Back to School: Boston Teens Talk

By Adam Smith, Sampan

BOSTON - Aug. 18, 2006 - As the school year creeps closer to reality for teens everywhere, the Sampan decided to check in with Asian-American youth in Boston to see what they're thinking about life, school, and the end of summer.

Here are their stories:

Meet: Henry Lee
School: John D. O'Bryant High School of Mathematics & Science
Grade this fall: Sophomore

On life: Though he's only 15 years old, Lee is already concerned about his future.

"I'm scared about when I grow up. Will I find a job? Will I get into college?" said Lee.

He hopes to get a career in computer science and study at MIT, but his father wants him to follow his sister's footsteps and find a career in finance.

Finance "seems boring to me," said Lee. "My dream for a long time has been to become a computer engineer."

He said his parents want him to work -- "they're always telling me how my sister got a job when she was 14," he said -- but he still has plenty of responsibilities.

On top of his studies, he must help translate documents like bills and letters for his parents, who are not yet fluent in English. "My mom seems to make me multi-task without realizing it," he said. In fact, sometimes he doesn't even have time to be a kid.

Lee, who lives in Charlestown, said he used to enjoy hanging out with his friends in Chinatown after school. However, "I realized I was not getting my homework done."

Now, he said, he spends little time with his friends during the school year, although this year he hopes he'll have time for extracurricular activities like school sports.

On youth violence: "I've noticed an increase, but it has not affected me."

On music: "I like rock (Linkin Park and Green Day) but nothing too heavy, because that freaks me out."

What he did this summer: Volunteered at a Chinatown nonprofit, the Asian American Civic Association, and went to China with his parents and sister this summer. One highlight of the trip, he said, was going rock climbing on waterfalls. While climbing up the highest waterfall of about 20 feet, he accidentally dropped his climbing rope, which caused his worried father to begin screaming at him.

"There was a time that I almost slipped, but I didn't tell my dad because I didn't want him to yell at me," he said.

Another highlight of the trip, he said, was visiting his grandmother's home.

"My grandma is still living in the same place where she gave birth to my mom," he said, noting how tiny the house is. "It made me think about what (my parents) had to go through" living in China.

Meet: Myky Tran
School: Snowden International School
Grade: Freshman

On life: After taking a year of bilingual classes at the Edwards Middle School in Charlestown, Tran said she's nervous to enter all-English classes this fall at Snowden. "I don't know how to make friends with Americans," said Tran, 15, a recent immigrant from Vietnam. "I don't know how to communicate with them." She lives in Allston with her father and younger sister. She said that because her father, who now works at the 88 Supermarket, moved her and her sister to the U.S. for their education, she feels responsible to succeed in school.

"I feel like when I came to America, my dad did a lot of hard work for me and my sister. So I do a lot of hard work [for him]. Last year, I made good grades, and he was very happy."

She said she likes the U.S. and the schools here, which she said have smaller class sizes and are more open to educational experiments than in Vietnam.

On racial tension: Tran said that on her first day at Clarence R. Edwards Middle School, kids made fun of her for being Chinese-Vietnamese.

"Sometimes [other students] don't like the Chinese, and they laugh and talk down on us," she said, noting that she felt most comfortable in her bilingual class. "I felt safe because I know the teacher will protect us."

On violence: Though she said she was verbally harassed by students, she said she still felt safe at school and in Allston, where her family lives.

On music: Tran, who plays piano, enjoys classical music such as Mozart and Beethoven.

What she did this summer: Volunteered at a youth program in Chinatown at the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center.

Future goal: To become a translator.

Meet: Alan Wong
School: Snowden International School
Grade: Senior

On life: Attending Snowden, Wong feels safe among the diversity of his fellow students. But at home in his family's apartment at Castle Square near Chinatown, Wong often feels unsafe.

"Castle Square is an okay place, but it's pretty violent at times," he said of the federally subsidized housing complex. "There are fights, shootings," said Wong.

“It affects my life because it makes me not feel safe living there."

He said that he is "very concerned" about the safety of Castle Square and said that violence can be triggered by merely looking at the wrong person the wrong way.

"They mostly target Asians, because they think that Asians are inferior and won't do anything back," he said.

But Wong said that his parents are supportive of him and want him to seek a career that he enjoys.

His interests include computer engineering and learning Japanese.

"I wanted to take Japanese because I want to got to Japan; it has high technology," he said.

He hopes to attend either UMass Amherst, Northeastern University or MIT.

What he did this summer: Wong attended the Shakespeare Program sponsored by the Wang Theatre. In the program, he taught kids about the play, "The Taming of the Shrew." "That pretty much packed my schedule, it was very long hours," he said. The program concluded with a performance on Aug. 6 on the Boston Common. He also volunteered at BCNC.

On music: He enjoys hip hop and rap, especially from Japan and Korea.

Meet: Nelson Wong
School: Snowden International School
Grade: Senior

On life: Though Wong's parents live in Somerville, he often enjoys staying with his grandmother in Tai Tung Village in Chinatown.

"It's good because it's in Chinatown, around a lot of Chinese stores and Chinese people," said Wong, 17. He said that he knows fewer people in Somerville than in Chinatown, where he regularly plays basketball with his friends.

Wong's parents are both from China and are hard workers, said Wong, who added that he used to see them very little because they would get home from work after midnight.

He said that his parents don't mind what career goal he chooses, as long as he goes to school and keeps his grades up.

"They just don't want me to follow their paths of being waiters," he said.

Wong hopes to become a psychologist.

On discrimination: "In school, there's no discrimination," he said, noting that the school is small and everyone knows each other.

On music: He enjoys Chinese pop music

What he did this summer: He was an assistant youth worker at BCNC, and worked at McDonalds.

Meet: Emily Tai
School: Boston Latin Academy
Grade: Senior

On life: Tai doesn't have much time to act like a 17 year old. In fact, after attending school, studying, preparing for college, volunteering at a hospital and practicing piano, Wong has little time for anything. "I like [school], but it's getting very, very stressful, especially as I get close to [entering] college," she said.

During her junior year, she said, she slept an average of four hours a night. She would finish studying and homework assignments by 2 a.m., and then wake up for school at 6 a.m. Socializing with friends was a rarity. At most, Tai hangs out with friends three times a month during the school year.

Tai is motivated to work hard at school because of her parents. "They work day and night," she said. My sisters and I make dinner for ourselves when we get home [from school]."

Tai said she hopes to enter the medical field, a goal that her parents approve of. "I made that decision when I was 10, so they've known all along. They think I'm all set," she said.

On racism: Though Tai said there's little overt racism at her school, she said that kids of different racial backgrounds tend to separate themselves. "I can feel how they separate -- there are the Asian groups and [the other racial groups]. We don't do it consciously, but we feel more comfortable [together]," she said. Tai said she's experienced very few racially-motivated insults, however, "sometimes kids would make fun of me for being Chinese by making these weird noises."

On music: She listens to Japanese music.

What she did this summer: Volunteered at a Chinatown service agency, AACA, prepared for college, and "I'm trying to catch up on my social life."