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Counselor A.Y. |
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Real Name: Alison Young Born: September 16, 19?? Hometown: Indianapolis, Indiana School: DePauw University Grade: Class of ? |
Doesn’t it seem like all biographies start out, “I was born in.....”? Well, in keeping with tradition, I, Alison M. Young, was born in Canada on September 16 (do you really want to know the year?). No, I’m not Canadian, though. When I was a year old, we moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, where I began my life as a Midwesterner. After graduating from high school, I went to DePauw University in Greencastle, IN, and majored in Spanish. (Let me know if you ever need help with your Spanish homework). Actually, I had always wanted to be a doctor, but that changed my senior year of college- see me if you want to hear the full story. After college, I moved back home and worked in corporate America. During this time, I had been thinking about going to graduate school, but it took me awhile to figure out what I wanted to study. Three years later, I made the biggest decision in my life (so far)- I left my job, my friends, my family, and my comfortable home and moved out to the rolling hills and green pastures of Western Massachusetts. I had decided to study public health education at Umass Amherst. As scary as this was, I knew God was telling me that this was the right place for me. After finishing up at Umass, I moved to Boston. It just seemed like a fun place to be! I had no idea what was in store for me here. I eventually found a job at Massachusetts General Hospital, which turned out to be more than a job- it was an experience that changed my life! Let me tell you how. While I was working at MGH, I did a joint project with the Joslin Diabetes Center, and through this, I met our very own Jocelyn Pan. One day we were chatting about our lives, and she told me that she lived with friends from her church. Interested that she was a Christian, I asked her more about her church, and she told me about BCEC and invited me to visit sometime. At that time, I had been going to another church, so I thought, “Well, I’ll just check out BCEC, but I have no intentions of going back. I’m fine with the church I have now.” Well, those are my famous last words. In a nutshell, I loved BCEC the first time I came, and started attending regularly in October 1998. I became interested in TWR last spring, after Tommy showed me his pictures from TC 1999. So, I started as a counselor in June 1999 and have been having fun ever since.
My Family
I often get asked what its like to be biracial, or mixed, or whatever you
want to call it. Its pretty cool most of the time. Of course, I endured the
same amount of teasing in elementary school. In fact, I remember one kid,
who had just found out I was born in Canada, asking me, “So, does that mean
you’re an Eskimo, since your eyes are like that?” More importantly, I have
been very blessed to grow up in a Christian home. My family is a very
important part of my life, so let me tell you a little bit about them. My
father is Chinese from the Philippines, who came to the US for school. My
mother is from Rhode Island, and she went to college in Boston.
Incidentally, my parents met in Boston, and my mom and her family have a
Boston accent, so I’m not as “Indiana Hoosier” as you my think. I’m the
oldest sibling, and I have a sister and a brother. My sister lives in
Beijing, China right now with her husband. She is the star of the family
when it comes to speaking Mandarin. She’s the only one who went to Chinese
school as a kid, and stuck with it- going on to study Mandarin in college,
and marrying someone from China. Needless to say, her Chinese is flawless.
Then, there’s my brother. He just graduated from college with a major in
biblical and theological studies. He’s now working as the youth director of
the Chinese Community Church of Indianapolis. Basically, he’s their “Jack
Lum.” In fact, you can check our their youth group web page at
http://ricecooker.cjb.net. So, that’s the quick scoop on my life. Come talk
to me any time, I’d be happy to share more with you!
