Sam Root - Grade 7 (Middle School)                                                                  3^rd Place (Middle School)

Parent’s Name: Sike Root and Ong Mon

Mon life in America

      Mon life in America is hard because we have to struggle and jobs are hard to find because my parents didn't have enough education to have a good job.  We came here to have a better life, and to get a good future.  My parents are old and it’s not easy to study English for them.  So they encourage us to have a better education and a better future.  Now I am 7th grade and I can help my parents as a translator and also I can help them at home.  I will take care of my parents and be responsible for the family us Mon culture.

      Now my mom is going to school because without education she can't make her own business. So, she decided to have an education for her business and future.  Many Mon women are going to school for education.  After I look at Mon families living in Fort Wayne, I decided to get higher education and a better job to help our family and them.  My mom and dad told me about the Mon family life in the past.  My mom taught me how to pay respect to the Buddha and pay respect to the parent.  She explained to me how to communicate with each other. 

        I am really proud of to be a son of my parents and to be a Mon.  When I get older, I will find a good job, and to take care of our parents and Mon families. When they get old and we have to respect our elders and follow our religion. Every young Mon people living in America should think about for the future of Mon life.  I will promote to the young Mon people to speak, read, and write Mon language. 

        I want to remind every Mon people living in Fort Wayne to get better education in Mon language and English language. Because we are going to schools and getting an education so we can get jobs to make money and help our parents that struggled to come to America. Mons has to respect their culture and their parents and respects the Buddha so we can have good luck in our goals for a good future. My mom teaches me to be a good kid and I respect my mom and my father whom teaches me how to wash dishes and do house chores. My mom and dad don't understand English and they didn't have a good life. They want me to have a good life and a good job in America. I am also proud to Mon because it’s a good culture and we have many traditions. Mons have to love their country, love their culture, love their parents, pray to our parents every day and pray to Buddha when we get home or go to school.

     I am really proud to be Mon because we are a unique culture and we should show how good our culture is. Mons have been having a hard life back then farming rice and the kids doing very hard work like my mom for example because she had to cook lots of things, she had to work hard in her small house. My mom wasn't very wealthy and really didn't have a good education, but now she came to America and wants me to have a better life than she did when she was still a child. I have a big family now and it’s great to live in America. I live in a house in Fort Wayne Indiana and my life is normal because I go to school, play with my friends sometimes, do lots of house work, and I try to make my parents proud of me. Mon students have to try to be the best and get high grades at school even in Mon school.

    In my conclusion, I would like say thank you to my parents and Mon language school teacher because they teach me how to respect, how to speak, and how to live.  I'm really grateful to be Mon and Buddhists.