Jenny Yu by Chaeweon and Monred
Jenny Yu (1978-1982)
Although she was born and raised in Korea, Ms. Jenny Yu has lived in the United States for most of her life with her family when they decided to move here together in 1980. Having moved from this far eastern Asian country, Ms. Yu was frightened of the new culture she had to face. She had just started attending Cascade High School and challenged herself to be involved in different activities in order to adjust to the radically different and new American culture. For example, the drill team was something Ms. Yu found herself actively participating in. Being the captain, Ms. Yu performed with her fellow peers in front of the marching band, and occasionally performing during half time and assemblies. She states that this was one of her most fun things she experienced in high school. Also known as the Bruinettes, the drill team followed the band when performing in parades, assemblies, and many other various events that they were invited to. "Oh my gosh. Well, when I was in Korea, I was very, very active. In my neighborhood I would tell my friends what to do. And then when I came to America, I couldn't speak English so, I got really, really quiet and I kept to myself. I never really opened up because kids could be really cruel... they could talk about you because you can't speak English and they could make fun of you.”
Despite her struggles with English, Ms. Yu found herself making a small number of friends. One was named Rachel. Ms. Yu states, “I could talk to her but because of the language it was hard to communicate,” and now the two friends have separated and gone their own ways in their lives. Now that Ms. Yu has experienced the hardships of learning a language, she states “when I hear these kids coming from different countries when they're in high school, I feel so bad because it reminds me of myself. It's a pretty big challenge.” She understands the struggles and the barriers they must overcome to become successful in the United States.
One of the positive things Ms. Yu remembers about Cascade High School was her teachers. Ms. Yu says, “Every single one of my teachers were nice. They would help and try to get you to succeed.” Her most memorable teacher was a Korean teacher named Mrs. Facker who deeply left an impact on Ms. Yu’s life. Ms.Yu states, “she was more like a legend; she’s been there for a long time and I remembered that she taught psychology, physics, and chemistry. She was one of those teachers who worked you right up to the bell.” Ms. Yu loved the thrill of getting a challenge and having to solve it in her own way. Mrs. Facker was a strict, up-tight, and intimidating teacher; a teacher that Ms. Yu loved and respected. Recently, Ms. Yu states that she unexpectedly met Mrs. Facker at a restaurant and they were able to sit down and chat about the good memories Mrs. Facker had as a teacher and Ms. Yu as a student. Although Cascade currently is a very diverse school, when Ms. Yu attended Cascade, it was not as diverse. “Not trying to be racist or anything but there were only white Caucasians and they made up nearly the entire population.” Ms. Yu has feels that it has been nice watching Cascade grow with diversity throughout the years.
Not only did Ms. Yu participate in the drill team but she involved herself with the Girls’ Club as well. "Well in high school when I went to Cascade, I was in girls club. And I was in drill team." Also known as the Bruinettes, Ms. Yu was in it for two years and became captain her senior year. She remembers that it was very fun “going places and doing parades." The Girls’ Club hosted many events at Cascade such as Mom and Me Tea, sewing classes, fashion shows, and many others of that nature. The Girls’ Club took a big role in Cascade and hosted events like the Mother’s Day event where they would go to the salon to get ready and perform a fashion show with different students from different schools. Furthermore, the sewing class allowed Ms. Yu to learn how to sew her own clothes, and it was that class where she made many of her present day good friends. “The Mom and Me Tea took a big role in the Girls’ Club because whenever they were to host the event, they would split into committees and go to the salon to get all ready for the big day. It was most definitely a big deal back then. That day, they would have a fashion show with students taking the role as models” and Ms. Yu states that it was one of the biggest ways to raise money for the Homecoming event that the Girls’ Club hosted. Ms. Yu was involved in advertising for the Homecoming dance by using her spare time to hand out flyers and host fashion shows to promote this rather prestigious event. Not only did they help promote the dance during school but at the dance itself students would have game booths where they could raise even more money to help pay for the high costs. Ms. Yu states that the Homecoming dance undoubtedly brought the most money into their club. To illustrate more of the numerous events that the Girls’ Club hosted, the Thanksgiving Food Drive was an event where students can outside of stores and donate boxes of food and other necessities, and deliver it to families who were financially struggling. To this day, it is still going strong as it has just passed its 50th year.
With a newly shy and rather quiet personality, Ms. Yu did not find herself motivated enough to become involved with sports at her school. However, in Korea, Ms. Yu was active and did many sports such as volleyball and basketball. Once she moved to another country, she found herself intimidated by the new culture and couldn’t bring herself to join sports as easily and comfortably as she did with small clubs. Due to the drill team and Girls’ Club, Ms. Yu did have a packed schedule in her high school career. Struggling with learning English and fitting in, Ms. Yu limited herself to the activities she participated in at Cascade. Due to the language barrier, she found it very difficult to find what her passions were since she had not enough courage to look into new ideas. "It would be fun if I go back to high school… I probably wouldn't be so strict. When I was going to high school I could've been more open.” She was scared an intimidated at all the new adventures that awaited her. Ms.Yu states that if she could go back to high school she would fix one thing: “I would be a lot more relaxed." However, Ms. Yu says that her passion soon involved her schoolwork and the work she did outside of school. It was at an awkward time where she wanted to experiment with everything yet reach a goal that she had set for herself: find one subject that she absolutely loved.
In Ms. Yu’s opinion, present day high school students need to work harder than ever, including the time when she was in high school. “At the time that we were going to high school, we had much more fun than the kids are now.” Ms. Yu believes that present day students feel the need to be so competitive with each other they forget who they’re friends with. “Everybody was kind of easygoing and there was a lot more activities than nowadays because nowadays they're cutting all of those budgets.” She says that in the 1980‘s it gave her a chance to have fun and be laid back as opposed as to now where she watches students stress over homework, grade, and SAT’s. She feel unfortunate that her children cannot experience what she was able to experience because of so many cuts. “Music and arts were great when I was going to high school because everything was there." Ms. Yu wishes that things were different than they are now but knows that it can't be due to the depressing state that the world and U.S. economy is currently in.
After graduating from Cascade in 1982, Ms. Jenny Yu took another step of her life and entered college. Jenny Yu attended Everett Community College where she studied computer programming. “I went there because I wasn’t sure of what I wanted to be at the time.” Ms. Yu went to Everett in order to experience the general and basic classes to realize what her passion in life was. Ms. Yu wanted to find something she loved in life – “I wanted to find my passion, and study something I was going to love instead of forcing myself to learn it,” and she felt that if she had found that perfect subject, she would advance towards and find a career in that subject. She started to begin her studies in computer programming but soon discovered that it was not the way for her to go. She recalls that “the professor, the graphics, and vocabulary were not for me.” Ms. Yu says that she realized her mistake of taking computer programming because she lost interest in it immediately. Once she attended college in 1982, she said, “nothing particularly exciting happened to me at college, it was just the regular experience.” To Ms. Yu, college life was nothing special as it was almost similar to her high school years.
In her young adult years at Everett Community College, Ms. Yu met her husband. The two met through a mutual friend in college. She remembers “he was very open and friendly and with my shy and timid personality I felt feelings for him.” They met and became close through school and church. Since she was a student in college, when she was proposed to, she stopped going to college because she had no passion for studying anymore. Ms. Yu and her husband began a happy life today and both started working at small jobs since both of them were out of college. After some time had passed from their marriage, the two agreed it would be the best to move to Arizona where their family lived in order to start a family of their own. However, when Ms. Yu moved to Arizona she realized it would take more work than she thought. “Every day I would remind myself that this was for the best. I had to leave everything I had back in Washington and Arizona seemed like a dry and hot place to live in.” Although Ms. Yu longed for Washington, she was able to adjust to Arizona and start a family of her own when they introduced a new baby girl into the family. Ms. Yu knew the reality of life and needed to find a job quickly. Ms. Yu and her husband opened a hotel together in Arizona and began her first business.
As Ms. Yu entered a new stage of life, adulthood she began to realize things she’d never thought about before. “One day I woke up and I realized I was grown up. I needed not fool around anymore and get serious.” Ms. Yu dedicated herself to her hotel business, offering customers the best service, but most of all if there were immigrants, Ms. Yu would understand the language barrier she once experienced and gave it her all. With her business in a rising condition, Ms. Yu’s daughter started school in Arizona. Having the fear that her daughter might have the same difficulties she had, Ms. Yu helped her daughter with everything she could and involved her in activities. “It seemed almost perfect at that time. If I think about it now, if time had stopped then, it would’ve been perfect. Absolutely perfect.” However, things eventually started heading downhill. “I realized that I had lost control of my business. It moved so fast, like a blur. It was one of the hardest times of my life I had ever had to go through.” Her business was struggling to keep up financially with payment to the bank and Ms. Yu felt like she had hit a slump; that’s when Ms. Yu decided it was come back to her loving home, Washington.
Once Ms. Yu and her family had time to resettle in Washington, Ms. Yu knew this is where she belonged. “I gave a sigh of relief when I came back up here. I felt like this is where I wanted to be.” Overcoming the struggles she faced in Arizona, Ms. Yu was able to celebrate the birth of a beautiful baby boy, Nicholas. She was able to find a strong and confident side in her and bring it out. Ms. Yu states that this time and presently, she has been the most open to others and feels free with speaking English because she has built up her self confidence. Ms. Yu states, “I felt like what I was doing was for the best of me and I could relax.” With a loving family around her, Ms. Yu felt like this was home and was able to start another business with her husband. She started attending church with her family and life was back to how it was and she couldn’t have asked for anything more. Presently, Ms. Yu is attending Youngnak Church with her family and is living a very happy and humble life. “I want to say thanks to my husband who has always been there for me and my kids who have brought her much joy into my life.”
Although she was born and raised in Korea, Ms. Jenny Yu has lived in the United States for most of her life with her family when they decided to move here together in 1980. Having moved from this far eastern Asian country, Ms. Yu was frightened of the new culture she had to face. She had just started attending Cascade High School and challenged herself to be involved in different activities in order to adjust to the radically different and new American culture. For example, the drill team was something Ms. Yu found herself actively participating in. Being the captain, Ms. Yu performed with her fellow peers in front of the marching band, and occasionally performing during half time and assemblies. She states that this was one of her most fun things she experienced in high school. Also known as the Bruinettes, the drill team followed the band when performing in parades, assemblies, and many other various events that they were invited to. "Oh my gosh. Well, when I was in Korea, I was very, very active. In my neighborhood I would tell my friends what to do. And then when I came to America, I couldn't speak English so, I got really, really quiet and I kept to myself. I never really opened up because kids could be really cruel... they could talk about you because you can't speak English and they could make fun of you.”
Despite her struggles with English, Ms. Yu found herself making a small number of friends. One was named Rachel. Ms. Yu states, “I could talk to her but because of the language it was hard to communicate,” and now the two friends have separated and gone their own ways in their lives. Now that Ms. Yu has experienced the hardships of learning a language, she states “when I hear these kids coming from different countries when they're in high school, I feel so bad because it reminds me of myself. It's a pretty big challenge.” She understands the struggles and the barriers they must overcome to become successful in the United States.
One of the positive things Ms. Yu remembers about Cascade High School was her teachers. Ms. Yu says, “Every single one of my teachers were nice. They would help and try to get you to succeed.” Her most memorable teacher was a Korean teacher named Mrs. Facker who deeply left an impact on Ms. Yu’s life. Ms.Yu states, “she was more like a legend; she’s been there for a long time and I remembered that she taught psychology, physics, and chemistry. She was one of those teachers who worked you right up to the bell.” Ms. Yu loved the thrill of getting a challenge and having to solve it in her own way. Mrs. Facker was a strict, up-tight, and intimidating teacher; a teacher that Ms. Yu loved and respected. Recently, Ms. Yu states that she unexpectedly met Mrs. Facker at a restaurant and they were able to sit down and chat about the good memories Mrs. Facker had as a teacher and Ms. Yu as a student. Although Cascade currently is a very diverse school, when Ms. Yu attended Cascade, it was not as diverse. “Not trying to be racist or anything but there were only white Caucasians and they made up nearly the entire population.” Ms. Yu has feels that it has been nice watching Cascade grow with diversity throughout the years.
Not only did Ms. Yu participate in the drill team but she involved herself with the Girls’ Club as well. "Well in high school when I went to Cascade, I was in girls club. And I was in drill team." Also known as the Bruinettes, Ms. Yu was in it for two years and became captain her senior year. She remembers that it was very fun “going places and doing parades." The Girls’ Club hosted many events at Cascade such as Mom and Me Tea, sewing classes, fashion shows, and many others of that nature. The Girls’ Club took a big role in Cascade and hosted events like the Mother’s Day event where they would go to the salon to get ready and perform a fashion show with different students from different schools. Furthermore, the sewing class allowed Ms. Yu to learn how to sew her own clothes, and it was that class where she made many of her present day good friends. “The Mom and Me Tea took a big role in the Girls’ Club because whenever they were to host the event, they would split into committees and go to the salon to get all ready for the big day. It was most definitely a big deal back then. That day, they would have a fashion show with students taking the role as models” and Ms. Yu states that it was one of the biggest ways to raise money for the Homecoming event that the Girls’ Club hosted. Ms. Yu was involved in advertising for the Homecoming dance by using her spare time to hand out flyers and host fashion shows to promote this rather prestigious event. Not only did they help promote the dance during school but at the dance itself students would have game booths where they could raise even more money to help pay for the high costs. Ms. Yu states that the Homecoming dance undoubtedly brought the most money into their club. To illustrate more of the numerous events that the Girls’ Club hosted, the Thanksgiving Food Drive was an event where students can outside of stores and donate boxes of food and other necessities, and deliver it to families who were financially struggling. To this day, it is still going strong as it has just passed its 50th year.
With a newly shy and rather quiet personality, Ms. Yu did not find herself motivated enough to become involved with sports at her school. However, in Korea, Ms. Yu was active and did many sports such as volleyball and basketball. Once she moved to another country, she found herself intimidated by the new culture and couldn’t bring herself to join sports as easily and comfortably as she did with small clubs. Due to the drill team and Girls’ Club, Ms. Yu did have a packed schedule in her high school career. Struggling with learning English and fitting in, Ms. Yu limited herself to the activities she participated in at Cascade. Due to the language barrier, she found it very difficult to find what her passions were since she had not enough courage to look into new ideas. "It would be fun if I go back to high school… I probably wouldn't be so strict. When I was going to high school I could've been more open.” She was scared an intimidated at all the new adventures that awaited her. Ms.Yu states that if she could go back to high school she would fix one thing: “I would be a lot more relaxed." However, Ms. Yu says that her passion soon involved her schoolwork and the work she did outside of school. It was at an awkward time where she wanted to experiment with everything yet reach a goal that she had set for herself: find one subject that she absolutely loved.
In Ms. Yu’s opinion, present day high school students need to work harder than ever, including the time when she was in high school. “At the time that we were going to high school, we had much more fun than the kids are now.” Ms. Yu believes that present day students feel the need to be so competitive with each other they forget who they’re friends with. “Everybody was kind of easygoing and there was a lot more activities than nowadays because nowadays they're cutting all of those budgets.” She says that in the 1980‘s it gave her a chance to have fun and be laid back as opposed as to now where she watches students stress over homework, grade, and SAT’s. She feel unfortunate that her children cannot experience what she was able to experience because of so many cuts. “Music and arts were great when I was going to high school because everything was there." Ms. Yu wishes that things were different than they are now but knows that it can't be due to the depressing state that the world and U.S. economy is currently in.
After graduating from Cascade in 1982, Ms. Jenny Yu took another step of her life and entered college. Jenny Yu attended Everett Community College where she studied computer programming. “I went there because I wasn’t sure of what I wanted to be at the time.” Ms. Yu went to Everett in order to experience the general and basic classes to realize what her passion in life was. Ms. Yu wanted to find something she loved in life – “I wanted to find my passion, and study something I was going to love instead of forcing myself to learn it,” and she felt that if she had found that perfect subject, she would advance towards and find a career in that subject. She started to begin her studies in computer programming but soon discovered that it was not the way for her to go. She recalls that “the professor, the graphics, and vocabulary were not for me.” Ms. Yu says that she realized her mistake of taking computer programming because she lost interest in it immediately. Once she attended college in 1982, she said, “nothing particularly exciting happened to me at college, it was just the regular experience.” To Ms. Yu, college life was nothing special as it was almost similar to her high school years.
In her young adult years at Everett Community College, Ms. Yu met her husband. The two met through a mutual friend in college. She remembers “he was very open and friendly and with my shy and timid personality I felt feelings for him.” They met and became close through school and church. Since she was a student in college, when she was proposed to, she stopped going to college because she had no passion for studying anymore. Ms. Yu and her husband began a happy life today and both started working at small jobs since both of them were out of college. After some time had passed from their marriage, the two agreed it would be the best to move to Arizona where their family lived in order to start a family of their own. However, when Ms. Yu moved to Arizona she realized it would take more work than she thought. “Every day I would remind myself that this was for the best. I had to leave everything I had back in Washington and Arizona seemed like a dry and hot place to live in.” Although Ms. Yu longed for Washington, she was able to adjust to Arizona and start a family of her own when they introduced a new baby girl into the family. Ms. Yu knew the reality of life and needed to find a job quickly. Ms. Yu and her husband opened a hotel together in Arizona and began her first business.
As Ms. Yu entered a new stage of life, adulthood she began to realize things she’d never thought about before. “One day I woke up and I realized I was grown up. I needed not fool around anymore and get serious.” Ms. Yu dedicated herself to her hotel business, offering customers the best service, but most of all if there were immigrants, Ms. Yu would understand the language barrier she once experienced and gave it her all. With her business in a rising condition, Ms. Yu’s daughter started school in Arizona. Having the fear that her daughter might have the same difficulties she had, Ms. Yu helped her daughter with everything she could and involved her in activities. “It seemed almost perfect at that time. If I think about it now, if time had stopped then, it would’ve been perfect. Absolutely perfect.” However, things eventually started heading downhill. “I realized that I had lost control of my business. It moved so fast, like a blur. It was one of the hardest times of my life I had ever had to go through.” Her business was struggling to keep up financially with payment to the bank and Ms. Yu felt like she had hit a slump; that’s when Ms. Yu decided it was come back to her loving home, Washington.
Once Ms. Yu and her family had time to resettle in Washington, Ms. Yu knew this is where she belonged. “I gave a sigh of relief when I came back up here. I felt like this is where I wanted to be.” Overcoming the struggles she faced in Arizona, Ms. Yu was able to celebrate the birth of a beautiful baby boy, Nicholas. She was able to find a strong and confident side in her and bring it out. Ms. Yu states that this time and presently, she has been the most open to others and feels free with speaking English because she has built up her self confidence. Ms. Yu states, “I felt like what I was doing was for the best of me and I could relax.” With a loving family around her, Ms. Yu felt like this was home and was able to start another business with her husband. She started attending church with her family and life was back to how it was and she couldn’t have asked for anything more. Presently, Ms. Yu is attending Youngnak Church with her family and is living a very happy and humble life. “I want to say thanks to my husband who has always been there for me and my kids who have brought her much joy into my life.”