Rite of Passage 2016: A Desire to Help Others

Mandy Yao (SAR’20) and a friend at her family’s home in Charlestown, Mass. The family moved to Boston from China, and her parents, who do not speak English, rely on Mandy to translate, so she worries about them.

In September BU welcomed the 3,591 freshmen of the Class of 2020, each with a unique journey. Photojournalist Jackie Ricciardi wanted to capture some of their stories. So over the summer, she caught a couple in Boston and traveled to Connecticut and North Carolina to photograph another two as they prepared to leave home for their life’s next chapter. She listened to them and their families as they talked about their dreams and fears and the events that have shaped their lives. BU Today continues last year’s “Rite of Passage” series with the stories of five of the newest Terriers. We kicked off with a photo essay about Abbey Janeira (CAS’20), then twin brothers James Robson (ENG’20) and Matt Robson (CFA’20), and now Mandy Yao (SAR’20). The final installment runs next week.

For most college freshmen, the weeks before school starts are filled with anxiety: what will my professors be like? Will I fit in? Will I get along with my roommate? But for Mandy Yao (SAR’20), the questions were more complex: who will take care of my parents? What if they miss an important piece of mail?

Since arriving in the United States from Guangzhou, China, 10 years ago, as a second grader, Mandy has been her parents’ interpreter, helping them pay bills and translating whenever they needed medical care or had job interviews. They moved to the United States in search of a better life for Mandy and her older brother, who has graduated from Wentworth Institute of Technology. But life has not been easy for them.

In the decade she’s lived in Boston, Mandy attended several different schools because the family was forced to move whenever her parents couldn’t pay the rent. She was 14 when she took her first job, working in a restaurant, to help pay household bills, and she still recalls tagging along on her mother’s job interviews when they first arrived in this country.

“Walk in, shake hands, and wait were part of our daily routine. And the typical reply, ‘We will call you,’ always meant, ‘Never,’” Mandy says. Her mom, Jenny, is partially paralyzed, making things more complicated. Potential employers expressed sympathy, but didn’t hire her. It was three years before she landed a job.

Despite those hardships, Mandy says, her mother never lost faith. “She believed in the American Dream and because of that, we stayed here.” She credits a network of people in her community—a neighbor who taught the family how to navigate public transportation, a supermarket worker who carried her mother’s grocery bags, a mailman who regularly checked in to see that they were all right—with helping as they settled into life in a new country. “People around me found every possible way to help, and their desire to help my family without return is priceless,” she says. “I guess that’s the beauty of America. We help each other up, so no one is left alone.”

Her mother’s disability has informed both Mandy’s choice of college and her future career plans. She wants to become a physical therapist, and was drawn to BU because it is close to her home in Charlestown and because of the reputation of the Sargent College physical therapy program. When she was accepted into the six-year accelerated baccalaureate/doctoral program, she was thrilled, but worried about how to pay for tuition and room and board. Being one of 25 Boston high school seniors selected to receive a Thomas M. Menino Scholarship, which provides full tuition for four years, has taken care of that worry.

“I’m just beyond grateful for everything,” Mandy says.

During her last two years of high school she volunteered with the nonprofit Science for Shooting Stars, creating science lessons for underprivileged Massachusetts second and third graders. That experience contributed to her desire to become a physical therapist. “After seeing their passion and curiosity in science, I felt very motivated,” she says.

What does she miss most about home? Her mom’s handmade dumplings and her dad’s claypot rice, she says. But she goes back to Charlestown frequently for home-cooked meals and to check in on her parents.

Buoyed by her mother’s optimism, Mandy looks forward to being able to help others. After graduation, she hopes to become a travel therapist, working abroad and getting a chance to “see things that I’ve never seen before.” Her long-term goal? To one day open her own clinic.

“My mom taught me over the years that kindness has its own cycle,” she says. “When you give your kindness to somebody, that kindness will come back to you. And I could not agree more.”

Mandy says that her mother, Jenny, who has a physical disability, has had the biggest impact on her life. “She taught me that the positives will always outweigh the negatives. And my best yearning is to carry on her positive attitude through life.”

The Yao family, father, Danny (from left), brother, Aiden, Mandy, and mother, Jenny, at their Charlestown home. Mandy misses her parents’ cooking, especially her dad’s claypot rice and her mom’s dumplings.

Mandy attributes much of her sense of optimism to her mother, who she describes as “big-hearted and encouraging.” Despite hard times, she says, her mother has never lost faith in the American Dream.

Out for a run in Charlestown. “Running,” Mandy says, “is a good way for me to relax and release stress.”

A Menino Scholar, Mandy is looking forward to traveling abroad. “I’ve been in the same place for years and haven’t traveled far from Boston. I hope to get out of my comfort zone and see things I’ve never seen before.”

This Series

Rite of Passage 2016: Transforming Loss into Passion

Also in

Rite of Passage

• November 17, 2016

  Rite of Passage 2016: Accepting Limitations

• September 29, 2016

  Rite of Passage 2016: Learning from Adversity

• October 1, 2015

  Rite of Passage: Living with Chronic Pain

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