Chemeketa Feature Blogger

Angela's Biography.

Read Angela's Blognce upon a time. in a kingdom far, far away. in a pretty castle, was born a gorgeous, little girl, by the name Angela. Her parents absolutely adored her. ok, maybe that's not how my life started but on a chilly March morning, in a small city in Ukraine, the same year the USSR broke up and communism fell apart, I was born. I was raised in a Christian home, filled with lots of love and care. My parents are the two most amazing people in the world. Our family lived in Ukraine until 1997 and then immigrated to the United States, at that time I was only 7 years old.

In my life, I never attended first grade, because where I was growing up, children started school at age 7 and when I moved to the United States, I went straight into 2nd grade. Knowing only one word in English (which was "yes"), I started school. Struggling to fit in and be like everyone else, with the help from my dad, I learned to speak English really fast. By 4th grade, I was so fluent in English that my teacher didn't know I was Ukrainian until like the middle of the school year, when my mom came to visit me at school.

Before we left Eur-Asia, at the age of 6, I attended a music school and was taught to play the piano by a very professional teacher, whose student participated in Nation-wide competition. I was being promised a really great future in the music world, if only I had continued studying with her, but we had to leave. A few years after we got situated in the U.S. I was connected with a Music Academy that was located in Portland, OR and started practicing piano again. Seven years later, I graduated from Classique Academy with a diploma. I was always a very dedicated student. never got anything lower then a 4.0 (GPA). graduated high school as a junior, with a honors diploma. But to my disappointment, my parents told me that they would not pay for my college tuition. I've always dreamed of going to a big university, but when I got denied financial aid and got no scholarships, my dreams disappeared, and I ended up enrolling in a community college. I plan to officially start educating towards my career this year in the winter term. I'm going to be a dental assistant. unless I change my mind. again.

I love my Ukrainian-Russian culture and everything and everyone that has anything to do with it. My family and friends mean everything in the world to me. I have lots of relatives and a big group of amazing friends. My family consists of two fabulous parents and 3 younger sisters. Being the oldest and always having to take care of them and look out for them, I have learned how to deal with lots of responsibilities. I also go to a big Russian church. I spend a lot of time there and I am very dedicated to it. I love Jesus Christ with all of my heart and try to serve Him in every way possible. He changed my life, showed me what love, mercy and grace is all about.

Updated October 8, 2007 by Angela.