By Amenah Charani
Moving to Panama City, Fla. from Okinawa, Japan when she was 7 years old, Nae Elizabeth Abbott now finds herself a proud Tallahassee Community College Eagle.
“In Japan, on every single main road, every five miles there’s a little lady on the side of the road with an ice cream stand and it’s the best ice cream in the whole world,” Abbott said. “They bring it out to your car and the ladies always have a smile on their faces. I guess that’s my favorite memory, going there.”
From her dream of becoming a dermatologist, to her goal of one day being as great of a mother to her children as her own mother was to her, Abbott refuses to ever make excuses for herself.
“I’m going to be a dermatologist one day,” Abbott said. “I’m going to do it, but I’m going to do it because that’s what I want to do. I’m not scared that I’m going to fail… I just have to prove to myself that I can do it.”
Due to the negative stigma around mental and learning disabilities, Abbott struggled with undiagnosed and untreated ADHD throughout highschool.
Abbott sees herself as lucky to be at TCC, and have the resources and accommodations she needs to be successful.
“Being Buddhist and being raised in Japan, it wasn’t really seen as a disability, so help was just never an option,” Abbott said. “I just thought I wasn’t as smart as everyone and that school wasn’t for me. I’m glad to be getting the help that I deserve…TCC does so much to accommodate my ADHD.”
Alongside her discouraging struggle with her pre-college education, Abbott suffered from the language barrier attained by English being her second language.
“So basically I’ll hear things in English but in my mind it’ll translate from English to Japanese so that I can understand it. Then it’s translated back to English so I can say it,” Abbott said.
Though language has been a difficult barrier to overcome, Abbott works hard daily to improve on her English language skills to work towards success at TCC. Despite her past struggles, Abbott is driven to use her experiences as lessons learned, and to go through life with open hands ready to catch every opportunity that may come her way.
“I feel like the most important things in life are to just stay positive, put yourself first and never give up,” Abbott said. “You have to surround yourself with people who have goals and people who uplift you… You should never settle for just content.”
Proud and appreciative of the culture she was raised with, Abbott is determined to travel the world and grow with every new experience she faces.
“Being Japanese has made me appreciate and be open to the culture within others,” Abbott said. “It’s made me much more open to trying new things.”
