My first interest in the Asia Pacific Studies program comes from my personal standpoint in life because I truly want to feel empowered by knowing more about myself as an Asian Pacific Islander first and foremost. My mom is a Marshallese Pacific Islander with Japanese heritage and my dad is a Sindhi Indian who is a first generation SriLankan. I myself am a first generation American and ever since childhood, my background has been very diverse and has centered greatly around the Asia Pacific cultural landscape. When I started high school, I attended a very disciplined Jesuit High School in the Marshall Islands. It taught me the value of discipline and community service through active engagement. This was the first time in which I was actually pushed to perform academic tasks to which I had no idea I was capable of doing. This is my personal reason for pursuing a Masters in the Asia Pacific Studies program. At times, I doubt myself simply because I am mentally colonized by own peers and my own country. I sought to prove myself by venturing out to the United States of my own accord so that I could finally free myself from the limitations that I feel has been imposed on me because of people’s perception who are not that far in relation to myself. Although my ability to listen to everyone tamed me from fully expressing my deepest ambitions, I nevertheless took a leap of faith and decided to continue my education abroad at an Adventist boarding school where I could finally assert a newly found sense of independence. The opportunity to attend boarding school in Hawaii was not new to my family. However, the way in which I pleaded my case to my family was somewhat unconventional. I became very sick and had to be rushed from the Marshall Islands to Hawaii for medical treatment. Without uttering a peep, I decided to sneak my transcripts
and all relevant documents for the boarding school I planned to attend along with the application I filled out. When I pulled this quick stunt after my medical visits and told my dad and uncle that I wasn’t going back, they quickly took me seriously and helped me with my finances. I was able to graduate with honors and earned a merit scholarship from an Adventist university. My road to Southwestern Adventist University was another path in truly discovering who I was as a person. My insecurities almost cost me my academic career as I was too afraid to venture off into the unknown to a much bigger state because the extended family network provided by Pacific Island families tends to shelter us too much leading to greater dependency. It wasn’t easy because it was somewhat reminiscent of my experiences in Hawaii. In Hawaii, the local community actively discriminates against Micronesians, Marshallese included. In Texas, I experienced the kind of racism you only see on TV where the Caucasian literally belittles the pathetic colored boy who is working at a local Wal-Mart just to supplement his college tuition expenses. My experience with racism led me to a new sense of pride as I became more educated and more aware of my identity giving me a good enough reason to love myself as an Asian Pacific Islander. Despite the hurdles, I was able to graduate with good grades proving yet again my worth to my insecure self, which I greatly needed. My next stop in life was to come back home to the Marshall Islands and find a job. I applied to various jobs but I felt like I didn’t want to waste time sitting around when I had a lot to learn, so, I asked my cousin for an internship. In the midst of my internship, I got my first interview. Again, my insecurities got the best of me as I argued with my dad telling him that I did not believe I got the phone call simply through my
resume pushing it instead to the cause of my family’s popularity. My dad assured me that I would get hired because of how well I did in school and he was right. The first thing my employer in the Marshall Islands said was that she was impressed with my resume and I was immediately hired for a job that they had yet to advertise. It seemed my transition from high school to college and finally to a working day adult played smoothly as I landed my first job out of college working at the Office of the President through the Office of Environmental Planning and Policy Coordination. My career skyrocketed really fast as I became over burdened with work that was not even in my job description. Nevertheless, I took these newly added duties under my personal conviction that someone had to do it and that it was the best for the Marshallese people. I quickly jumped the ranks despite my insecurities and somewhere down the line, my friends and I started an environmental non-profit organization called Jo-Jikum. This became my safe haven to give back to the environment out of my own pocket. While work took me to far away places and taught me the inclusive and interdependent nature of the global community, my non-profit organization taught me the inclusive nature of the Marshallese community through a youth’s perspective. Despite my level of success, something just felt missing with my new elitist job at the President’s office and I felt as if it wasn’t doing it for me anymore because I wanted to be more engaged with the community on a grass root level through direct contribution. The opportunity came when I saw a disturbing front-page newspaper article of the situation in our high school. Our local high school had no teachers, no principal, and no secretary. I quickly acted on my impulse because I feared collective failure as a human being first and foremost. I wanted to be a true civil servant and I felt that the extensive
travelling to the international scene at my current job took away any opportunity I had for real civil engagement. I soon left my job at the Office of the President when I chose not to renew my contract at the Office of Environmental Planning and Policy Coordination. My family was disappointed in me because I left a great job that gave me travelling benefits, but I wasn’t set backed by their lack of understanding. My commitment to civic duty is something I was always taught by my Marshallese family, my mom’s side in particular, and I was convinced that I was just acting on my good will. When I left the Office of Environmental Planning and Policy Coordination, I approached the new high school principal who had just taken post and asked her if I could volunteer as a teacher. She gave me a volunteer post with no pay, but later, she had to hire me on the spot because a teacher just walked out leaving students without an educator to give them the education they were entitled to under their own constitution. I don’t know whether this is luck or fate but it all worked out and I became a newly hired teacher. When the accreditation process for our high school came, I quickly volunteered my services to be an editor simply because someone had to do it and nobody was willing to volunteer within my own Marshallese community. It worked out well yet again as the report received great reviews and our local high school was able to get an additional three years of accreditation. Working under a government paycheck had its ups and downs even when you work under the Office of the President and the Ministry of Education. Somewhere down the line in my career as a teacher, a certain inaccurate textbook made its way to the curriculum. After evaluating the accuracy of the first Marshallese history textbook, I began to find many errors and felt yet again consciously coerced to do something about it
for the sake of my country and my people. It was not easy lobbying, and certainly not easy to apply the research skills I gained in college, but in the end, it paid off. The textbook was banned and is currently undergoing corrections which I also took part in. However, despite my level of immediate success, I couldn’t help but feel burnt out---not because the work was difficult---but because there are things that make your work difficult. I had to leave government and focus on my civic duty through my nonprofit organizations to gain a sense of political freedom, and more so, to give myself a break from the unnecessary difficulties I had to deal with on a daily basis that were not part of my job description nor my volunteered efforts. My past experiences taught me one thing and led me to a firmer conviction on my academic goals. It taught me to push further on the field I started so that I can showcase through living example to my peers what an education can get you. My experiences alone should attest to why I feel drawn to this program. Asia Pacific Studies is a much-needed field. In my country, there are less than ten legitimate published Marshallese authors. The history textbook incident, which I had to rectify through lobbying, should attest to why more Asian Pacific Islanders from the Marshall Islands need to take ownership of their own descriptions. The situation with our local high school teacher shortage should also attest to our ongoing difficulties. If my life has taught me one thing, it has taught me that if you want something done, you have to do it yourself. I am actively pursuing this program to do just that. I want to give back to my community by first setting an example. When I looked at the Asia Pacific Studies program, what drew me to it was its interdisciplinary feature. This is a distinct academic feature in which I can relate to
because it is exactly the way I was taught to think and learn. I honestly feel like I can grow in the MAPS program because the interdisciplinary feature showcases the many ways learning can take place through a holistic lens. When I select schools, most of the time, I pick them because of the academics, and rarely do I pick them because it is a safe haven to learn and grow. I was fortunate enough, as luck would have it, to be given a safe haven by three Christian schools of the Adventist and Jesuit faiths. What drove me to really select the University of San Francisco MAPS program as my first college and program of choice is because I view it as a safe haven to grow. I want to be a scholar and in order for me to do that, I need a safe haven to intimately grow into myself as a person and as a professional. I feel reassured in labeling the MAPS program as a safe haven for my professional growth because of how they cater to their students’ academic needs. Making education accessible was the punch line for me and I am sold to this program simply because I see that happening right now even with this application process. This is why I view this school and program as a safe haven for me to grow professionally and academically. It’s these random acts of kindness that reminds us that there are good people in this world and I need to be around good people to continue to grow into a good person. Education means learning from all sources and I value the interdisciplinary and responsive nature of the University of San Francisco staff and its curriculum. Sometimes in life, we need a safe haven to grow to fully unlock the true potential that is caged up by an external force not of our doing. The MAPS program is my opportunity to retain my self-confidence and to grow into my full potential and this is exactly why I’m applying and choosing it as my first program of choice.