作者：辛西娅·休伯特

2024年5月3日

萨克拉门托 State “means home” to Emeline Koloamatangi. 她的哥哥和四个姐妹也有同样的感觉。

Emeline and all five of her siblings have earned their bachelor’s degrees from 囊状态, and one is working on adding a master’s to the collection.

“We’re all so proud to be Hornets,” said Emeline, who works as an administrative support coordinator in 囊状态’s Ethnic Studies department after receiving her degree in 2018. “囊状态 means home to us.”

In many ways, the Koloamatangi family’s story is 囊状态’s story. Like more than a third of the University’s students, they are the first in their families to attend college. 像大多数大黄蜂校友一样，他们都留在了萨克拉门托地区，开始了自己的职业生涯，并为社区做出了贡献。

It’s a story that began in the Kingdom of Tonga in Polynesia, from which their parents, Hopoate and Valeti Koloamatangi, immigrated separately to the United States before meeting in 萨克拉门托 and marrying.

“Both of them left Tonga for better opportunities,” Emeline said. “They wanted a better life for themselves and for their future family.”

他们俩都没上过大学，但他们把孩子的教育放在首位。

“Mom and Dad were very hard on us,” checking their homework, demanding good grades and enrolling them in academic programs after school, Emeline recalled. “I love them for that now.”

Koloamatangi兄弟姐妹和许多第一代大学生一样，面临着同样的障碍，包括不知道如何申请大学，如何获得经济援助，以及如何在偌大的校园里畅游。 第一代学生也可能会感到巨大的压力，不得不放弃大学学业，去帮助依赖他们的亲戚做翻译、安排医疗预约等工作。  

一个黄蜂家族

• Rose Koloamatangi ’18 (Child Development)

• Gladys Koloamatangi ’18 (Social Work)

• Emeline Koloamatangi ’18 (Women and Gender Studies)

• Katalina Koloamatangi ’21 (Interior Architecture)

• Mary Koloamatangi ’22 (Nursing, Public Health)

• Hopoate Koloamatangi ’23 (Psychology), pursuing master’s in Counseling

从高中到大学的过渡对这对兄弟姐妹来说并不容易。 有时，要兼顾家庭责任、课堂和工作让我不堪重负。

“There were days I wanted to give up,” Emeline said. 她的姐姐格拉迪斯（Gladys）是第一个在萨克州立大学注册的人，与她的交谈帮助她坚持了下来。 “She was paving the way for all of us.”

The University’s 全方位项目, which supports Asian Pacific Islander Desi American students with academic endeavors and achieving a sense of belonging, was Emeline’s refuge. 她开始为该中心工作，建立了牢固的友谊，并找到了即使在她挣扎的时候也相信她的导师。

“That was very powerful,” she said.

埃米琳说，高中毕业时，她不确定自己是否想上大学。 但她的父母明确表示她会的。

“We wanted our children to have better lives, and 囊状态 was perfect,” said Valeti Koloamatangi. “It was a very good experience for all of them.”

有些孩子宁愿离开萨克拉门托上大学，但他们的父亲不鼓励他们。

“囊状态 is close, it’s convenient, it’s affordable, and everything is high level,” he said. “You can feel it when you are here.”

Koloamatangi兄弟姐妹敦促萨克州立大学的学生充分利用学校的支持系统，包括学术顾问、经济援助以及为第一代学生和其他群体提供的特殊项目。

“Without all of these things, I’m not sure I would have been able to get through,” said Mary, now a nurse in the neonatal unit at UC Davis Medical Center.

有几个月的时间，科洛马坦吉的五个姐妹同时在萨克州立大学上课。 他们三人将在2018年春天一起毕业，这让他们非常兴奋。

During that Commencement ceremony, Emeline spotted her family in the audience and saw tears rolling down her father’s cheeks.

“It was the first time I had ever seen him cry,” she said. “My mom and dad didn’t always tell us that they were proud of us. But at that moment, I knew that they were.”

Emeline said she hopes her baby daughter, Valeti Lokelimana Lausi’i Tupou, will follow in her and her siblings’ footsteps.

“I hope that one day she can also be a Hornet like her mother, aunties and uncle,” she said. “Knowledge is powerful. Nobody can ever take that away from you.”