“And the goals we come to New York is for our dreams. We have something we want to build. I think that is what made me excited…yeah.”
Introducing the extraordinary, the daring, the fantastic Sophie Huang! What most do not know about Sophie Huang is that she is one of the bravest adventurers of our generation, an unsung hero for those around her, including myself. She has a story to tell us…
On February 14, 2014 Sophie and her parents began an adventure that would forever alter their lives. For her parents, it wasn’t the best of changes, but for Sophie it would be the first step in finding her identity in the concrete jungles of New York.
Sophie’s hometown in China
Born and raised in Canton, China, Sophie lived a quiet life with her loving mother Weihong Luo and father Herong Huang. Weihong and Herong loved their daughter dearly and wished to provide her with the best opportunities available to them. This meant that they would consider packing up their lives in their small city and venturing to a foreign land: America. Like many before them, Sophie’s parents believed that the United States of America was the land of opportunities, specifically, the opportunity for a higher education.
Sophie with her father and mother
“Yeah, we mainly moved for education. My parents were really focused – they- think education is what changes a person’s life. So that they wanted to provide me with what they think is the best education. So they think that U.S. has that so they moved here.”
Sophie parents let her have a say in the choice to move. They began thinking about this when Sophie was in the sixth grade and, after saving up for years, they made their final decision in her third year of high school.
Sophie shares some of her favorite memories of the long and tiring sixteen-hour flight. “I mean you can watch a movie, you have to sit for 16 hours, and you can adjust the seats, but it’s 16 hours. My dad actually just went into the hallway and did some squats. ‘Don’t do that dad,’ I said and he did not care and just did that.” Sophie smiled fondly as she shared this memory. Despite what would have been a very boring traveling route, Sophie displayed her continuous persevering and optimistic attitude to the changes. To her, this trip was a grand adventure, hopefully only the first of many.
When Sophie’s family arrived in New York, they settled in Bayside, Queens where she attended the local high school. Upon inquiring about why Bayside Sophie said they had a mutual friend living there who had shared with them stories of a quiet and safe neighborhood. “We chose to believe him,” Sophie said. This entire family made this long journey all on faith, faith in the words of mutual friend, faith in a brighter future.
With just a week to settle in, Sophie was immediately forced to face one of the hardest challenges every teenager must overcome: high school. Enrolled in Benjamin Cardozo High School, Sophie remembers her first day when she had to take the bus for the first time through New York’s unforgiving snowy weather. When she arrived she was rather disappointed, “Because I watched a lot of American movies, while in the movie the high school is like heaven, really like um the environment in the movie is much better. There is no weed, not that kind of thing.”
Sophie recalls that high school social life was probably the one thing that she had the most difficulty adjusting with.
“Yeah. So I don’t know too much about American politics. Democrat and Republican that kind of things.
Also so I cannot react as fast as they can. So sometimes people think, “Oh she’s slow.” Yeah you know, “Maybe she’s not very good intellectually,” they might think that way.”
Sophie continues by sharing stories of when she felt most excluded by her fellow peers. When asked what was her least favorite time in high school, she said lunch. This is definitely a surprising answer as for most high schools, it’s actually their favorite period, a time where they can relax and enjoy the company friends. However, for a young immigrant conforming to a new micro-society, the change was definitely difficult.
“So I have to go to the lunchroom and then it was so frustrating because then I just look at them all.”
However, to Sophie there is always a silver lining. Perhaps her favorite period of the day was her history class where she met Mr. Philip Ackerman.
Sophie with her favorite professor.
And then yeah I didn’t talk to him much at first, and then he asked me, “Today’s your first day?” And I said yeah. And he said “How’s your day.” And then I said, “So far so good.”
Eventually, Sophie found her niche. The group that she felt she most belong in: The Rock Club. Not igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary, etc. No, the heavy metal, Metallica type, Rock Club. Sophie is not only an adventurer, but is also an avid rock fan.
If you don’t believe me this is a playlist of some of Sophie’s favorite songs…
Sophie with her electric guitar
At Cardozo she bonded with a group of people who shared her same tastes in music. “And I brought my electric guitar there. And I don’t know I just had the courage to, I don’t know anybody there I just brought my stuff, and then went to the club. And while I was adjusting my guitar and there is two, three people I think who came and they almost had the same guitar.”
“And then we had the music performance concerts, small concerts, but I think it really made me feel like I belonged somewhere.”
As time progressed, Sophie began to carve her own path in high school.
Sophie and her friend Dana.
When asked what did she value most she replied with, “Most of my friends are from seniors and I think I have more stuff to talk about with senior student because sometimes with my experience, with the change of my backgrounds and the things I experience. That made me more mature maybe. And they really understand my feelings and that’s very precious because in my situation some people don’t care. And those who care are very precious people.”
However, there was a group of people who Sophie avidly did not feel comfortable with, some of which included fellow Asian immigrants.
“I understand their feelings, I understand that it’s hard to meet new people in a totally new environment speaking with a new language,
but you have to try. “
Continuously, Sophie show cased her youthful spirit and zealous love for trying new things and meeting new people.
“Yeah I think absolutely, and I get energy from meeting new people.”
She showed how something as simple as perspective can have on impacted one’s experiences. This is mostly clearly recognizable when we take a closer look to how different Sophie’s experience with coming to a new country was from that of her parent’s experience.
Sophie with her father and mother.
“And the thing is that even though I don’t like my high school, there is still someone I have contact with.”
Sophie definitely struggled with adjusting to the already socially demanding and highly critical atmosphere that is high school. However, the difference between her and her adult parents was precisely because she immigrated as a teenager. Many would deduce that the younger the immigrant the harsher the experiences. While to some degree this is true, most youth immigrants actually assimilate better than their parental figures. Sophie actually felt at times that she had to keep her struggles with adjusting to herself, “because this is the thing they’ve been working on (bringing me to America). I understand that they don’t quite feel fit in with the society that was a big disappointment for them because they’ve been saving money and they might think that it would be really nice here. Sometimes I didn’t talk about this with them.”
While Sophie struggled in high school, she was still surrounded by her peers, forced to interact with people her the same age as her. While difficult at first, it was the prime focus of her social interactions. Every day she was meeting people, talking to people, creating connections to people and those connects would be the beginning of the roots she would grow in her life in New York. Additionally, Sophie goes out of her way to volunteer with groups such as ELS and WomenKind, two organizations that gets her interacting with groups that struggle with their own barriers. However, her parents, who had a strong language barrier, mostly kept to themselves. Not forced to interact with others in their community, Sophie’s parents became reclusive and eventually her father decided to return to their hometown in China, while her mother stayed with her until Sophie decided to move to Long Island City where she now resides.
Flash-forward to the present, Sophie has finally found her niche in her home, New York City.
The Strand bookstore
Sophie mentioned she enjoyed the city the most especially places like the Metropolitan museum and the Strand, a famous book shop located in Union Square. I asked why? Why did she gravitate to places like these in New York City?
Sophie in the Met
“The Met- that makes me feel like the whole world is in one place and you can explore so many things at the same time.”
I asked Sophie if she missed her hometown in China, “I think a year ago, I missed my hometown, the city, cuz I had really good impression of the city I grow up in. But when I went back, I actually went back last year in the summer, I found myself could not adjust to it anymore.”
Now Sophie considers herself an International student. Not in the sense that she is a Chinese immigrant student, but rather she is a student of the world, of life. She enjoys exploring new places and meeting new people. She is a true traveler and explorer and hope to one day begin adventures in Israel, Egypt, Switzerland, and Russia.
Sophie’s family came here for the opportunities America provided, but a new reason keeps her here.
“I think the freedom that I can express myself and my idea and there is someone who can see me. Someone who can actually listen to my idea and I like the pace here of Manhattan.”
Do you think you found an identity here?
“Yeah I think so…Yeah I do think that, I do feel about that especially after I started college. That was a critical point. Although in high school…I was never fond of my high school, but after college started, it’s in Manhattan…
I think that’s when my hearts with Manhattan.”
Sophie in her new home
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