Others may dislike my characteristic but the quality of giving without receiving is something amazing. I grew up in a village called Batnaya in Iraq. My parents owned a small store which was our only income. My father wanted me to learn how to exchange money, which was being a cashier. So I learned adding and dividing before entering school. Each time I earned my allowance, my parents encouraged me to help the ones in need so we all donated. Due to Iraq being unsafe, we fled to Lebanon. Because my father is handicapped, my mother and I worked as janitors. At the age of eight, children were expected to be in school, but obstacles were in the way. Every day I would wake up early and walk up and down my street to see if someone needs help. If I ended up helping the rich, I would make some money, and if a poor, I would be doing a good thing. Thankfully there were some opportunities. Halloween was a great time because instead of giving candy, they would be giving money. Many kids would use the money to buy candy, but I saved it. Donations were great in Lebanon, I would be getting gifts and instead of playing with them, I would be selling them to help out my family. Due to money shortage, my family and I would wait in line for the food donations; the way back home was the difficult part because I would have to carry more than my parents. As a man, we were taught to do more and we have to be strong. Fortunately, my family was given asylum to the United States two years later. I entered a fourth-grade class of thirty-two students who were fluent in a language I did not know. Of all the students, I was the only newcomer. I was fluent in Arabic and Chaldean but they’re very different from English. Because of this, I stood isolated. I couldn’t complete assignments or make friends. I was placed into ELD classes. I watched videos at home to improve my English. For assignments, I used Google Translate to type in English, translated to Arabic, then back to English again. This process took five hours per day. I became so good at English that my parents wanted me to translate for them when going to their doctors’ appointments. Today, taking a look back at the challenges I faced, I learned what I want to become, which is a financial advisor. At the Chaldean Community Council(CCC), I am a volunteer and I help out with translation, filling out Welfare, Section 8, Low Income, and FAFSA forms. My boss agreed with me to open a room for people who want to learn how to save and build a future for themselves and their kids. The majority of my work is based on opening a savings account online instead of a bank. My parents were not taught because of health and discrimination toward Christianity in Iraq. I may not have role models who have degrees, but I do have role models with life experience and they are my parents. They taught me that helping is the most important thing to do for the ones who do not have challenges. We may not solve everything but at least we took out one problem to better their day.

Others may dislike my characteristic but the quality of giving without receiving is something amazing. I grew up in a village called Batnaya in Iraq. My parents owned a small store which was our only income. My father wanted me to learn how to exchange money, which was being a cashier. So I learned adding and dividing before entering school. Each time I earned my allowance, my parents encouraged me to help the ones in need so we all donated. Due to Iraq being unsafe, we fled to Lebanon. Because my father is handicapped, my mother and I worked as janitors. At the age of eight, children were expected to be in school, but obstacles were in the way. Every day I would wake up early and walk up and down my street to see if someone needs help. If I ended up helping the rich, I would make some money, and if a poor, I would be doing a good thing. Thankfully there were some opportunities. Halloween was a great time because instead of giving candy, they would be giving money. Many kids would use the money to buy candy, but I saved it. Donations were great in Lebanon, I would be getting gifts and instead of playing with them, I would be selling them to help out my family. Due to money shortage, my family and I would wait in line for the food donations; the way back home was the difficult part because I would have to carry more than my parents. As a man, we were taught to do more and we have to be strong. Fortunately, my family was given asylum to the United States two years later. I entered a fourth-grade class of thirty-two students who were fluent in a language I did not know. Of all the students, I was the only newcomer. I was fluent in Arabic and Chaldean but they’re very different from English. Because of this, I stood isolated. I couldn’t complete assignments or make friends. I was placed into ELD classes. I watched videos at home to improve my English. For assignments, I used Google Translate to type in English, translated to Arabic, then back to English again. This process took five hours per day. I became so good at English that my parents wanted me to translate for them when going to their doctors’ appointments. Today, taking a look back at the challenges I faced, I learned what I want to become, which is a financial advisor. At the Chaldean Community Council(CCC), I am a volunteer and I help out with translation, filling out Welfare, Section 8, Low Income, and FAFSA forms. My boss agreed with me to open a room for people who want to learn how to save and build a future for themselves and their kids. The majority of my work is based on opening a savings account online instead of a bank. My parents were not taught because of health and discrimination toward Christianity in Iraq. I may not have role models who have degrees, but I do have role models with life experience and they are my parents. They taught me that helping is the most important thing to do for the ones who do not have challenges. We may not solve everything but at least we took out one problem to better their day.

Growing up in the Middle East, I faced serious problems including poverty, religious discrimination, and physical beatings. We didn’t know where the next meal would come from, and we had to depend on church food donations and the kindness of strangers. As a seven-year-old, I held a full-time job as a janitor. Education would never be an option for me there. Fortunately, my family was given asylum to the United States two years later. On October 18, 2011, I entered a fourth-grade class of thirty-two students who were fluent in a language I did not know. Of all the students, I was the only newcomer. I was fluent in Arabic and Chaldean but they’re very different from English. Because of this, I stood isolated. I couldn’t complete assignments or make friends. What made me more isolated was that I was given detentions for things I did not do simply because I did not understand what was going on. Soon I decided to overcome the challenge and do something about the problem. I went to after-school classes. Instead of being taught at a four-grade level, I was being taught kindergarten and then started to move up. For school, I used Google Translate to type in English, translated to Arabic, then back to English again so I could complete assignments. Although this process took five hours, I knew it would benefit me. Later, when the same group of students wanted to blame me once more for something I did not do, I stood up for myself saying, “Teacher, no me--them problem.” While it’s not proper English, I did not get the blame anymore. When I entered fifth grade, my teacher wanted me to communicate. I was barely pronouncing or remembering the right words to say. However, to get to learn new vocabulary words, I started reading short stories. For each vocab I didn’t know, I would translate, understand the meaning, and learn to pronounce and when to use it. To this day, I am still learning new ones. What got me to focus even more on my English was the encouragement from my 5th-grade teacher. She said in front of the class, “Ayoob wants to become a doctor, but the only way to become one is through hard work. Right “Dr. Abed?” A wonderful feeling happened when she called me a doctor. I started wanting to learn more of the English language to do well in all subjects. I became so good at English that my parents wanted me to translate for them when going to their doctors’ appointments. Besides translation, I went to learn how doctors got to practice medicine. I was inspired by their advice--another incentive for continuing my hard work in school. Reaching high school, I was immediately placed in Honors English. I was surprised, but I gave it a shot. I found out that the vocabulary levels were not high; the class was not difficult at all. My perseverance through education was not only in honors; I started taking Advanced Placement classes: AP Literature and English Language. As a result, I graduated with a rank of 6 out of 372. Today, I am at San Diego State University continuing the dream of being called “Dr. Abed.” I was considered a failure by my peers in elementary, but the challenge encouraged me to work hard to get where I am today. Where my grades were Fs, today they are A’s and B’s. I will continue my hard work until I become an environmental engineer.

On October 18, 2011, I entered a fourth-grade class of thirty-two students who were fluent in a language I did not know. Of all the students, I was the only newcomer. I was fluent in Arabic and Chaldean but they’re very different from English. Because of this, I stood isolated. I couldn’t complete assignments or make friends. What made me more isolated was that I was given detentions for things I did not do simply because I did not understand what was going on. Soon I decided to overcome the challenge and do something about the problem. I went to after school classes. Instead of being taught at a four-grade level, I was being taught kindergarten and then started to move up. At home, I opened up Google Translate to complete my assignments which I translated from English to Arabic then back to English. Although this process took five hours, I knew it would benefit me. Later, when the same group of students wanted to blame me once more for something I did not do, I stood up for myself saying, “Teacher, no me--them problem.” While it’s not proper English, I did not get the blame anymore. When I entered fifth grade, my teacher wanted me to communicate. I was barely pronouncing or remembering the right words to say. However, to get to learn new vocabulary words, I started reading short stories. For each vocab I didn’t know, I would translate, understand the meaning, and learn to pronounce and when to use it. To this day, I am still learning new ones. What got me to focus even more on my English was the encouragement from my 5th-grade teacher. She said in front of the class, “Ayoob wants to become a doctor, but the only way to become one is through hard work. Right “Dr. Abed?” A wonderful feeling happened when she called me a doctor. I started wanting to learn more of the English language to do well in all subjects. I became so good at English that my parents wanted me to translate for them when going to their doctors’ appointments. Besides translation, I went to learn how doctors got to practice medicine. I was inspired by their advice--another incentive for continuing my hard work in school. Reaching high school, I was immediately placed in Honors English. I was surprised, but I gave it a shot. I found out that the vocabulary levels were not high; the class was not difficult at all. My perseverance through education was not only in honors; I started taking Advanced Placement classes: AP Literature and English Language. As a result, I graduated with a rank of 6 out of 372. Today, I am at San Diego State University continuing the dream of being called “Dr. Abed.” I was considered a failure by my peers in elementary, but the challenge encouraged me to work hard to get where I am today. Where my grades were Fs, today they are A’s and B’s.