Ntxiag Thor – Nyob Zoo Txhua Tus

My name is pronounced “Zee-Ah” but it is nowhere close to how it is spelled. My mom gave me my name because it means abundant and very “cool” in a cold chilly type of way. Who knew there could be so many silent letters in one name. My mom and dad were born in Thailand but moved to the United States not long after my two oldest siblings were born. I come from a family of 10, but now only 3 still lives in the house of which my mom built from the ground up herself. Surprisingly, growing up with 9 other siblings wasn’t that crowded. Everyone kind of just moved away when they left for college. My story begins with me having a crisis of what I wanted to major in while I was at Butte College. After a week or two frantically searching for the right career, I came upon Liberal Studies. I remember being in 1^st grade and saying to myself, “I don’t ever want to be a teacher when I grow up because of how much you work and grading you would have to do.” Now, I laugh at my own statement as I find myself doing the total opposite, becoming a teacher. The past few years, I have been working with kids and felt so impacted by them. I spend a lot of the time working with kids and being so exposed to them that I fell in love working with kids and making a difference in the next generations. I grew up hardly knowing that if I wanted to make a difference in this world, it would have to start with me. Therefore, I wanted to major in teaching to become a role model for these kids so that I can finally give back for the success in my life that I was given to.

A reader to me means anyone and everyone who sees writings and comprehends what it is or what it means. A billboard, a menu, a logo, social media, everything is just about covered in some sort of writing or text. A reader can be anywhere from reading and processing slow all the way to someone who skims and already knows as much information as someone who reads thoroughly. I usually read about things that interest me or passages that would relate to my personal story. I was always a big fan of survival books or even fictional books where I can create a scene through imagination. I would frequently carry a book with me so that if I ever get stuck somewhere, I can take the book out and utilize my time wisely. As for school-related readings, I hardly retain any information due to the fact that it relates nothing to me and doesn’t ever intrigue my interest. Though, some readings do connect to my out of school reading, but rarely. I’m open-minded, it is just some things don’t spark my interest. Overall though, I think to be a reader, it just has to be someone who processes the words and store the information to understand what and where it is getting at.