PART 2 Thoughts and Experiences as a Filipino-American Youth from a high school graduate PABT member

Growing up, I never knew what being Filipino was, but I was always proud to be one. I had the best home cooked meals and learned a lot of life skills. Being raised by my mother, who faced many hardships coming to the U.S., allowed me to stay humble as I grew and helped me to be thankful for everything in my life. Being Filipino has also helped me to meet so many of the supportive figures in my life and without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Being Filipino is love, being Filipino is life.

There is a downside to being Filipino however, there are a lot of high standards that are expected of us kids. It causes many of us to develop toxic mentalities and makes us set impossible standards for ourselves. These hardships, however, have helped shape us to become young adults early on and allowed us to expect the unexpected early on. So just as it is with everything in life, there are two sides of the same coin.