My name is Siqi Liu. I am from a city of South China. My mother came to America on her own ten years ago as a refugee, and brought me here at 2009. We are depending on each other for survival. As a 50 years old woman, my mother works hard as a house keeper at a hospital and also attends school in pursuit of medical assistant certification. I look up to my mother, [she] is an example of power and determination. I have been studying at Cañada College and San Mateo College for the last two years. My first feeling when I first entered the college here was the environment was wonderful; trees and flowers are all around the campus, the streets and roads are very clean, the air is very clear. And what an amazing thing is students could use the wireless network of the college in any corner for free; under the trees, around the lawn, I could see students siting there and study on their own laptops. If you don’t have a laptop, in the library or some study centers of the campus, there are inexhaustibility free computers and network for student to use. Thus, the efficiency of study got promoted by several times since we could get enough information and resources anytime and anyplace we want in the campus. I think that is one of the reasons that the information interaction of America is faster than any other countries in the world. I love studying! In these two years, I had a great time here. I learned a lot of knowledge, accumulated a lot of good experiences, and made many friends. People here are very nice, they are always smiling when talking to others; they are like always ready to help people. So to be a volunteer in America is a very normal but popular activity.  I like helping people; every time a classmate asks me a question, I try to answer it clearly and patiently. That feeling is very good and satisfying. They feel happy, at the same time, I review our conversation one more time, and later, we become friends.  I also applied to do volunteer at a Hospital around my living place and worked there for a year during my spare time. Later, one of my friends referred me to work at a dining room of a retirement home. It is a nice and quiet place in the country side; I worked there by using the weekend time for half year. My major duty was serving the seniors dinner. I was helping them to take orders and bringing them their meals. The job was very strict, we had to be very careful with every detail, and no mistakes were accepted.  The people there are very nice, they would like to smile and talk to me. Being with many seniors, I could feel their optimism and their attitudes toward life; I enjoyed listening to their stories and advise in every part of life. These two years were a hard time for me, my life was like without any stops; I went to school from Monday to Friday, and worked part time and did volunteer at the weekend. But hard works always got paid off. Last year, I was qualified by applying financial aid; with the help of the community, I don’t need worry about living so that I could focus on my study. At the end of my last semester, I got awards and scholarships because of my good grades of courses. Students who achieved scholarships got commended on the large hall of the campus, families are invited to come; as one of the students of them, I feel very proud and happy. Those scholarships will support me to keep forward and get closer to my goal in the future. This fall, I will apply to transfer to a 4 year university. This is my goal. I keep studying hard and tried my best to get good grades for all classes I have taken. I am trying to transfer to the best possible university to pursue a bachelor’s degree. My major is computational science. It is a scientific study method to help people, companies, and institutions created a plan for future income, expenditure, and other activities, since I have a great interest in figures and solving math problems. My career in the future will be an actuary or a counselor related to numbers. I enjoy keeping myself occupied. This semester, I am entering for the National Guard of California. Why do I do that, because I want to help my mother who has been supporting me for a long time, it is time for me to give back. And from the news, I saw that the floods ravaged the south part of America; and California is a place with frequent earths. To be a National Guard member, I am ready to be anywhere people need me; I think this is a way for me to serve our community back. This summer, I will take my basic training to become a real guard of the state.  After I come back, I will keep studying and apply for transferring, and also, go on pursuing my goal to become an engineer. #StudyUSA