FALL 2008 - UW-Milwaukee

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S T U D E N T P R O F I L ELong ChangBy Alicia HaywoodSixteen years ago, Long Changentered a Wisconsin kindergartenclassroom unable to speakone word of English. Today, he’s afirst-generation Hmong Americancollege student, a McNair Scholar,and a UWM Asian Faculty and StaffAssociation scholar ship recipient. Ashe embarks on Level 2 ofArchitectural Studies in UWM’sultra-competitive School of Architectureand Urban Planning, Changvisualizes designing a whole newfuture for his family.Born in a refugee camp inThailand, Chang immigrated to theUnited States with his disabledparents and eight brothers and sisters.In 1992, the entire family settled inthe attic of a small, rented home inOshkosh. Chang was six years old.Although he doesn’t remembermuch about the refugee camp,memories of adjusting to a new,modern American life and languagehave stuck with him. “I was kind ofnervous because in the first few weeksof school, I felt isolated,” he says.“What helped during those first yearswere all the toys; they helped me wantto go to school.”But toys weren’t Chang’s onlyincentive. The desire to give back tohis parents has also inspired him to dowell. “Even though my parents did nothave any education, they respect andvalue education a lot because theyknow it will improve our future,” hesays. “My parents expect and encouragemy siblings and I to go as far as we canin the educational system.” To thatend, Chang’s participation in theMcNair Program, offered to just 15UWM undergraduate students eachyear, may be preparing him to be thefirst member of his family to pursuegraduate school, as well as his goal ofbecoming an architect.UWM’s Architectural Studies iswidely recognized as one of the topprograms in the country. Withouthesitation, Chang devoted an extrayear to sharpening his skills at theprogram’s first level to strengthen hischances of moving forward. “Therehave been many days when I was in mystudio all night long finishing upprojects,” he admits. And the dedicationhas paid off. This summer, Chang wasofficially accepted into Level 2 of hismajor. “It was a huge relief,” he says.“I am very excited because it means[I am] a door closer to turning mydream into reality.”Through his placid demeanor andunwavering focus, it’s apparent thatChang never loses sight of his life’sjourney or that of his family’s. Hisambition rises from a place far deeperthan just seeking a desirable profession:“I have a dream of succeeding inarchitecture so that I can design myparents a home that’s worth riskingtheir lives to settle in a refugee camp.”Chang is likely to realize hisdream because, according to hisacademic advisor, Tammy Taylor, he is“driven by his aspirations and nothingwill stand in his way.” Even beforegraduating high school, Chang wasalready working on his professionaldesign portfolio. During his senioryear at Oshkosh North, Changparticipated in a program that allowedhim to take an Architectural Design &Drafting course, taught by AndyBrown at Oshkosh West. Chang creditsthe constant support and positivefeedback from Brown for helping himdiscover his interest in architecture.“Long was hard-working andself-motivated,” Brown says. “He wentfar beyond the level of what moststudents accomplish.” In addition toteaching, Brown also coordinates thehigh school’s design and draftingco-op program, which facilitatesstudents working at a local businessrelated to their area of interest. It wasthrough this program that Changscored a co-op position at the designand build company, CR Meyer.Although he started out merelymaking copies of drawing plans, heended up designing some of the firm’smajor projects, including the floorplan for the Exclusive Company indowntown Oshkosh. Brown confirms,“I still hear about Long and what anoutstanding employee he was, to thisday.”Off to an impressive start as aninnovator in the field, Chang doesn’ttake any part of this process forgranted. “My plan is to finish schoolhere and then work with an architecturefirm for at least two years beforetaking the license test to be certified.After a few years of experience, Imight possibly start a new firm…butit’s going to be a long road ahead.”16 Fall 2008/Myriad
S T U D E N T P R O F I L EErica PeaceBy Alicia HaywoodErica Peace is definitely a risingstar. After a ten-year hiatus, thismother of two returned to UWMwith the help of the Academic OpportunityCenter (AOC, see page 3) andcapped her first year back with a 4.0.Now with pre-law aspirations and apassion for languages, Peace is gearingup to major in International Studies.At least that’s the plan for now. Overflowingwith enthusiasm about thevariety of opportunities availablethrough campus resources, Peaceacknowledges that she’s hesitant to ruleanything out.“I hate to see young people aroundme throwing away their education andgetting off focus,” she says. Not longago, Peace was one of those youngpeople. Reflecting on the years sheloosely attended Greendale HighSchool, Peace explains, “Although Ialways liked learning, I just wasn’t ableto connect with the school environment.I couldn’t relate to the traditionaleducation and couldn’t sit still in theclassroom.”She admits that having lots ofresponsibilities at home may havecontributed to her detachment.Raised by a single working mother,Peace was left to look after her youngerbrother much of the time, whichforced her to miss out on extracurricularactivities. “When you don’tparticipate in things and your mainfocus is around home, you don’t tendto think much about what you want todo or what you want to be. I didn’treally think bigger or make plans formyself so I ended up getting pregnant.”Instead of graduating with her class inJune of 1997, Peace was home with anewborn son.“Education is important in myfamily. I knew I couldn’t walk aroundwithout a diploma.” With a new set ofpriorities, Peace sharpened her focuson academics. She quickly attained aHigh School Equivalency Diploma(HSED) and fixated on continuingher education. “When my son wasabout six months old, I was admitted[to UWM] through the AOCprogram.” Thanks to AOC, Peace wasable to get into UWM, but it was stayingin college that presented the realstruggle. After three arduous semesters,Peace decided that she needed to devoteher time and energy to being a mom.Within the next five years, Peacemarried and had her second son. Itwasn’t until her youngest was ready tostart school that she consideredreturning to her own studies. Onceagain, she turned to AOC. By fall2007, she was re-enrolled as a full-timestudent and back on track.Kathy Barnes, an AOC senioradvisor who’s been with the programfor 30 years, speaks proudly of heradvisee: “I really admire Erica. She’sextremely intelligent, focused, knowswhat she wants, and is going after it.I’ve never seen her down; she’s alwayspositive to be around.” Barnes alsosays that the program works well forPeace because she is a master at makinguse of UWM’s support services. Peaceis excited to share her knowledge withincoming freshmen in her role asCampus Ambassador.Peace is even hoping someday toextend her newfound scholastic zealbeyond the campus borders. “I wouldenjoy going out there with the youthand the community promoting education.I think it is so important,” shesays. “Just based on the things I didn’tknow, the opportunities that I didn’tknow were out there to even strive for,I just want that information to get outto every young person.”A student in the Honors Collegeand a new member of Phi SigmaSigma Rho, Peace beams, “Ever sinceI’ve been back in college, my eyeshave been opened and I really seewhat I can do. Now I’m wonderingwhat was wrong with me ten years ago.Why didn’t I see all these opportunities?You meet so many cool people doingreally interesting things. College hasreally encouraged me to explore myoptions and experience new things.”Now divorced and balancingschool with the challenges of singleparenthood, Peace is undeterred bythe long road ahead. In fact, such asuccessful first year back has her morefired up than ever before. Referring toher hard-earned 4.0, Peace says, “I wasso proud! I had never really accomplishedanything like that before inschool. I realized then that I can dothis. I struggled through the hard timesand finished. I was euphoric after takingmy finals!” Peace is undoubtedlybuilding herself a dynamic future asthat euphoria lingers on.Fall 2008/Myriad 17
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