In terms of transitioning into education, after graduation, I moved back to San Francisco and did a year of service with Americorps, where I worked with Elementary School students who were behind their reading levels. I was always passionate about education and this opportunity not only provided for that, but also combined my bilingualism in Mandarin and Cantonese to serve students who were primarily bilingual speakers in English and Chinese as well. After that, I returned to Taiwan to teach English abroad, where I got to also strengthen my Mandarin skills.
I will be entering into the field of international education and building a career around making education more equitable and accessible for students. After taking a required language class at UC Davis my freshman, I fell in love with Chinese and decided to major in Chinese to deepen my understanding of my Chinese American heritage. Also, it doesn't hurt to add an extra language skill to your resume. Language learning has helped me grow not only professionally, but also personally because it took me to many travel abroad experiences. After applying and getting accepted to the Critical Language Scholarship Program to study immersive Chinese abroad for 8 weeks, my speaking skills excelled and I decided to study Chinese more with the UCEAP Program in Beijing. As an English teacher now, I continued to work on my Chinese. Language learning is more than just learning the language: it helped me gain perspective into the world, understand other cultures, connect with my heritage, and has shaped my desire to use my cross-cultural perspectives to build a career around international education.
Overall, majoring in Chinese provided many opportunities for me to serve communities, whether abroad or domestic, through education by overcoming language and cultural barriers.