Watching the Winter Olympics, I wondered how the participants were able to afford all their expensive athletic equipment for training through the year. At first, I figured they must be from fairly wealthy families -- but then I came across the story of Simon Cho. Cho recently participated in the Winter Olympics as a member of the U.S. Olympic speedskating team. Originally from South Korea, Cho was once undocumented, like many youth today. At only four-years-old, he was brought into the U.S. through the Canadian border at Vancouver by his mother.
Fortunately for Cho and his family, more relaxed immigration regulations back then allowed them to become U.S. citizens. (As I am writing this, it strikes me as humorous that only a year ago, I got one inch out the U.S. by mistake at the same border, and was immediately sent to detention -- with my Washington driver's license and my University of Washington student id in my pocket.) Cho's parents did everything in their power to give their son the opportunity to be all he could be, even selling their business to finance their son's costly speedskating dream.
Against all odds, Cho never gave up on his dream, and he became an Olympian. The passage of the DREAM Act would offer many other undocumented children a chance to reach for the stars. Kids with similar backgrounds to Cho, but who are still undocumented, are hungry and ready to achieve more. Brought to America by parents who sacrificed a lot for them, they swam, and still swim, against the river because of a broken immigration system that refuses to let them be all they can be.
This process has made us stronger and more eager. As an undocumented student myself, working for the DREAM Act has become one of the greatest learning experiences in my life, as I am sure it has been for many others. I can't predict when exactly undocumented youth will receive the "Go" in a country that has become their home, but I am sure that when the time comes, everybody will "Run" as fast as Simon Cho needed to skate to make it to the big leagues against all odds.