I grew up in Brooklyn New York with a very unique and amazing childhood. I am fortunate enough to be both of Chinese and Italian decent, however I grew up very traditionally Italian; Sunday Dinners with my family every Sunday at 2pm, went to an all Catholic School for the better stages of my childhood etc. The only thing was, the kids that went to my school didn't see who I was, they saw that I was different from them. I was ostracized for "acting" Italian when I look predominantly Asian, but to me it wasn't acting. I am who I am and I couldn't change it if I wanted too. For years I would tell my parents I had headaches and avoid school at all costs, I was made fun of for being smart, for caring about my grades, for the way I looked and for the few Chinese traditions I stuck too (Moon Cake during the Lunar Festivals.) What was worse than being bullied was being punished for finally standing up for myself. Anytime I would do something to react, the administrators would say that I started the trouble and that I needed counseling. Finally after years of being abused by these kids I begged my parents to leave the school and transfer to my local zoned public school. Once I left and went to a more diverse place, the bullying stopped and I began to make friends leaving my past behind me. 

Since that day in June when I left my old school I vowed to never be bullied in any way again. I became a championship swimmer as well as began kickboxing and now boxing professionally in order to learn how to defend myself if I were to ever encounter a situation that warranted action. I try to help whenever and wherever I can so that no one goes through what I went through for so long.