I came to the United States from the Philippines when I was twelve years old. After spending a very short time in Los Angeles, I moved to North Carolina to live with my new parents. My new mother spoke Ilicono, my native language, but my father only knew a few words and phrases. They immediately enrolled me in school, in hindsight, probably prematurely. Since my education in the Philippines was at a religious school that did very little to teach me mathematics or English, I was classified as English deficient and placed in the Doris Henderson Newcomers School. The way I handled the traumatic experience of being thrust into a foreign school system, without the capability to speak English, turned out to be the most influential building block of me becoming a strong, confident student with the tools to succeed in middle school, high school and eventually college.
Doris Henderson Newcomers School is a melting pot of students who speak over twenty-one different
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I was fortunate to discover Rockingham County Community College (RCCC) in essentially my back yard, seventeen miles away. The atmosphere provided at RCCC have allowed me to continue to gain confidence in my abilities and realize that I have a great chance of landing a rewarding job in the future. After my years, in the crowded, somewhat impersonal, lower school systems I appreciate the freedoms and responsibilities afforded me by RCCC.
My experience in learning English while proceeding through the American school system was extremely frustrating and difficult. There is no easy answers or easy path to follow when you are grasping at meanings of basic words and phrases. However, it taught me solid work habits, tenacity and the value of setting my goals high. I do not believe I would be the strong, confident person that I am today without having experienced these