Christina Pajia Yang
Scholar, graduate, and community volunteer
Scholar, graduate, and community volunteer
By Laura Salinger
Christina Pajia Yang recently became one of the many UW-Madison students graduating this winter who
are now faced with that exciting, and sometimes daunting, future of wide-open possibilities. Graduating with
a degree in rehabilitation psychology, Yang received her diploma on Dec. 20. She will end her five years as a
UW-Madison Powers-Knapp scholar. The Powers-Knapp scholarship program, a merit-based program that
targets underrepresented students of color with outstanding academic achievement, includes a financial
reward, as well as academic and co-curricular programs and activities.
Yang’s story is similar (yet of course conversely unique) in that coming-of-age sort of way, where
students begin to find themselves and spread their wings. As a second generation Hmong American, Yang
wasn’t always as self-assured. Her parents, both from Laos, walked the tightrope between the culture of their
native homeland and the new way of life they found in the United States. Yang’s family is Christian (having
abandoned the Shamanism of Hmong culture), yet they still hold fast to some social expectations that mark
the Hmong culture.
Yang, like many second generation Hmong, walked that tenuous tightrope between her outer
surroundings, with different social expectations, and her inner home life. Raised just outside of St. Paul, MN,
in Woodbury, Yang attended a largely white high school. She often felt the tension between the expectations
set for her by her family when compared to the expectations of her classmates. An adolescent mindset didn’t
help the matter.
Christina Pajia Yang recently became one of the many UW-Madison students graduating this winter who
are now faced with that exciting, and sometimes daunting, future of wide-open possibilities. Graduating with
a degree in rehabilitation psychology, Yang received her diploma on Dec. 20. She will end her five years as a
UW-Madison Powers-Knapp scholar. The Powers-Knapp scholarship program, a merit-based program that
targets underrepresented students of color with outstanding academic achievement, includes a financial
reward, as well as academic and co-curricular programs and activities.
Yang’s story is similar (yet of course conversely unique) in that coming-of-age sort of way, where
students begin to find themselves and spread their wings. As a second generation Hmong American, Yang
wasn’t always as self-assured. Her parents, both from Laos, walked the tightrope between the culture of their
native homeland and the new way of life they found in the United States. Yang’s family is Christian (having
abandoned the Shamanism of Hmong culture), yet they still hold fast to some social expectations that mark
the Hmong culture.
Yang, like many second generation Hmong, walked that tenuous tightrope between her outer
surroundings, with different social expectations, and her inner home life. Raised just outside of St. Paul, MN,
in Woodbury, Yang attended a largely white high school. She often felt the tension between the expectations
set for her by her family when compared to the expectations of her classmates. An adolescent mindset didn’t
help the matter.
Laura
Salinger is a
freelance
writer based
in Madison,
Wis.
Salinger is a
freelance
writer based
in Madison,
Wis.
| Christina Pajia Yang |
There was definitely a lot of tension growing up as an adolescent,” Yang says. “It is really hard when you are at that selfish age where
you want to fight every battle. I wasn’t allowed to do what was considered socially normal. It wasn’t a social norm for them (my parents) to
let me go to the movies or the malls. I couldn’t really understand.”
Yang says her parents were reserved when it came to talking about their experiences in Laos. Given this, and the fact that she didn’t
really know many other Hmong Americans, Yang struggled with her identity as a Hmong American. Her experiences at UW-Madison and the
opening up of a dialogue with her parents were catalysts in strengthening Yang’s identity. Growing older probably didn’t hurt either.
“I never knew how to identify myself as a Hmong American because I wasn’t around other Hmong students,” Yang says. “Coming to
Madison has given me the opportunity to meet a lot of Hmong American students, some who are like me and some who are very different. I
definitely identify myself as Hmong American.”
Yang says she learned a lot about herself and the Hmong culture through classes (like an anthropology course that taught about Hmong
Shamanism) and her involvement with HASA, the Hmong American Student Association at UW-Madison. She also deepened the connection
she has with her parents.
“I never actually ‘got’ the experiences of my parents,” Yang says. “I never got the opportunity to sit down and talk with them about it
when I was in high school.”
That changed when Yang was in college.
“One time, when I was home for break, I had an hour-long talk with my Dad about what they went through in Laos. I could tell that made
him very happy.”
While at UW-Madison, Yang also had the opportunity to volunteer with a beloved school in Madison, Omega School. Since 1972, the
school has been serving students who have had difficulty succeeding in a traditional school setting. For many graduates, Omega school
has provided them with a much-needed second chance. Headed up by the no-nonsense, yet deeply caring, leadership of Executive Director
Oscar Mireles, Omega School works with a very diverse group of students, young and old, who have faced a slew of different obstacles
preventing them from obtaining their high school diploma. Tailor-made programming and one-on-one instruction help students face these
obstacles so that they can obtain their GED or HSED.
Yang volunteered twice a week at Omega School where she helped tutor students one-on-one. As a volunteer in this very hands-on
environment, Yang got the sense that she was now also a difference-maker.
“It makes you feel really great to be able to help somebody,” Yang says about her experience at Omega School. “Everybody comes with
such different experiences. You build this trust with each one of them. It was a really great experience.”
As for Yang’s future, well … it’s wide open. She knows she wants to spend time in Asia. Most likely, she says, she will end up teaching
English in Korea for a year. After that, it’s possibly back to school for physical therapy or maybe nursing. Yet, at the end of the day, she can
luxuriate in the beauty of that early twenty-something freedom and possibility.
you want to fight every battle. I wasn’t allowed to do what was considered socially normal. It wasn’t a social norm for them (my parents) to
let me go to the movies or the malls. I couldn’t really understand.”
Yang says her parents were reserved when it came to talking about their experiences in Laos. Given this, and the fact that she didn’t
really know many other Hmong Americans, Yang struggled with her identity as a Hmong American. Her experiences at UW-Madison and the
opening up of a dialogue with her parents were catalysts in strengthening Yang’s identity. Growing older probably didn’t hurt either.
“I never knew how to identify myself as a Hmong American because I wasn’t around other Hmong students,” Yang says. “Coming to
Madison has given me the opportunity to meet a lot of Hmong American students, some who are like me and some who are very different. I
definitely identify myself as Hmong American.”
Yang says she learned a lot about herself and the Hmong culture through classes (like an anthropology course that taught about Hmong
Shamanism) and her involvement with HASA, the Hmong American Student Association at UW-Madison. She also deepened the connection
she has with her parents.
“I never actually ‘got’ the experiences of my parents,” Yang says. “I never got the opportunity to sit down and talk with them about it
when I was in high school.”
That changed when Yang was in college.
“One time, when I was home for break, I had an hour-long talk with my Dad about what they went through in Laos. I could tell that made
him very happy.”
While at UW-Madison, Yang also had the opportunity to volunteer with a beloved school in Madison, Omega School. Since 1972, the
school has been serving students who have had difficulty succeeding in a traditional school setting. For many graduates, Omega school
has provided them with a much-needed second chance. Headed up by the no-nonsense, yet deeply caring, leadership of Executive Director
Oscar Mireles, Omega School works with a very diverse group of students, young and old, who have faced a slew of different obstacles
preventing them from obtaining their high school diploma. Tailor-made programming and one-on-one instruction help students face these
obstacles so that they can obtain their GED or HSED.
Yang volunteered twice a week at Omega School where she helped tutor students one-on-one. As a volunteer in this very hands-on
environment, Yang got the sense that she was now also a difference-maker.
“It makes you feel really great to be able to help somebody,” Yang says about her experience at Omega School. “Everybody comes with
such different experiences. You build this trust with each one of them. It was a really great experience.”
As for Yang’s future, well … it’s wide open. She knows she wants to spend time in Asia. Most likely, she says, she will end up teaching
English in Korea for a year. After that, it’s possibly back to school for physical therapy or maybe nursing. Yet, at the end of the day, she can
luxuriate in the beauty of that early twenty-something freedom and possibility.