I came to the Philippines to follow my father who came here earlier, looking for a better life. I helped my father in our sari-sari store. I also asked him if I could go back to school so I could learn English and improve myself.
The first day back to school, you never want to wear your best outfit. You’re setting the bar too high for yourself! Then the rest of the school year, you’ll feel so much pressure! Wear something cute, but save your best outfit for a day when no one expects it.
My sister is a good story of resiliency. She had a full ride at UC Davis, but she left school to go to the Philippines – and then she decided to go back to school in her 40s, which surprised me. She went to UC Berkeley, and I think she was one of two African Americans in her class at Haas. She’s really impressive.
When my father left us, my mother went back to school immediately. She went to school in the day while we were at school, and she worked at night. She worked very hard to never let someone define her as a victim or a failure.
I knew I wanted to pursue a career in the theater the minute I graduated from college having not pursued it! So I went back to school and got a degree in music and began working in musical theater.
When I was 16 I told my dad I wanted to be a pop star. He told me, ‘I’ll give you until the end of the summer. If you’re not earning money by then, you’re going back to school.’
My father, a math professor in Hong Kong, worked as an electrical engineer here. My mother was an art teacher, but once we came to the United States, she went back to school and became certified as a special-education teacher.
In theory, I always think I should totally go back to school, because I don’t want to start sinking slowly… I want to learn, blah blah blah. Then I think about actually going and sitting in classes and, man, it sounds terrible.
I’m not really sure if I will go back to school. I’m getting old! So I’m not really sure if I have time to go back to school to be a dentist. But hopefully I’ll be an Olympic gold medalist.
I had to decide if I wanted to race full time or be an architect. I decided I could always go back to school.
I like building and making things. I, perhaps, would like to try my hand at directing one day. Sometimes I fancy myself as an architect – but I think I might need to go back to school for that.
One of the great joys of being an actor is you get to go back to school.
I have always had school sickness, as others have seasickness. I cried when it was time to go back to school long after I was old enough to be ashamed of such behavior.
I think that when you go back to school when you’re a little older, you’re a lot more focused.
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