99������Ƶ

Wei Chen, 37, is especially proud to be graduating this May. Women in her home country of China, including her mother, have often been denied access to education, and when she was 12, she herself had to drop out because her family couldn’t afford the cost of school. Her journey since has not been easy. Having met her Cuban-American husband in China, the couple moved to the U.S. for their four-year-old’s education in 2015. Settling in Savannah, Georgia, Chen often walked downtown to do errands. She was walking one day when a van stopped, and the men inside tried to pull her inside. “Because I’m small, they thought I looked like a little girl, maybe,” she says, adding, “I ran into a laundromat. And after that, I learned to drive.”

Chen came to 99������Ƶ in 2021 after moving to Asheville with her family. She had a job at Coach selling handbags at the mall and needed to improve her English. During this time, she met Transitional Studies Education Navigator Erica Witsell.

“At the time she was uncertain of her path and a little overwhelmed at the prospect of navigating an unfamiliar college system…” Witsell recalls. Witsell helped Chen hone in on her goals, which included earning her GED through the high school equivalency program and going on to enroll in a transfer degree so she could one day study business.

Chen, in the meantime, had started bussing tables at Red Ginger, a Chinese restaurant in Asheville. Within a matter of months, thanks to her improved English, she says, she was promoted to assistant manager, a job she still holds today. “99������Ƶ has changed my life,” Chen says. “It made me so clear about my future."

Her favorite subjects in school have been music, Spanish, and philosophy. “I love philosophy because it makes me calm,” she says, adding, “Lau Tzu is my favorite philosopher. He talks about nature and positive ideas. Treat people the way you want to be treated.”

Maintaining a positive spirit has been important for the mother of two in recent months. Recently, Chen learned she has breast cancer. With plans to go for her bachelor’s degree in business at UNC this fall, Chen has recently begun chemotherapy treatments. In a recent interview, she shared a photo of herself after having her chemo port put in. In it, she's lying in a hospital bed, wearing a brave red-lipsticked smile.

“I’m scared,” she admits. “Life is hard. I got into college; now I have cancer.”

Chen points out that she's lucky to have the support of her family and her employer, who is from Hong Kong and treats her like a daughter. Seemingly, she is blessed with the traits of the tiger which in Chinese culture symbolizes strength and courage.

As Witsell says, “Wei has confidence in her ability to surmount any obstacle and meet any challenge… She never gives up.”