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Angel Ku: Growing up, my parents would always talk about, so we know that I was different.
I knew that eventually we weren't going to be able to drive, that we actually couldn't
leave the country, but it didn't hit me until high school when I realized that that I couldn't
do so many things. I remember a college counselor bringing me in and telling me, "Hey, there
is this opportunities avail for you, and I wanted get you in my office so that I make
sure that you apply." I took those applications home and to find out that none of them applied
to me.
Most of the time as an undocumented person, at least for being, you are kind of just passing,
I guess is the best way to say it. You are passing, you are kind of just living your
life, and people may think -- people may never suspect you are undocumented. And that's kind
of how it's been for me. I've done internships, I've worked in places, and people never thought,
and I never told anyone.
Emmanuel Valenciano: One of the biggest struggle that I had to myself was because back then
like I told my friend about being undocumented, but when I told my parents that I've told
my friend, they were just like, really upset about it like, "Why did you tell your friend?"
My whole family was telling me like, you shouldn't do that, just don't tell them anything. I
guess it's like within myself, but I tried to hide it as much as possible, and when you
hide something so much like it eats you inside and it's just really like a horrible feeling.
And I've done that for so long that I guess for me like being the fear of people finding
out about my undocumented status, it was like the worst, my biggest struggle as an undocumented
person.
Angel Ku: For some reason I got caught up on realizing that, hey this is my life, and
why I may not have any control over it. This is what has been given to me, and I don't
know, I just had a really difficult time accepting that. And with that I don't know it's just
a really sort of depressing time, just trying to get out of that sort of weird mental state.
I don't really know how to explain it, but it's something that sometimes it does take
hold of me, when you least expect it. I think the best way to describe it, it is like roller
coaster, you know there is there moments where you feel super great, things are awesome,
but then there are some moments when you just realize like, man, this is going to be extremely
difficult to just get through.
Juan Cano: I came here to United States at the age of three, and basically growing up
in the United States I didn't know that there is this thing called being a US citizen. A
lot of times even in high school many of my friends say, they said that they are really
proud of me, that I was a huge role model to them because of all hardships that I've
been through. I still managed to get into Berkeley.
Angel Ku: So majority of the funding for college comes from the federal or state, there is
a big book of it. So if you fill out the FAFSA, undocumented students can't do that because
they don't have a Social Security Number, or if they do because they are not US citizens
or permanent residents, they are not eligible for those type of funding. Within the sciences
there is a lot of funding for US citizens who are primarily residents, but that's inaccessible
to students like me.
Juan Cano: And this was also around the time when I knew about E4FC, about their scholarship
list, so I was like this is my only shot. This is all I have, I have to do it, even
if it takes like for me not to sleep, I have to do it because it's my only hope to pay
for the tuition. Through the process of one of them for, it was a scholarship from Mechanics
Bank, actually I have it right here. And that process, when I went to the interview, after
they interviewed me, they asked about my application like some things are missing. The Social Security
definitely was missing, so they mentioned that one first, and I told them, "Well, what
can I do." All they said was that they were going to definitely think about it, and see
what they can to. On Monday was when I received the letter that I had gotten the scholarship.
And I was the first recipient to be undocumented and to receive a scholarship from them.
Emmanuel Valenciano: My family is like, back then we were all undocumented, so it was hard
to finding like a good job, and I couldn't find a job too. I'm able to afford my education
because of my sister. She got married and so is a citizen now, and she also graduated
from college and she got a job. And when she got a job she offered to pay for my college.
Angel Ku: Yes, so I guess I really got interested in biology, kind of just being out in the
gardens and just getting really sucked into what's in the dirt, I mean that's really where
that curiosity spark. But I think another facet of that is just as an undocumented person,
I think being able to continue my education to get as far as I can is another important
thing because quite honestly there is not a lot of diversity in graduate school or in
higher levels of education. So I just want to continue to contribute to that movement
where we are trying to diversify the workforce and promote diversity within the US.
Emmanuel Valenciano: My brother got afflicted with bone cancer, and then around that time
I didn't really know what was going on because I was like 10-years-old, and I think some
doctors would try to explain it to me but I was kind of just limited in my knowledge,
I want to find out more as to why. And pretty much the topic of cancer really fascinates
me, and I just want to research more about it.
Juan Cano: I grew up in the United States, however, I am not -- I'm being pushed away
because I wasn't born here, but I was actually raised by this country, I just wasn't born
from its womb. As of right now, DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals is somewhat
good, it's in the good steps. However, there are some flaws like you are still ineligible
for FAFSA, you are still on the path of citizenship, so you can work but in my situation like,
I want to apply to these programs that will expose me to this field, the neurosurgery
but these programs require that students need to be US citizens, so just because of that
I'm like, what's the point of this? This [Indiscernible] [00:07:03] not helping me at all.
Angel Ku: And it really puts in a really awkward situation, I mean, you grow up feeling American
yet. It's moments like that where you just get thrown back. That's the best way to describe
it. I mean you realize, I'm just a 17-year-old kid and then I realize there is this whole
group of people who'd just really don't want to hear it. There is people that kind of want
to just take me in, throw me back to a place that I actually never been to. So having the
ability to go to a space where you can just be your actual self and people -- there is
no kind of background, people already know what you're going through and just instantly
connect. I` think that that's just a really helpful thing to have, and this allows a lot
of healing to happen.
Juan Cano: So the Gym House [phonetic] [00:07:46] is basically a home for [indiscernible] [00:07:50]
students that allows them to really be connected with the university because you don't want
to feel like an outcast in this whole, like huge, huge like 30,000 students here and like,
really small percentage of undocumented students here. So definitely getting to know each other
is helping each other out, and just by letting each other know how they came to Berkeley
and how they are doing in terms of financial aid, emotionally, because it affects in every
way.
Emmanuel Valenciano: If I would become a citizen, that's a good question. I feel like you kind
of just jumped on me. I guess dance a little bit for awhile, sing, scream, shout.
Angel Ku: Education, I didn't realize it but education was a big passion I had, and what
I mean by that, sort of advocating for educational equity. I think as I move forth with my career
as a scientist, I think I'm also really want to continue to be involved with educational
policies so. At college I was involved with undocumented students going into college,
and I think as I moved forward I think I can build more sort of leverage and just be able
to talk to certain people or people who have access to the resources and continue to open
doors for more undocumented students.