{"id":5867,"date":"2021-02-18T16:15:09","date_gmt":"2021-02-18T16:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/?p=5867"},"modified":"2024-10-08T12:37:12","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T12:37:12","slug":"how-my-parents-work-ethic-inspired-me-to-succeed-for-alumni-by-alumni","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/2021\/02\/18\/how-my-parents-work-ethic-inspired-me-to-succeed-for-alumni-by-alumni\/","title":{"rendered":"How my parent’s work ethic inspired me to succeed \u2013 For Alumni, By Alumni"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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Jackie Yip (BA 2018) has\u00a0travelled the globe and immersed herself in every\u00a0opportunity\u00a0that\u00a0has\u00a0come her way. Using the work ethic her parents instilled\u00a0in her\u00a0and\u00a0the\u00a0support\u00a0offered\u00a0at\u00a0Cardiff University, Jackie filled\u00a0a\u00a0few\u00a0short\u00a0years with a lifetime\u2019s worth of experiences.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

My parents never went to\u00a0university\u00a0and\u00a0I don\u2019t think my dad\u00a0even\u00a0finished school.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

They\u00a0arrived in England\u00a0as immigrants from Hong Kong\u00a0at a time when\u00a0Chinese takeaways were booming,\u00a0so\u00a0they rented a tiny takeaway\u00a0on Gloucester Road\u00a0in Bristol\u00a0and lived in the single bedroom apartment above it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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When\u00a0my twin and I\u00a0were born, I remember sleeping with my sister on a double bed,\u00a0my mum sleeping\u00a0at the bottom of it,\u00a0and\u00a0my dad sleeping\u00a0on a single bed in the same room.\u00a0They\u00a0would work seven days a week to make a living.\u00a0As kids, we\u00a0started helping our parents in the shop when we were about nine years old, taking orders and sweeping floors.\u00a0My\u00a0work ethic is all down to those years I spent watching and helping them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

When it came to applying\u00a0to study music at\u00a0university,\u00a0my parents\u00a0had no understanding of the UK university system\u00a0and\u00a0were shocked\u00a0by\u00a0the\u00a0application\u00a0procedures and\u00a0the\u00a0cost of study. They couldn\u2019t even take me to my auditions because they had to\u00a0work.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I remember having a difficult conversation with them about how we were going to be able to afford it all.\u00a0We struggled with the student finance forms as\u00a0English\u00a0wasn\u2019t their first language\u00a0and I, being new to this, didn\u2019t know how to proceed. We got through\u00a0it\u00a0in the\u00a0end\u00a0and I was able to secure a loan,\u00a0but I also took\u00a0on\u00a0a\u00a0second\u00a0job to make sure I could finance my studies without burdening\u00a0my parents. I worked\u00a0six\u00a0days a week in the summer\u00a0and\u00a0then went straight to\u00a0work at\u00a0the takeaway in the evenings.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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All this struggle paid off! I got into Cardiff University,\u00a0which was great because\u00a0part of\u00a0the\u00a0appeal\u00a0of Cardiff was the bursary that I qualified for. I secured \u00a32000 to cover some of my living costs for the next\u00a0three\u00a0years. This made such a difference\u00a0and\u00a0it meant I was able to pay my rent and focus entirely on my studies. It allowed me to take every opportunity.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Thanks to the Student Support\u00a0Centre,\u00a0I discovered\u00a0that\u00a0the Global\u00a0Opportunities department was offering\u00a0funded\u00a0internships and study opportunities<\/strong><\/a> abroad.\u00a0I successfully auditioned for the University Orchestra and\u00a0travelled\u00a0across Europe in the summer of my first and second year to perform \u2013 fully funded by the University. I also successfully secured a competitive internship in Hong Kong in the summer of my first year,\u00a0also\u00a0funded by the University.\u00a0I returned from Europe and flew straight to Hong Kong for a month!\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

My parents were amazed that I was able to do all\u00a0this through the University and they didn\u2019t have to worry about how I would afford these opportunities. In my third year, Global Opportunities supported my year abroad to Helsinki, Finland where I got to study music at one of the most prestigious universities in the world. I even got to play piano for the President of Iceland! Whilst I was there, I was flown to China for the University Orchestra\u2019s performance debut in Xiamen.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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The icing on the cake was when I successfully ran in the Student Union elections of my final year and secured a graduate job as Vice President Education\u00a0and\u00a0Students\u2019 Union President the following year.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Although it sounds\u00a0like an incredibly busy few years, I still made time to go home and help my parents. The bursary and support I got meant I was free to make the most of\u00a0these\u00a0opportunities without having to worry.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

When\u00a0the\u00a0COVID-19\u00a0pandemic\u00a0hit, my parents\u00a0weren\u2019t able to\u00a0work in the takeaway.\u00a0This meant they had no income and\u00a0wouldn\u2019t have been\u00a0in\u00a0a\u00a0position\u00a0to help me\u00a0if I needed it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Many of my friends and current students\u00a0aren\u2019t able to\u00a0secure summer work or jobs\u00a0at the moment\u00a0and\u00a0their time at university is severely impacted.\u00a0The support I received changed my life and is\u00a0still ongoing, even in the most challenging of times,\u00a0and it makes my parents and I so proud that we chose Cardiff\u00a0University.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Tell us what matters to\u00a0you\u00a0<\/strong><\/h5>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We\u2019ve\u00a0introduced \u2018For Alumni, By Alumni\u2019, because who knows our alumni community better than…you guessed it, you!\u00a0We’d\u00a0love to hear from you<\/a>\u00a0with ideas for articles or online events that you’re interested in, you can give insight on, or maybe you ARE the story! Check out our\u00a0full line-up of\u00a0articles<\/a>\u00a0and watch back our\u00a0live events playlist<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jackie Yip (BA 2018) has traveled the globe and emersed herself in every opportunity that has come her way. Using the work ethic her parents instilled in her and the support offered at Cardiff University, Jackie filled a few short years with a lifetime\u2019s worth of experiences. ","protected":false},"author":1811,"featured_media":5871,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[199,201,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-stories","category-for-alumni-by-alumni","category-news"],"meta_box":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1811"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5867"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10033,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5867\/revisions\/10033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}