This first generation immigrant just got into all eight Ivieshttps://www./robert.p.george.39?fref=pb&hc_location=friends_tab http:///us/2017/03/31/got-into-all-ivies-64085  This first generation immigrant just got into all eight IviesRead the essay about learning English that won her a place at every single Ivy Yesterday Cassandra Hsiao heard the news that she made it into not just one but all eight schools of the Ivy League. With offers to study at Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth, Brown, Columbia, Cornell and Penn, she now has to choose which world class institution she’ll join in the Class of 2021. A writer, journalist, and one-time rapper (in front of Lin-Manuel Miranda), Cassandra explained how she nailed her applications – and shared her common app essay that helped get her there.  Cassandra Hsiao How does it feel to get into every single school in the Ivy League? I’m still processing it. It’s not something you expect when you open these college messages on your portal. I saw a yes and a yes, a congratulations after a congratulations. It’s totally surreal. It’s still sinking in. I had a moment to myself yesterday where I was just sobbing. I celebrated with my parents. This is quite the honor, to have these fantastic institutions accept me. It’s really something. Your parents must be super proud. Oh yeah! They’re over the moon. They’re a huge part of why I was able to accomplish this really. You can’t do it without the support of your parents. They believed in me and encouraged me to follow my passions along with my teachers, my friends, mentors, life mentors, industry mentors – these are the people who I really owe a lot to. God opened a lot of doors for me and put these people in my life who were able to see something in me and nourish me. There’s no way I would have been able to do this without them. This thing is really a group effort. So thanks to all the people in that group.
What did you focus on in your common app essay? My parents are immigrants – my mom was born in Malaysia, my dad was born in Taiwan. When I was about five we moved here. English is not their strength and it was interesting to me growing up in a house of immigrants, how we interact with language. Words that don’t translate will seep into our own – the way I talk at home is very different from the way I talk outside of home. Sometimes when I was growing up people laughed at me for things I said that sounded completely normal to me but were not to them. So I wrote about that experience. Read Cassandra’s essay in fullIn our house, English is not English. Not in the phonetic sense, like short a is for apple, but rather in the pronunciation – in our house, snake is snack. Words do not roll off our tongues correctly – yet I, who was pulled out of class to meet with language specialists, and my mother from Malaysia, who pronounces film as flim, understand each other perfectly. In our house, there is no difference between cast and cash, which was why at a church retreat, people made fun of me for “cashing out demons.” I did not realize the glaring difference between the two Englishes until my teacher corrected my pronunciations of hammock, ladle, and siphon. Classmates laughed because I pronounce accept as except, success as sussess. I was in the Creative Writing conservatory, and yet words failed me when I needed them most. Suddenly, understanding flower is flour wasn’t enough. I rejected the English that had never seemed broken before, a language that had raised me and taught me everything I knew. Everybody else’s parents spoke with accents smarting of Ph.D.s and university teaching positions. So why couldn’t mine? My mother spread her sunbaked hands and said, “This is where I came from,” spinning a tale with the English she had taught herself. When my mother moved from her village to a town in Malaysia, she had to learn a brand new language in middle school: English. In a time when humiliation was encouraged, my mother was defenseless against the cruel words spewing from the teacher, who criticized her paper in front of the class. When she began to cry, the class president stood up and said, “That’s enough.” “Be like that class president,” my mother said with tears in her eyes. The class president took her under her wing and patiently mended my mother’s strands of language. “She stood up for the weak and used her words to fight back.” We were both crying now. My mother asked me to teach her proper English so old white ladies at Target wouldn’t laugh at her pronunciation. It has not been easy. There is a measure of guilt when I sew her letters together. Long vowels, double consonants — I am still learning myself. Sometimes I let the brokenness slide to spare her pride but perhaps I have hurt her more to spare mine. As my mother’s vocabulary began to grow, I mended my own English. Through performing poetry in front of 3000 at my school’s Season Finale event, interviewing people from all walks of life, and writing stories for the stage, I stand against ignorance and become a voice for the homeless, the refugees, the ignored. With my words I fight against jeers pelted at an old Asian street performer on a New York subway. My mother’s eyes are reflected in underprivileged ESL children who have so many stories to tell but do not know how. I fill them with words as they take needle and thread to make a tapestry. In our house, there is beauty in the way we speak to each other. In our house, language is not broken but rather bursting with emotion. We have built a house out of words. There are friendly snakes in the cupboard and snacks in the tank. It is a crooked house. It is a little messy. But this is where we have made our home. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 萧靖彤 (Cassandra Hsiao): 靠这篇打动评委的自传 她被8所藤校录取 http://news./us/2017/04/02/1806555.html
编者按︰橙县艺术高中毕业生萧靖彤（Cassandra Hsiao），在她的申请大学自传中，介绍了自己生于第一代华人移民家庭，母女两代经历了语言文化的冲突和煎熬，描绘了新移民共有的特性，细节真实，情节感人，打动了八所常春藤大学和许多名校的招生评委。本报译出全文供学子参考。 在我们家，英语不是英文。不是语音意义上，就像短音a代表apple（苹果）一样，而是在发音。在我们家，蛇（snake）是小吃（snack）。言语不能正确地吐出我们的舌头。但是，我走出课堂与语言专家们会面，我的母亲从马来西亚，她拼读flim当作film（电影），但我们能相互理解。 在我们家里， cast（投掷）和cash（现金）之间没有任何区别，这就是为什么在离开教堂时，人们拿我开心说"cashing out demons"（兑现恶魔，本意应是丢弃恶魔）。我没有意识到两个英语单词之间的明显差异，直到老师纠正了我的hammock（吊床）、ladle（钢包）和siphon（虹吸管）的发音。同学们笑我，因为我发音将accept （接受）读成了except（除了），将success（成功）读成了sussess。我在创意写作室最需要语言的时候，但却失败了。 突然，我了解"花朵是粉末"是不够的。我拒绝了以前那些从不明显的破英语，这种语言昇华了我，并且教会我所知道的一切。其他人的父母，包括聪明的博士和大学教师，都说着带口音的英语，那我为什么不能呢？ 我的母亲摊开她那双晒黑的手说："这是我来的地方"，她用自己以前学过的英语叙述了一个故事。 当我母亲从她居住的马来西亚村庄搬到一个城镇时，她不得不在初中学习一门全新的语言：英语。在受到羞辱时，我的母亲抵抗教师用尖酸的言辞，当着全班同学批评她的作文。当她开始哭泣时，班长站起来说"够了"。母亲含着眼泪说，那个班长庇护了她，耐心地为她纠正语言。"她为弱者撑腰，用她的话反击。"我们俩都哭了。 母亲要我教她正确的英语，所以，Target 商场的白人老太太不会嘲笑她的发音。当我把她的话语拼缀在一起时，会有一种内疚感。长元音、双辅音，这些我自己仍在学习中。有时候我避免让一些只言片语伤害她的自尊心，但也许我已经在不经意时，伤害了她很多。 随着母亲的英语词汇增长，我也努力纠正自己的英语。通过在学校3000人面前演唱诗歌，采访各界人士，为舞台写故事，反对无知，并支持为无家可归者、难民和被忽视的群体发声。我用自己的话，反驳纽约地铁的老亚洲街头一名表演者的嘲笑。我的母亲关注那些贫穷的、英语非母语的孩子，他们有许多故事，但不知道从何说起。我用他们的针头和线纱串连他们的字符，编织起一幅挂毯。 在我们家里，相互间说话的方式也很温馨。在我们家里，没有破英语，只是有点情绪激动。我们用文字建造了一座房子。食橱里有友善的"蛇"和碗柜里有小吃。这是一个弯曲的房子，里头有一点凌乱，但我们就在这里打造了自己的住家。 (记者丁曙／编译) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 这个华裔美女太牛 被8所常春藤全录取 www. | 2017-04-02 08:47:20 世界日报
3月30日是萧靖彤（Cassandra Hsiao）非常重要的一天，因为她确定自己收到了八所常春藤盟校（Ivies）的录取通知书，而不是其中一个学校。哈佛（Harvard）、耶鲁（Yale）、普林斯顿（Princeton）、哥伦比亚（Columbia）、康乃尔（Cornell）、宾大（Upenn）、布朗（Brown）、达特茅斯（Dartmouth），都要延揽她入学。 身为第一代华裔移民将常春藤盟校一网打尽，如果有人问她，此刻想说什么或有什么心愿，萧靖彤说："我是一个有福之人，谦卑地被许多大学所接受，但我想把这份荣耀归功于父母。" 除了一网打尽常春藤盟校，3月31日锦上添花，萧靖彤又收到史丹福大学通知，加上此前的柏克莱加大、约翰霍普金斯（John Hopkins）、南加大(USC)、西北大学等等，这位橙县艺术学校（Orange County School of the Arts）毕业生，包办了美国大半一流名校。 萧靖彤曾在脸书中自我介绍︰17岁的电影评论家、明星记者、洛杉矶时报高中特约记者、百老汇世界学生博客、诗人和剧作家。现在，她从采访记者变成了采访对象，向多家媒体畅谈了心路历程。 最常见的提问是"包办常春藤联盟的感觉如何？"萧靖彤说，心理仍在梳理中。当她打开电脑浏览大学信息时，可能超乎自己的期待。她看到了一个又一个的"YES"（接受），一个又一个的"congratulations"（祝贺），完全超现实，还沉浸在其中，甚至喜极而泣。她和父母一起庆祝，这些高不可攀的名校接受自己，实在非常荣幸。 "你的父母肯定超级自豪？"哦耶！他们似乎已经上了月球。他们是自己能够真正实现这个目标的重要部分。没有父母的支持，不可能做到。他们相信女儿，并且鼓励自己追随良师、益友、生活和行业的导师，他们无私的付出让自己无法偿还。虔诚信主的萧靖彤说，"上帝为我开了很多门，把这些人安排在我的生活中，他们能够看到我的内心，哺育我成长。没有他们，我就无法做到这一点。这件事真的是一个团体的努力，所以要感谢这个团体里所有的人。" "在申请大学论文中，你关注的重点是什么？"萧靖彤说，她的父母是移民。母亲出生在马来西亚，父亲出生在台湾。她五岁时移民美国，英语不是父母的强项。她在移民家庭中长大，语言互动是有趣的。未经翻译的词汇渗透到自己的生活中。她在家里说话的方式，与她在家外谈话的方式截然不同。在个人成长时期，有时候人们会嘲笑她的口音，但自己听起来完全正常，但对他们不是这样。所以，就在论文里写下了这个经验。 然而，喜悦和烦恼总是形影不离。现在让萧靖彤烦恼的是，应当选择去哪一所世界级名校深造？目前仍有时间考虑，只要在5月1日以前敲定即可。 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cassandra Hsiao is a senior at OCSA (Orange County School of the Arts). Her work has been nationally recognized by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards and National Student Poets Program. She has been chosen as finalists of playwriting competitions held by California Young Playwrights, The Blank Theatre, Writopia Labs, and Princeton University. Her poetry, essays and reviews have appeared in TeenReads, Jet Fuel Review, Feminine Inquiry, Aerie International and more. She also conducts print and on-camera interviews as a Star Reporter and Film Critic for multiple online outlets. She won a National Gracie Award in Student Online Video Host Category by The Alliance for Women in Media Foundation . https://twitter.com/Cassandra_Hsiao ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- https://playwrightsproject./2017/01/18/interview-with-cassandra-hsiao-winner-of-california-young-playwrights-contest-2016/ Interview with Cassandra Hsiao, winner of California Young Playwrights Contest 2016JANUARY 18, 2017 Playwrights Project will produce its 32nd annual festival of Plays by Young Writers, sponsored by the Sheila and Jeffrey Lipinsky Family Fund, at The Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre in the Conrad Prebys Theatre Center at The Old Globe on January 19 – January 29, 2017. The festival will feature winning scripts from its California Young Playwrights Contest for ages 18 and under. Contest winners were selected from 365 plays submitted by students from across the state. Four scripts will receive full professional productions, and two scripts will receive staged readings in this highly regarded festival of new voices. Supermarket of Lost By Cassandra Hsiao Age 16, Walnut Directed by George Yé Cassandra Hsiao is a junior in the Creative Writing conservatory at the Orange County School of the Arts. She is an editor of her school’s award-winning art and literary magazine, Inkblot, and has been nationally recognized by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards as well as the National Student Poets Program. Cassandra conducts print and on-camera interviews as a teen reporter and Movie Editor for Crixit.com, Fanlala.com and BYOU Magazine. She is also a journalist for the Los Angeles Times’ High School Insider. Her winning play, Supermarket of Lost, was originally produced in June 2016 by The Blank Theatre’s Young Playwrights Festival in Los Angeles, CA. How did you first get involved with writing? Specifically for playwriting, in freshman year I was placed in a 10-minute playwriting class by chance. I was introduced to a whole new format and fell in love immediately thanks to my dramaturg Tira Palmquist. Since then I’ve explored many different types of plays, from two-handers to avant-garde. I understand that your play Supermarket of Lost has won numerous other awards, congratulations! How have these accomplishments shaped the play as it is today and what have you enjoyed about the revisions you’re working on for this production?Thank you so much! This play has grown so much since its initial student-directed, student-acted production at my high school. That said, every production holds a special place in my heart. It is an indescribable joy and privilege for me to see my words come to life through different actors and interpretations. There’s nothing more gratifying than watching my characters leap off the page. This production’s revisions have been a wonderful challenge for me to tackle. I have more time and space to develop my characters and lengthen the play to where it needs to be. I truly enjoy diving into what I’ve written and simply let the characters speak for themselves. How did you come up with the idea for your script? What themes are involved in your piece? On a deeper level, Supermarket of Lost deals with themes of memory, loss, grief, and what it means to exuberantly live despite the time constraints the world has placed on us. It’s about friendship and strangers all at once. Supermarket of Lost brings up questions of what it means to lose something and to let go of something. What is the message you hope the audience takes away with them? Do you plan to continue writing? What are your career goals and/or aspirations? What advice would you give to a peer as they embark on writing their first play? Are you currently working to develop any other plays? Supermarket of Lost can be seen during Program A of Plays by Young Writers, on Saturday Jan. 28th at 7:30 PM and Sunday Jan. 29th at 2:00 PM. You may purchase tickets for Jan. 28 at 7:30 PM here, and Jan. 29 at 2:00 PM here. For more information, please contact Playwrights Project at (858) 384-2970 or write@. Visit http://www./productions/pbyw/. *Photo courtesy of Geri Goodale of Reminisce Photography. -------------------------------------- |
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