My name is Xiaodong Shi, an international student from China.

Five years ago, I came to the United States and attended South Seattle Community College after I finished my first year in a university in China. Then, I transferred to University of California, Davis. Now, I am a senior year student, majoring in Clinical Nutrition. I am going to graduate with my Bachelor of Science Degree in Winter 2014. After I graduate, I will either study in a graduate program or look for a job relating to nutrition. I also want to be a dietician; and I am interested in food and how food affects our bodies and our health. I love my family, and keeping my parents and my friends in very good health is a dream that I will do my best to accomplish. My parents were very busy when I was young, so my grandparents took care of me, and they were the most important people to me. Seven years ago, my grandfather pass away of cancer, and I could not do anything except praying. I prayed to God to do not let my grandfather leave me every day, but he was still gone. This was a big shock to me during that time. My major was art when I studied in China and because Chinese education was rigid, I could not change my major. The United States has higher education in nutrition with greater freedom to explore a wider range of subjects, so I came here. I want to do something to take care of my family. My parents are both doctors, and my home is beside the hospital. I always saw them helping patients when I was young, and it seemed like magic to me. I want to be a person like them and help people promote good health through proper eating. I also always helped my mother with laboratory tests at the hospital when I was free. I like cooking, and I am very interested in food. I also can smell accurately what my mother

is cooking without seeing it. I like food, so I am very curious about what is inside the food, and how it can affect our bodies. I also like to compare the different eating habits between America and China. I have worked for on-campus catering at South Seattle Community College, where I mainly prepared and served food. This experience helped me to better understand about the American catering culture and food safety standards. When I made dinner in catering, I always thought of how to improve the food so that people could be healthier when they eat them. I also worked as a teaching assistant in SSCCs Math Lab. There, I helped the teacher to tutor some math courses like Math 083 and Math 098. I felt a big improvement on my communication skills because of the talking and explaining answers to the students. This is my favorite job because Ive gotten so much help from people around me since I came to this country, and I want to repay to the community. I feel thankful to everyone who has helped me, and I am always ready to help others. I also volunteered for tutor center as a math tutor, which advanced my communication skills. In addition, during the FSM120L course at UCD, I assisted the Registered Dietitians or food service supervisors at USDA Western Human Nutrition Research Center, Davis Joint Unified School District, University Retirement Center, Segundo Culinary Support Center, and Segundo Dining Commons with the preparation and service of meals; there I got more familiar with the menu design and food production. I had gotten the ServSafe Certification when I took FSM120 at UCD. I also had been on the Deans or the Presidents Honor List four times since I enrolled at South

Seattle Community College, and I was a member of the Phi Theta Kappa. I got the International Programs academic scholarship twice, and I was awarded a certificate of outstanding performance in the intensive English program because I jumped from ESL level 4 to English 101. One of my English 101 assignments was awarded Stan Chu Writing Award. I was also awarded a certificate of appreciation for the dedication and service to South Seattle Community College as I worked at Math Lab. Studying abroad is the biggest decision in my life. I never left my home before I came to the United States. I suffered a difficult time when I just came here. It was like pushing a little bird to fly over the ocean, but on this flight, I learned a lot. Being far away from parents one year, in American life, I mastered independence, mastered responsibility, and mastered getting along with others. Different culture experience also pushes me to practice and think about theories of communication and value judgment, which in the end enriches me and would facilitate my career path in the future.