Personal Statement

My name is Arthit Vang, I have lived in Merced California my whole life, and I will be

graduating on June 6, 2024. After graduation I want to go to Merced college for a few years then

later transfer to Sac State to get more open careers. Right now I want to go into psychology to

later become an Art Therapist. I am really interested in knowing how people’s emotions and

mental issues work along with helping them cope with it through Art. Art has helped me cool

down from stress multiple times and so that is why I’d like to share it with people who have

mental issues or stress by going into the psychology pathway.

Growing up as a second language speaker is hard to understand and can be stressful at

times. As I got enrolled in school I got put into a class called ELD. ELD is a class for non

english speakers or for bilingual students. ELD stands for English Language Development. I've

been in that class since Elementary and I barely got out of it during my sophomore year in high

school. I know being bilingual is hard because at home I speak my native language but at school

I speak English most of the time. Switching through languages can be confusing sometimes

because I would get my words mixed up. I struggle most in my English classes due to not really

understanding the instructions and some high vocabulary words that are being used. Sometimes I

can’t even pronounce the words correctly because I have my own accent when speaking. Due to

English being my second language I become more of an introverted when it comes to speaking

out loud or just to the teachers in general. I do get shy and embarrassed sometimes when I don’t

understand a question that is being asked. I would feel dumb or slow because I didn’t get the

question as quickly as my other classmates.

I overcame my situation with being bilingual by talking more with my second language

which is English because I have a harder time with my second language than my first one. I
believe that I shouldn’t only focus on my second language but also my first language because the

more I learn about a different language the less I will talk in my native language.