Christian 0:01
Hello, I’m here with my close friends to Sarahy Mora. Sarahy. Go ahead and tell us about like your year, major, what you do here at JMU, where you’re from originally and where you live now.

Sarahy 0:13
So I’m a freshman graduating class of 2025. I’m originally from Venezuela. I moved to the United States when I was five in 2007, almost 2008. And I am a SMAD major with a concentration in journalism.

Christian 0:30
Ok, Great. Um, could you in a few words, or however long you need? Explain what this man major does here at JMU.

Sarahy 0:39
So SMAD goes into different mediums of mass communication. And they teach you how to communicate and also reach out to different types of audiences with different like, you can do online, like design or writing, or even advertising.

Christian 1:01
Okay, cool. And what specifically do you want to go in?

Sarahy 1:06
Um, I personally want to work in TV production in journalism. And then I want to be able to write and tell stories.

Christian 1:14
Do you think coming to JMU for that specific concentration was a good decision? Like, do you think you- you can go far from JMU teaching it here? Or like learning here?

Sarahy 1:24
Yeah, SMAD has a really good program for journalism. And we have a lot of good alumni that have gone to like CNN and different types of careers. So I personally think this is the best place for me to go into that major.

Christian 1:41
So like you said, you did originally move from Venezuela, that’s where you’re from. If you had to describe the current state of the immigration system in America, though, like, like, you know, how, you know, how would you describe it?

Sarahy 1:58
Um, right now, it is really difficult, trying to move here has become much harder in the last 10 years, then when I moved here, it takes a long time to get a visa or to get a green card. But and there’s also a lot of negative connotation towards being an immigrant these days. But there’s also especially specifically towards Venezuelans, there’s a lot of grace because of the situation that is going on there.

Christian 2:32
So you said there, that it’s like harder nowadays, do you think like you could have done it if you were to move later in life?

Sarahy 2:38
Um, no. So I got really lucky because my dad got a work visa. And so because of his job, he like, they basically transferred him here. But now we know people with the same type of job as my dad, and it has been almost impossible for them to move here with that job.

Christian 2:58
Got it, got it. Alright, so I’m gonna move on to the next question. Do you believe it’s harder to become a student in America as an immigrant? If so, explain?

Sarahy 3:08
Um, yeah, in the last like, five years, they’ve taken a lot of dreamers. rights. And so it’s been a lot harder for immigrants, especially people that don’t have citizenship status here. But, at the same time, there are a lot of opportunities for immigrants to go to school, like Community College, and then into a public institution. But definitely, the dreamers acts have been harder and money has been a lot, a really big issue.

Christian 3:47
Do you think schools are handling immigration well? Like transfer, like, you know, like transfer students or immigration students?

Sarahy 3:56
No, yeah, I, I, at least at JMU. I’ve seen that they’re very open to taking in students. And I have a couple family friends who have- it’s been really easy for them to transfer and study abroad, or like move to the United States to study.

Christian 4:17
So as we’re on the topic of schooling, how many years of schooling Did you receive in Venezuela? And was like, was there like a big shift in like the the schooling system in Venezuela, and then the school system here, like at a young age, um, how was that different?

Sarahy 4:34
So I was only five when I moved, so I didn’t I wasn’t there a lot. But, I would go back and visit every summer my mom would put me in school in school when I was there, because she was also the principal of school.

Christian 4:45
of your school?

Sarahy 4:46
Yeah. And so she would put me in class for about a month or two whenever I would visit, and she would also tutor me after school so a lot of Asian kids do that where they go to like, school after- like their elementary school hours. And so my mom would sit me down and make me write down and cursive and Spanish, and write all sorts of things so I wouldn’t forget anything.

Christian 5:12
Does- does she like, keep that up nowadays?

Sarahy 5:15
Yeah, I wasn’t allowed to speak English in my house until I went to high school. And she would like quiz me in like Venezuelan geography and things like that. So

Christian 5:26
Um, this is kind of like a thing that we know, or that I know, from being like, friends with you. But could you just talk on the whole, like, the cultural thing about how you’re not supposed to speak- or like how, like, some households don’t want you speaking english when you’re not, you know, in any, like in an English speaking country.

Sarahy 5:50
Yeah, when I moved here, and I’m one of my mom’s biggest things was, and my dad too, was to preserve our culture. Because as, especially coming as at a young age, like my brother was a little bit older, so he- it was, it’s hard for him to forget Spanish, but I’m constantly at school, and then I’m gonna gymnastics and I would be speaking English. So it was so easy for me to forget how to speak Spanish. And even now, like, being at school, when I go back home, it’s a little bit harder. And like, in terms of culture, not just language, like, sometimes when I was younger, I would feel a little out of place, because I didn’t have the same like home life as other kids like, and even like, I would eat lunch. And it was like, eating rice and chicken while the other kids were eating Lunchables and uncrustables. But, my mom always made sure to tell me that that was something that I should take pride in, and definitely- being at JMU has made me a little bit more aware of that. And it’s also made me proud of where I come from, because I am different, like everyone else.

Christian 6:53
Yeah, that is like, one of the questions I have for later is like, do you think it’s important? Obviously you do. But do you think it’s important to like, uphold these cultural values and stuff like that? So you should just go to the next question. If there were like, deciding factors for you, personally, as to why you should have come to America. I know you said you were young. But like if there were those factors, like you could decide like, what would they be?

Sarahy 7:21
Well, I’m when I don’t remember a lot. But I know from talking to my family members that are still there. It’s really unsafe, and also, the opportunities in the United States, like, obviously, a lot of people come here for for the opportunity. But, you can literally do anything you want here. And you can be whoever you want. Like, there’s things that some people don’t like maybe about, like being- like, me being an immigrant. But I take like, if you take pride in that, like people, I don’t know, like, they just, I don’t know, like, nobody- evereybody’s like, trying to get to know your background and nobody

Christian 8:11
No you’re good. Um, are there actually, like, again, leads to my next question. Are there actually it kind of doesn’t, but are there things that- that you believe you’ve taken from Venezuela, and have applied to normal life slash school life that- that, like helped your major that like, helped the want to be like social media? What was it again?

Sarahy 8:35
A Journalist.

Christian 8:40
Yeah. Do you think there are things like from, you know, being here that helps you with that?

Sarahy 8:40
Yeah, well, um, when I was younger, I remember my mom would turn on the news and like, Venezuelan news, and I would see things like people that weren’t able to eat, or weren’t able to go to school, or some people will be killed. And like, because of that, like, that’s what made me want to become a journalist, because I want to be able to see, tell people what’s going on so they can see the truth. Because even like some people that I’ve met here, don’t know anything about what’s going on there. Or what’s going on in different countries like that. Like a lot of people have no idea. And so that’s definitely made me want to put the truth out there and tell a story.

Christian 9:24
Awesome. So if you were to ever move back to Venezuela in this hypothetical situation, do you think you could find a successful career like working in the field that you’re studying here?

Sarahy 9:34
Yeah, um, but also, as you want to, yeah, no, journalists in Venezuela are like constantly extortion, then kidnapped and, like, tortured. My mom’s I guess she’s my cousin. She was a journalist in Venezuela and she had to move here because there would be people that followed the government and they- they went to her house and destroyed her stuff and threatened her because she wasn’t on the side of the government. And like, it’s like things you hear about, you hear about it. And like North Korea, it’s like the same exact thing. Just not as popular as other countries.

Christian 10:16
It kind of just comes on like a safety thing. I assume that’s like the big kind of like, we should leave, was that it for you?

Sarahy 10:25
yeah, you know, yeah, my family. Well, when I, when I was a kid, I was held at gunpoint. Because some people wanted to take my dad’s car. And from that moment, my parents worked for two years to try to get me out of me and my brother out of Venezuela as fast as possible. And when I remember, a year after I had moved into my mom, like we had moved here, my mom’s showed me this picture of these kids from like, a school in Venezuela, that the government was holding at gunpoint, and they were teaching them how to shoot at each other. So it was definitely a safety thing. And I’m glad to be here. Because who knows what could have happened and I’ve had a lot of family that have suffered a lot just because they’ve voiced their opinion.

Christian 11:16
So starting to like wrap it up. Do you think that these past experiences like you know from the the gun point situation to like your aunt, I believe you said was being extortioned and all this stuff. Like, do you think it had any effect on how you see like your work- like your work ethic? Or like, does he like push you to like, Yeah, going, like, do this.

Sarahy 11:41
One of the reasons I wanted to go to public university so bad in a four year school, was because I wanted to prove to my mom that and my dad that made like the sacrifices that we made to move here, and all that work that they put in for years, to provide for me, and my brother was worth it because my brother didn’t go to school. But I knew that I could do it. And I wanted to prove to everyone in my family, especially I have family that are just coming in now. And none of them are going to be able to go to school, probably like none of my little cousins are going to be able to go to school. So I wanted to prove to them and do it for them and possibly provide for them in the future.

Christian 12:20
Awesome, Well, that just about wraps it up. Thank you. So Right. Yeah, anything else that you want to like put out there before we close it up?

Sarahy 12:31
Hey, thanks for having me. Thank you

Transcribed by https://otter.ai