->> So the mentor signed her up?
>> -- like they really->> Without asking?
>> Yeah.
>> Okay.
>> They really really pressure to like do the things they want to do. Like once they tell her-- once she tells them what
she wants to do there like okay then you're going to do this, that, that, that. Go to it.
>> Is it for Asians? Who is it for?
>> To this day, she still has no idea why she got it or how she got into it and she asked her roommates and they don't
know anything about it.
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>> But they're not in it?
>> They are not in it.
>> So so are you sure it's not for minorities?
>> Honestly I have no idea.
>> Find out later. Tell me.
>> I have-- I can keep asking her but she really doesn't know.
>> But she's Southeast Asian.
>> Yes, she is. She's Thai.
>> Is so then they have the lowest graduation-- I mean-- they can->> That's what told her.
>> They can demographically locate you.
>> I think that's what they did.
>> Okay.
>> Because I told her like hey, you know-- I told her like Southeast Asians are less likely to be academically inclined.
So it could be a thing. But in another thing a really good positive about it is that if you are part of that mentorship
program, you get priority in classes. Yeah. So she gets class priority.
>> Oh, my God. That's such a plus, though.
>> Yeah. And she-- but she didn't know. She didn't know about that.
>> That's a big difference. That's a big difference in your graduating life.
>> Yeah.
>> Because they're always impacted classes.
>> Yeah.
>> So you have first dibs?
>> She has first dibs. She didn't know. She didn't know anything about that. She didn't know until like their third
meeting. Like okay so classes like-- there's going to be applying for classes she's like you get priority by the way
because you are in this program.
>> Oh, my God.
>> She was like, what? So like not only does she get that one on one like you know relationship with that person and
like she also said that that person knows her like for example like there was one workshop where the mentor wanted her
to go she's like oh and I signed you up for the afternoon because I already know that you don't want to wake up in the
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morning. And then she-- and then my girlfriend is just like yeah. She knows me. She knows who I am. So it's very
personal. Like it's like I feel as though like she has a big sister in way.
>> Okay.
>> But yeah, so->> If you can do me a favor. If you can like-- if she can like know about like what is the-- I would love to know the
program.
>> Oh, yeah.
>> Because if we could copy that program, bring it to Fresno State, [inaudible] for the southeast Asians, focus on males
that would be great. Like if you could just like if you could just like Google that program and give me the name of it?
>> Oh, yeah.
>> I will find that program. Like I will find it. But anyway, that's it. That's the entire interview. Is there anything if you
can think of like later I'm going to send it to you as a thing. If you can think of anything that we can do to get these
people and thank God your girlfriend is in the program. We obviously need that program.
>> Yeah, we need something like that.
>> We-- yeah.
>> I wish I had that.
>> We need that program, so-- I need like that's exactly what I need. Honestly so I'm going to say-- so Jason thank you
so much. That's the end of the interview. I'm going to send you back your noted transcript please read it and if you want
to add anything to it that you find out later feel free to change it. And please put I approve or disapprove and change it
once you get it. Okay? So thank you so much. And let me--
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