years after working and studying
Amphi senior will graduate in three
years after working and studying
 Photo by Shannon Hickey, Special to the Arizona Daily Star Amphi's Mandy Guo gets a hug from her younger sister Mackie, 16. Mandy and Mackie are natives of China and live in Tucson with their two older sisters. |
By Alexandra Czopek
Special to The Arizona Daily Star
At first glance, Mandy Guo's schedule looks like a dream to any
senior: She is taking only four classes and will graduate one
year early.
But the Amphitheater High School student actually logs more hours
than most by helping support herself and her three sisters -- in
addition to being a model student.
Knowing very little English, Guo's family moved to Tucson from
Guangzhou, China, in 1992. Unable to find work, her parents
returned to their homeland within a year. Guo, with her three
sisters, stayed in Tucson to pursue an education.
The girls lived with their aunt for the first few years and were
assisted by Youth On Their Own until becoming completely
self-sufficient and securing an apartment of their own last year.
Guo, who is 18, her sisters, Linda, 23, and Kathy, 20, work
together on the weekends at the China Rose restaurant to support
the household.
While Linda and Kathy attend local colleges, Mandy and their
youngest sister, Mackie, 15, attend high school.
When they first moved to Tucson, neither Guo nor her sisters
liked the United States very much. But as she spends more time
here, Guo said, she is beginning to like it a bit more --
although she misses her parents and friends in China.
During her sophomore year, Guo returned to China for nine months
to live with her parents before returning to finish her studies
in Tucson.
She is the treasurer of Amphi's Students Against Driving Drunk
chapter and is a member of the Academic Preparation for
Excellence organization.
Arlene Rieber, Amphitheater High School's Youth On Their Own
liaison, refers to Guo as a hard worker and a 'master of
organization' because of her ability to overcome challenges while
juggling work and school.
Guo is one of 10 students from Amphi chosen to intern at the
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. She is learning about desert plants
and doing research on growing ocotillo in desert locations.
The University of Arizona has offered to pay for her tuition, an
offer that she plans to accept. Although she is unsure of what
she will major in, she's not short on ideas -- law, electrical
engineering, business or maybe she will put her math skills to
work and major in accounting.
Guo said that in China, she and her friends can 'talk all day.'
Focusing on schoolwork was just one reason she decided to study
in the United States.
"I (can) go to college here and I don't think I could in
China," she said.
Although Guo describes herself as kind of a loner, Rieber said
"she always has a lot of friends around her."
Smart, popular, modest and hard-working, with a desire to
contribute to society -- what's not to like?
Alexandra Czopek is a senior at University
High School.
Shannon Hickey is a senior at Palo Verde High School.