![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/889\/2016\/12\/cropped-Beyond-Two-Worlds-11-white-11.png\")
<\/a>Udele Xiong<\/strong>\n<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n
U<\/strong><\/span>dele Xiong is a second generation Hmong American, who was born and raised in Minnesota. <\/span>Her passion is to fight for equal opportunities for everybody with a specific interest in youth development and education. She cares about promoting positive self esteem and helping people connect with others. She graduated from St. Olaf College in 2016, where she was the Co-Chair of the Hmong Culture Outreach. She was also involved in the Badminton Club and TRiO mentoring. Currently, she is working as a Right Track Youth Jobs Core Program Liaison in the Twin Cities.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#1c1c1c” show_divider=”on” divider_style=”solid” divider_position=”top” hide_on_mobile=”on” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_video admin_label=”Video” src=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/hFTZuhuA4Pw” \/][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n “I do think there are advantages, I think one of the advantages is…your family. You can have a very supportive family that will push you to go far, but at the same time it can also be bad, because then the ideas of family are so strong in the Hmong tradition and culture that it can also hold you back, because I know that I’ve heard of a lot of Hmong on this. I’ve heard about my friends who stop going to college or something like that, or that they don’t feel like going to college so they don’t let their family down, so it’s a double edged sword”<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#1c1c1c” show_divider=”on” divider_style=”solid” divider_position=”top” hide_on_mobile=”on” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”center” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n “My\u00a0parents made it with limited English. They had a social worker to help them. My father was placed with cousins and traveled \u00a0to Minnesota. My\u00a0mother’s family passed away while only her sisters lived. She had family in refugee camps who helped her find a sponsor”<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_video admin_label=”Video” src=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/3NLRGVNCkV4″ \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#1c1c1c” show_divider=”on” divider_style=”solid” divider_position=”top” hide_on_mobile=”on” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_video admin_label=”Video” src=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/ABhT1G06r7I” \/][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n “Not having much help growing up, and finding out Hmong people are at a disadvantage. Since they don’t know much on education they simply go, because they were told and don’t succeed. They don’t know what tracks to follow or what to do. Although they have programs like college possible, no one is telling them how the real world is actually like. \u00a0As a result, they don’t advocate for himself, because they find out late. \u00a0They don’t know that most jobs are based on connections, the Hmong students aren’t knowledgeable about the system, and results in time wasting”<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#1c1c1c” show_divider=”on” divider_style=”solid” divider_position=”top” hide_on_mobile=”on” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n “It depends who I’m\u00a0talking to, I\u00a0identify different ways. I’m\u00a0Hmong to myself, but on a piece of paper I’m\u00a0Hmong American. Actually I’m\u00a0Hmong American, because I\u00a0grew up in both cultures, I\u00a0can see the difference in Hmong people straight from Laos”<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_video admin_label=”Video” src=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/gXuTCL5NF2I” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#1c1c1c” show_divider=”on” divider_style=”solid” divider_position=”top” hide_on_mobile=”on” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_video admin_label=”Video” src=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/rUw-jmG-U5g” \/][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n “A difficult time in my\u00a0life was when their was a divorce. A lot of pressure was placed on my\u00a0mom, because my\u00a0dad got another wife. Normally, the wife is supposed to stick it out and deal with it, because the man is the main source of protection. My\u00a0mother decided not to remarriage, and as a result got separated from community members, because she looked bad as a result”<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Udele Xiong Udele Xiong is a second generation Hmong American, who was born and raised in Minnesota. Her passion is to fight for equal opportunities for everybody with a specific interest in youth development and education. She cares about promoting positive self esteem and helping people connect with others. She graduated from St. Olaf College […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1490,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-135","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/hmg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/hmg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/hmg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/hmg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1490"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/hmg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/hmg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":789,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/hmg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/135\/revisions\/789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/hmg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}