This image shows, Steven's tattoo which is a tiger and 3 baby cubs. The tattoo represents him as a father which is the tiger, and 3 baby cubs which is his 3 kids, Rachel, Ryan, and Samantha.

      Steven, a 49-year-old father of 3, went from having nothing to a successful business owner. He grew up in a South Central part of Asia called Cambodia, a small and poor country. There he lived with his mom, dad, and 2 older siblings. Steven says, "[Cambodia] was a poor country.", it was hard to be able to do things that people in the United States would usually be able to do.

     Steven said, " I was too young to ever understand or remember [what it was like in Cambodia ]." Therefore, he was too young to remember how life was in Cambodia. When he was just a small baby, there was a war going on that effects Cambodia, the was was called The Cambodian Civil War, it includes the Vietnam War, the Indochina War and the Cold War. As a young child, his childhood dream was to become a business owner. At the age of 4, seeking for new opportunities and a better life, Steven's family decided to come to America . He landed in Los Angeles, California and moved in with family members who were already in the US.

      Coming here at a young age, he didn't know anyone and he knew very little English. Everything was new to him. Starting off here in the United States, his family had nothing: no money, no jobs, they just came here hoping for a better life and better opportunities. Steven said, "[The lifestyle in the United States] is just different, and as time goes by, you learn how to adapt." So living here in the United States was hard at first, but throughout the years he learned how to adapt and get used to the new lifestyle here.

       He adapted to the new lifestyle here pretty easily over time. He was able to accomplish and fulfill his childhood dream. Over 35 years later, he is a father of 3 children, 2 daughters, and 1 son. He owns a very successful restaurant in the City of Industry, called King Crawfish, and is working very hard. His family is settled in Rowland Heights. Even though, Steven and his family started off in the United States with literally nothing, they had hope of what the U.S had to promise them.

RACHEL HONG

Hey, everyone! My name is Rachel Hong and I have a family of 4, my mom, Jessica, my dad, Steven, and my older brother, Ryan. Later on in life, I was introduced to my half-sister, Samantha. At a pretty young age, my parents had split, and years later, I had a step-dad names Todd, and an older step-brother names Taylre. I am currently 14 years old and I'm an 8th grader at Alvarado Intermediate School. Ever since I was a really little kid, I've always loved to play sports such as football, volleyball, basketball, swimming, etc. Since I grew up with basically all males throughout my whole life, I've grown to have somewhat of a tough attitude at first and when people get to know me, they see I'm a very bubbly person on the inside. A fun fact about our interviewee is that, this person happens to be my dad, so I thought this project was a great opportunity for him to open up to me about his childhood because I would never really ask him about what it was like for him when he was younger. Growing up, I've always been pretty shy and laid back, but over the years I've join extracurricular activities such as leadership and ASB which has really helped me open up and be very outgoing. 

Towards the beginning of this immigration project, I wasn't too excited about it because I thought it was going to be about like the government, laws, etc. However, as the weeks went by we did some really fun and exciting activities. Also, doing this project allowed my dad and I to get closer on a different level, because before this project I didn't really know much about his childhood, or immigration journey. Now, after sitting down one on one with him, I know so much more about his home country, childhood dreams, immigration journey, etc. This project helped me improve som skills, such as taking pictures/ photos because now I know how and where to take photos in order for them to look nice. Therefore, overall this project to me in my opinion was really cool and had a deeper look into people's immigration story. 

TERESA SHI

Hi, my name is Teresa, a 13 years old girl, and I goes to Alvarado intermediate schools. There's 5 people in our family, so I have one sister and a bother. I love math, I like to watch Chinese dramas, I like to swim and ride bike. My English speaking is fine, but for writing and riding really are just okay. Also, I like eating and sleeping. I don't easily give up on things. I known my best friends since I was born, we grow up together in China. And I came with my whole family to America at 2017 by plane.

This project let me learned more about the immigration and different kind of immigrants. The immigration shaped the U.S. by changing people's point of view in their heart throughout the long time period. The immigrants shows the people in U.S. that they are hard working, friendly and full with kindness. They change how people think of different race, and let all different kinds of people learn about different countries. So, immigration has shape the U.S. in to a pretty peaceful place that anyone could speak up. Through this project I learned more of the researching skills, and I have done the partner work on time(done well). I have learned compassion, perseverance, open-hearted and so in this project.