The Motivation I Needed

My mother and father were refugees from Cambodia.  In 1983, mom gave birth to me in a refugee camp near the border of Thailand.  Later that year, my family emigrated to Texas.  Four of my siblings were left behind and one died in the refugee camp so five of us created a new life in the U.S.  When I was five, things got much more difficult when I was walking with my brother and I was struck and almost killed by a semi-truck.  I was paralyzed from the waist down and had to re-learn to walk.  Through physical therapy and determination I learned to walk again by age 7 but was left with diagnoses of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Life was dysfunctional in our family and my mother and father struggled to make ends meet.  I found my way onto the streets of Stockton where we had moved when I was eight.  After my parents separated when I was ten, a life of gangs and drugs became my new normal, in and out of the juvenile justice system.  My siblings and I dropped out of school and I never completed my high school diploma.  Our little sister, though, was the example in our family and became the first to graduate from high school and college.  She reached out to me to take me off the streets and I found myself enrolled at MJC.

That first semester I barely kept my grades above the financial aid requirement of 2.0.  When I got my first financial aid check I found the motivation I needed.  I worked hard and improved my grades.  I learned to write better.  I studied hard.  I listened to my instructors and mentors.  I persevered.  I have many to thank, especially Dr. Kimberly Kennard, who spurred my interest in the human services, and my counselors in the Disability Student Programs and Services unit who guided me toward graduation.  Commencement day in 2014 was one of my proudest days.

Today, as a single parent of two, I’m working part-time for Stanislaus County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services as a group facilitator for the mentally disabled.  My hope is to become employed in the juvenile justice system helping youth to avoid the life I once found attractive.  I’m completing my transfer units at MJC to enroll at CSU Stanislaus and prepare for my career in social work.  Someone recently asked me what I’d like for my own children and I responded, for me, I had to go through hell to reach heaven.  I hope they don’t have to go through the same but find a different and better path.  That’s my motivation today.

I owe a lot to my teachers, mentors and counselors at MJC.  Thanks MJC!

- Bunreth Sok, Class of 2014