- (Page E-1 )
-
- Schooled for success: Malaya Sap Graduate has more than the usual
reasons to be proud
-
- Susan Gembrowski
- STAFF WRITER
-
- Malaya Sap
-
- While her Serra High School classmates participated in pre-graduation
ceremonies, Malaya Sap twirled her long, dark hair into a bun and slipped
into her tan police cadet uniform.
-
- She skipped the baccalaureate speeches, because working with the cadets
- fulfilled a commitment she had vowed to keep.
-
- Malaya's family immigrated from Cambodia in 1984, and no one else in
her
- family has graduated from high school.
-
- Three years ago, when she was hanging with friends who were gang members,
- she almost slipped off the path she had set for herself. But because
of the
- cadets, a caring Serra High counselor and her own determination, she
- refused to join a gang.
-
- Her goal is to become a police officer. But first she wants to finish
- college and earn a law degree. Toward that goal, she'll go to Mesa
College
- for basic education classes, then hopes to transfer to UCSD.
-
- "If I work hard enough, I know I can do this," she said.
"I want to be the
- top gun of law."
-
- Her escape from war-torn Cambodia at age 4 with her parents and older
- sister is a distant memory. Still, she knows that her graduation fulfills
- their dream as well as her own.
-
- As the only Asian woman in the 70-member San Diego police cadet program,
- Malaya has taken the less-traveled road more times than not.
-
- She could have gone into the gang. Instead, she joined a club at school
- during her sophomore year to help solve racial conflicts on the Tierrasanta
- campus.
-
- The club was started when Serra counselor Ed Duenez observed the
- potentially explosive atmosphere on the school campus as students
- congregated in separate ethnic groups at lunch. To address the problem,
he
- sought individual group leaders.
-
- Instead of continuing the name-calling and confrontations, the Asian,
- Latino, black and white students formed a club. Malaya, then 15, was
- elected president. (The San Diego Union-Tribune published a story in
- January about the A.B.C. Club, which stands for A Better Community,
A
- Better Campus, Always Better Choices.)
-
- On campus, "We were the so-called gangsters," Malaya said.
"If A.B.C.
- hadn't interrupted my path, I would have been more gangster than I
was."
-
- Rather than look for trouble, students could go to club meetings at
- lunchtime. It gave them a sense of belonging.
-
- They raised money for community projects, including adopting a destitute
- family during the holiday season and helping the mother of a boy who
needed
- a lung transplant. They became popular speakers at elementary schools
and
- to adult groups on ways to help kids stay out of gang life.
-
- "It's known now that bad kids can do good things, too," Malaya
said, proud
- of A.B.C.'s accomplishments.
-
- Even with her club responsibilities, at the start of her junior year,
she
- began ditching school and hanging out at night on the street.
-
- "Eleventh grade was bad," Malaya said. "That's when
I started driving. I
- was with my gang friends more, and lying to my parents. I told them
I was
- doing school stuff."
-
- She had a choice to make -- the police cadets, or friends on the street.
-
- "For me, the gang wasn't it. In a corner of my mind, I had it
set that I
- wanted to graduate from high school."
-
- Malaya had joined the cadet program shortly after her 16th birthday
in
- August 1995. The 16- to 21-year-olds learn police procedures, direct
- traffic at community events and sometimes serve as decoys in undercover
- alcohol or cigarette buys and at pawn-shop sales.
-
- "I've always lived in East San Diego," Malaya said. "There's
helicopters
- out at night. You've got to watch yourself. I'm used to living on the
edge
- and risking your life."
-
- Malaya lives with her family -- grandfather, older sister and
- brother-in-law, parents, two brothers and three other sisters -- in
two
- houses on a single lot in City Heights. The windows are covered with
- security bars.
-
- Her brother-in-law, Bochoom Vilitchai, works 14 hours a day at two
jobs to
- pay the mortgage. Malaya's older sister works at a manufacturing plant.
- Both of her parents receive welfare.
-
- The back house, where Malaya shares a room with her 15-year-old sister,
- Sara, is a melting pot of American life and Cambodian roots.
-
- The floors are wood. Black, flannel-like cloth couches surround a
- black-and-chrome coffee table. A shrine to Buddha adorns one wall.
-
- "Every Asian house has one," Malaya said, although her parents
aren't
- particularly religious.
-
- Malaya is a Mormon, as is her grandfather.
-
- Sommay Thip, her mother, is 49. Her family owned a rice farm in Cambodia.
- Sap Bao, her father, is 56. He was in the military.
-
- The marriage was arranged by their families. It has lasted 33 years.
-
- On the night before Malaya's graduation, the family prepared for the
- celebratory party to be held afterward.
-
- Her mom sat in front of two large green plastic tubs, grating papaya
to
- stuff into chicken pieces. Numerous aunts, cousins and Malaya's sisters
- wandered in and out helping with the cooking.
-
- Mixing Thai and Cambodian words, as Malaya translated, her mother said
she
- would do whatever she could "to make sure my children will graduate
from
- high school."
-
- Once, in eighth grade, Malaya was late with a project. She was up half
the
- night trying to finish it. Her mother was there, "giving me water
and
- definitely encouragement," Malaya said.
-
- "She'll always make time for us. My dad, too. He's always saying,
`See
- those bums out there? If you don't concentrate, you'll be like that.'
"
-
- Her parents are studying to become citizens. They meet with their teacher
- every Saturday and Sunday at an Asian temple. Malaya is confident she
will
- pass the citizenship test, which she'll take when she turns 18 this
summer.
-
- As her mother cooked for the graduation party, the smallest Sap children
- and their cousin wrapped green and white crepe paper over the poles
in the
- concrete patio between the family's two homes.
-
- They want to help as Malaya helped them each night during the school
year.
-
- "I took it upon myself to see that my younger siblings do well
in school,"
- she said. "I correct their homework and test them on their spelling.
- Neither of my parents had much education."
-
- It's important to the family to hold on to each other. Malaya's mother
- remembers with sorrow how she was separated from her oldest daughter,
- Sayvilay, now 31, for three years in Cambodia.
-
- The Khmer Rouge often took children from their parents during the war,
- Malaya said, but the Sap family was lucky. They got her sister back
when
- she was 12.
-
- On June 11, Malaya Sap graduated from Serra High School.
-
- Her family sat together on the bleachers in the football stadium. Malaya
- wore a white robe, because she graduated with honors. She has a 3.5
- grade-point average and took the most advanced English and math classes
in
- her senior year.
-
- At her graduation party, her siblings and cousins surrounded her as
she
- talked to them about her joy at being a high school graduate.
-
- "If I can lead you guys that way, I will," she promised.
-
- Her mother has said it was a long walk from Cambodia into Thailand,
where
- the family lived for more than a year before they boarded an airplane
for
- the United States.
-
- Sommay Thip hopes her daughter, Malaya, will travel even farther.
-
-
-
- Copyright Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
|
