March Alumni Spotlight: Shu Ying, (Gaithersburg High School)
This blog highlights the story of Shu Ying, a 2017 alum from Gaithersburg High School.
He reflects on how, beyond the professional and academic benefits Liberty’s Promise offers, it’s the opportunities to engage with the local community that often have the greatest impact on immigrant youth. We had the privilege of speaking with him to share his journey.
Shu Ying’s Journey:
“I was born in Taiwan, and I moved to the United States in 2013 when I was 15 years old. My mom wanted to move so that I could have better educational opportunities. Although the Taiwanese educational system was at times competitive and stressful, I felt indifferent to the move. This was partly because I had moved from Taiwan to Hong Kong for first grade until the end of second grade, so moving again did not feel too intimidating.
I started at Gaithersburg High School in the lowest level ESL program. I learned English back home in Taiwan, but it was mostly reading with a bit of writing. I could pronounce some words, but because I did not have much practice with speaking or listening, I couldn’t understand the majority of what people were saying. Two years after moving to the U.S., I exited the ESL program and started to take the regular English classes. Nevertheless, I still couldn’t really have a conversation with the other students. I would try to understand but I couldn’t, so I struggled to fully participate. I often just stayed quiet.
One of the biggest ways LP supported me in high school though was simply by offering a place to go after school. LP offered a place to socialize with other students and get involved with the community without feeling pressure to have perfect English. I remember making peanut butter jelly sandwiches for shelters and going to parks to do cleanups. I could put all of these experiences on my resume as a high school student. Had I not joined Liberty’s Promise, it would have been empty.
Field trips were my favorite part of LP. When you don’t speak the language well, you kind of shy away from going out to do stuff. We got to ride public transit to go to museums, the zoo and even the circus. I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to go to those places until later in life because my mom was always working. It was so nice to go out and do stuff with other students because otherwise I would just go home and do school work. It was quite monotonous and lonely.
During one session in Liberty’s Promise, an advisor from the ACES (Achieving Collegiate Excellence and Success) program came in and talked to the students. It was described as a college-readiness program through Montgomery College. With an advisor who had an office in Gaithersburg High School, you could meet with them periodically to get help for college and scholarship applications. I got to go on different college tours and experience the campus thanks to the ACES program. With my mom’s work schedule and the fact that we did not know about the college opportunities, I would have otherwise not toured them.
Liberty’s Promise really supported my professional growth. Beyond the practice interviews and resume writing, hearing the guest speakers gave me ideas of what I might be interested in. One time, there was a staff member from a bank who came in and taught us how to write a check. We learned a lot of necessary day-to-day skills. We were also taught how to act during an interview, from walking into the room to how a handshake is supposed to go.
Out of high school, I went to Montgomery College. I felt I was not prepared for university yet because of my English skills, and I wanted to save money. After I got my associates degree, I transferred to University of Maryland–College Park to study engineering.
Right now, I work for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, or SEPTA for short. I work in the Automotive Engineering Department as an engineer. Some of my responsibilities include improving and developing bus inspection plans, identifying methods to enhance vehicle safety and reduce service failures, incident investigation and coordinating performance tests for aftermarket bus components. I also get to travel to bus manufacturing plants to inspect the buses, make sure they are up to par, and then release the bus for shipment to SEPTA.
Before I started my career at SEPTA, I worked as a bus driver at University of Maryland. They have a small transit department where they pay for students to receive training to obtain their class B commercial driver’s license so they can become bus drivers. I did this throughout my senior year and really enjoyed it. Months before graduating I was worried because I did not have a job lined up and was unsure of what I wanted to do. I had an internship at another engineering firm, but I was not super interested in their work. Randomly, I remembered one guest speaker by the name of Ikumi Kayama, who had come into Liberty’s Promise that inspired my next course of action. She told us that growing up she always loved drawing. Later in life, she also learned to love biology. She currently is an illustrator for science textbooks, and her message to the class was that you can combine multiple passions into a career. I enjoyed driving buses and engineering. So, I pulled out my computer and typed into the search bar “bus engineering jobs”. This one popped up, and I fit the qualifications perfectly. I absolutely love my job.
Thinking back to high school when I did not have a car, I would use public transportation to commute to my part time job in suburban Maryland. Even though I was not a fan of having to transfer buses and wait through whatever weather conditions were present, I would not have been able to save up money to buy a car were it not for public transportation. Knowing that the transit system provides people with opportunities makes my job feel purposeful.”
Thank you, Shu Ying, for contributing to our community through maintaining our public transportation system! Your story makes for a well-rounded understanding of the immigrant experience because of its elements of adversity and hope. As he mentioned in our conversation, opportunities are both at times difficult to find nor equitably accessible. However, it is exciting to know that your goal to pursue a meaningful career came to fruition. We cannot wait to see the impact Shu Ying continues to have on our community.