Adelle

“I didn’t want to be a model for ‘immigrant excellence’. I wanted to be given the space and understanding to be fallible”. Adelle immigrated to the United States with her parents from the Philippines when she was five years old. One day in middle school, she was sent to detention because she didn’t get her parents to sign a test that she had failed. The principal then had a meeting with her father after he realized what she had done. When he picked her up from detention, Adelle’s dad told the principal their story of leaving the Philippines to have his daughter grow up in America and earn a better life. Her dad was convinced detention would taint her record and destroy her chances of going to college. Adelle felt as if all her accomplishments made in America proved the point that she and her family belonged there. This is an insurmountable burden to place on a child who could not help the decision and sacrifices her parents made by leaving the Philippines. Now an adult, Adelle has learned how to be more of her own person, while still hoping her parents see her achievements as a reflection of their commitment to her future.