2012 graduate Biak Chinpar is a senior at Butler University, majoring in Biology and minoring in Chemistry while 2013 graduate Bawi Hlei Mang is a junior at IUPUI majoring in tourism, conventions and event management.

Chinpar received the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship which covered full tuition for four years. Chinpar says this scholarship was a huge benefit and financial aid for her family. As for Mang, he received 21st Century Scholarship, Indiana Chin Baptist Church (ICBC) Scholarship and FAFSA, which covered full tuition, room and board and textbook fees. For both of them, family and friends were their biggest supporters.

“As a religious person, God is always my number one supporter,” Chinpar said. “The rest are my family, my American family who I considered them as my second family, and my Chin community.”

There are a few obstacles she is currently facing in college. One of them includes the writing skills for her biology class. It requires a higher level of English in reading and writing. To improve her skills, she is spending her time reading many scientific articles and research scientific terminology. One of the techniques Chinpar uses to keep herself to stay organized is keeping a daily planner, same as Mang. They list the tasks that they need to complete each day.

There are numerous differences between high school and college however, the biggest one is that students are by themselves in college, both Chinpar and Mang say. In high school, students have parents or teachers that held their hands, but in college, they are more independent. They need to be responsible for their own actions, Mang says. However, college is much more complex than high school. He also thinks that there are less feelings of being left out. Everyone has their own cliche or group and there isn’t really anyone being alone, according to Mang.

Looking back to when she was in high school, Chinpar wishes that she had taken more classes that would have prepared her for college. Another regret she has was not joining enough clubs or being involved with the after school extracurricular activities. Mang agrees with Chinpar on not joining extra curricular activities, because being involved helps with making friends and having more social life and experience, Mang says. He was in Key and volleyball club but only for a year. He wish he had joined earlier and longer. A piece of advice she would give to high school students is to join more clubs and to be interactive with other students. Another advice is even though if students are only in high school, there’s nothing wrong with having a passion earlier than the majority would.

“It is not too early to figure out what your passion is,” Chinpar said. “When you figure out that passion of yours, try to go for it and complete the education skills required for that dream.”

Like Par, Mang’s biggest supporters are God, family and friends. One of Mang’s accomplishment that he is proud of is finishing high school. He never imagined graduating from high school. However, with the help of God, family and friends, he was able to, Mang says. The other two are for being able to put his phone away while studying that taking lots of his time to study. Mang believes that college has more work and studying.

“The one hour studying you do in high school, it will multiply in college,” Mang said. “The one hour will turn into two or three hours of studying in college. The reason is because you still have so much more studying and reviewing to do.”

He doesn’t let his phone distract him while he studies, Mang says. He also goes over the lessons after class ends and tries to understand it fully. He really likes the saying, “If you don’t study, you fail.” An advice Mang would give to high school students is to give encouragements to one another and to take chances while they have the time.

“If we want to turn out to be a good, great, rich and respected person, we have to know God and put effort in education,” Mang said. “Time goes by so fast that we barely remember what we did. While we are still young, while we still have the chances, we should try to gain and look for sagacity.”