Mother always knows best

Kyle Curson, First-year psychology student

In high school, I had the choice of doing marching band or the speech and debate team. I had already been doing band for like six years, and my teacher told me I had a natural talent for the trumpet, but I didn’t want to do music anymore. I told my mom that I was more interested in speech and debate, and she agreed with me. She said to give it a try and see how it works out. My freshman and sophomore years, I wasn’t that great at it ““ in fact, I would sort of lose a lot. The speech and debate team didn’t support me that much, but my mom did. She always told me I was “her champion.” Honestly, my mom was one of my main inspirations in debate because she always pushed me forward. And by senior year, I was a state champion in speech and debate. It was all because of my mom telling me that she believed in me. If she hadn’t given me the motivation, I wouldn’t have come close to being a state champion. This sounds really cliche, but she truly showed me I could do anything I set my mind to. My mom taught me that it’s important to do what I have a passion for; I need to do what’s right for me. I’ve taken that message with me to UCLA.

Adam Weiss, Second-year theater student

One of the main reasons that I ended up at UCLA as a theater student was because of my mom. I applied to a lot of other schools and got in for mechanical engineering. But my mom’s opinion was that I should do what I love, and she thought I’d be really happy going to UCLA for theater ““ she told me to go for it. We had giant discussions on the matter, and looking back on it, I would have been really disappointed if I had gone anywhere else. Now, I don’t get to see my mom very often because she travels a lot, but she’s always sending me new and interesting things that I can do ““ scholarships and anything she thinks might help me.

Steven Chew, Second-year business economics student

Both of my parents and both my sisters went to UCLA, so I was always brought up to be a UCLA fan. I was even born the day after a UCLA-USC basketball game that my mom was at. UCLA won the game, and I was born the next day. My mom especially has always been really into sports. For instance, two years ago my mom and I went to Atlanta for the Final Four. She’s always pushed me to do the best; she used to involve me with different after-school programs, and she was the one who would help me when I needed help with my homework.

Helen Khoury, First-year psychobiology student

When I was little, my parents divorced, and my dad doesn’t live with us. So my mom, my younger sister and I live together. The dynamic of a family of three girls is really different from a lot of families ““ we’re all really close. She was born in Poland and went to medical school there. She came to California when she was 25 and started working as a pediatrician. Her hard work as a doctor and a single mom put my sister and I through school, and her efforts and all the work she puts into her life have always been a great source of motivation for me. Now I want to be a doctor, but initially my mom encouraged me not to pursue medicine because of all the work it required. Growing up, seeing her lifestyle and all that she does for kids, though, made it impossible for me to do anything else.

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