Member-only story
Starting Out Was Always Tough
And a lot of kids had to work
My parents are immigrants. Starting out in a new country, they rented a one-bedroom apartment in Queens, NY. It was tiny, but it had a backyard where Mom grew vegetables and herbs.
She sold for $0.25 a bunch to a local Indian grocery store and she grew tomatoes and eggplants that she used to help feed her family. She also babysat kids for a few dollars a week. They needed her income to make ends meet.
After a few years, my parents were able to move to a three bedroom apartment.
Lots of people in my neighborhood were considered middle class, but they still needed the family to pitch in.
I knew kids who delivered newspapers on their bikes, mowed lawns in the summer and shoveled snow in the winter, who baby sat or worked in their parents’ shops or restaurants. I cat-sat for a neighbor. I would have done it for free because I loved pets.
I had many friends who took fast food jobs in high school. Some of them kept those jobs to put themselves through college.
When I got into MIT, it was understood I would have to work.
Tuition costs were very high. While my parents had been saving for my college education since I was born, MIT was so expensive I still had to take out…
