Miyah Saeyang

Miyah is a student at the University of California Berkeley and is a Campaign Intern at Evolve.

Why is education important to you?

Education, to me, is a form of empowerment and growth. I was fortunate enough to go to a school with the resources and funding necessary to provide me with a good education and make it into a college that would allow me to expand on my interests. My time in the education system has allowed me to not only find a career path but also learn how to think about the world more critically. Mainstream thought has pushed the idea that school is meant for bettering oneself and opening someone’s life to new opportunities, but it seems hypocritical when students are put in a place of limited resources to do such things. Education is important to me because I believe that the world needs to support the growth of an empowered population.

How has California's lack of education funding negatively impacted you?

My parents grew up in immigrant families with low household incomes and in areas with very limited funding for public education, hindering their ability to focus on their studies and gain a quality education. Growing up, they made it a priority to place me in a position that would allow me the opportunities that they never received. I am lucky to be where I am because of those opportunities and to have been brought up in an environment that fostered my ability to take advantage of them. Though I personally haven’t been negatively impacted by lack of education funding, I understand that many aren’t as fortunate and we live in a system that favors people born into advantageous circumstances. It has become increasingly more clear to me that our current system does not seek to change this. It is up to us, the people, to make a difference.

How has the increasing cost of college impacted you?

Graduating from high school, I was not sure how I was going to be paying for school. My parents were unable to aid me in tuition costs and I had a limited amount of money saved up for college. In years before, I worried whether I would be able to pay for the next and I’ve worked other jobs on and off to keep up with the costs of school and other expenses. Fortunately, I was able to get a scholarship that covered the costs of this year, but it is not guaranteed that this will be offered in the future. Unfortunately, this is a reality for a lot of university students. Instead of focusing on their studies, we often have to think about how we’ll be able to afford to be a student or whether being a student is even worth the money. Higher education should not be made so expensive that it seems unattainable or a privilege for the wealthy, but should be a right for those who want to apply themselves.