{"id":12,"date":"2024-11-13T18:06:19","date_gmt":"2024-11-13T18:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/?page_id=12"},"modified":"2024-11-14T07:29:11","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T07:29:11","slug":"max","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/index.php\/max\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Max Janesik"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>When asked how he culturally identifies himself, Max Janesik affirmed, \u201cI consider myself to be North Carolinian but also my family comes from the Czech Republic.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Janesik\u2019s identification with North Carolinian culture differs vastly from the responses from both Nangoli and Gundimeda who strongly identify with their parents\u2019 homeland. Janesik expresses a deeper connection with the culture of the state he was born into rather than her parents\u2019 country of origin. According to Dean Woods, \u201cI think it just depends on how people are raised, and not only that, how people interpret the world around them.\u201d For Janesik, his relationships and ties to North Carolina were more prevalent and defined in his upbringing than those in the Czech Republic.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the exception of his intermediate level Czech and childhood recollections of Slavic cartoons, \u201cI don\u2019t think I am that connected with the culture,\u201d said Janesik.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Janesik_Clip1.wav\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>After receiving a degree in education in the Czech Republic before the fall of the USSR and eventually moved to North Carolina as an exchange student. While studying in the state and working at a local Golden Corral, his parent\u2019s met in 1998, and ultimately raised Janesik and his older sister in North Carolina.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Max-with-Family_New-York-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-77\" style=\"width:487px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Max-with-Family_New-York-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Max-with-Family_New-York-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Max-with-Family_New-York-2000x1500.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Janesik, his mother and his older sister visiting New York.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Janesik speaks to his mother\u2019s prominent challenges overcoming the language barrier while working in the food service industry. Working as a waitress, his mother was constantly spoken to by a range of voices and dialects. \u201cHer having to understand that, that\u2019s how she learned pretty fast.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During Janesik\u2019s childhood, his mother was very demanding when it came to his interests and academics, especially in the areas he performed well. Even though her intentions were to motivate Janesik, her actions often felt dominating and struck him differently than she anticipated.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Similar to the pressures and emotional tax faced by Nangoli and Gundimeda, Janesik endured a similar cultural tension in the interests he pursued. Frankly, this is the story of many first generation American college students. \u201cI think there is certainly cultural pressure to want to do certain things,\u201d said Dean Woods. \u201cI think it&#8217;s unique when you&#8217;re first gen, because I think there are parents that if their kids, the first one going to college, you have to aspire to be a top doctor, lawyer, engineer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Janesik_Clip2-1.wav\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Max_School-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-79\" style=\"width:465px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Max_School-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Max_School-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Max_School-2000x1500.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Janesik and his older sister waiting for the school bus.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>For Janesik, it was swimming as well as his interest in aerodynamics.\u201cI think it was more that my mom saw that I was good at this, and she just wanted me to be successful in it.\u201d&nbsp; While other North Carolinians his age would be enjoying the beach and leisure of summer vacation, you could find Janesik \u201cat Nerd camp, at like Georgia Tech, and just studying still.\u201d This high esteem for education inspired Janesik\u2019s motivated energy to pursue aerospace engineering at USC. Currently, he is an intern at NASA at the Edwards Air Force Base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now that his career in engineering is on track, he is committed to giving back to his mother who moved back home to the Czech Republic to live with her parents this past year. Embarking on a full-time job in aerospace engineering, Janesik\u2019s next task is very similar to Gundimeda\u2019s post graduate priorities, \u201cWhat can I do to help out as soon as possible?\u201d In tune with his deep cultural values for family and respect for elders, Janesik\u2019s goal is&nbsp; to set up his mother with the life she could not have. Although his mother is nearly 6,000 miles away, the future for Janesik is about, \u201cgiving her at least what I can, even when I can\u2019t see her.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Max_Nasa-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-80\" style=\"width:257px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Max_Nasa-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Max_Nasa-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Max_Nasa-2000x2667.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Max_Nasa-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Janesik at his workplace in the Edwards Air Force base.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Experiencing his early twenties solo in Los Angeles, Janesik shared his thoughts on his solitude: \u201cAll I got is me right now with no, basically no family here. And that&#8217;s kind of, it&#8217;s like, scary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With no relatives in America except for his sister and a distant aunt, the holidays are quite different for Janesik. This is the holiday experience for many immigrant families who separated from other relatives when they resided in the states. Janesik expressed that, \u201cThanksgiving and holidays like Christmas make me envious of others who have all these people to celebrate with. For me, it was often just me and my mom, and sometimes it was just me, since she was always working.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now that his sister is occupied by her own commitments and his mother has moved back to her homeland, Janesik fills the void in a way that is second nature to many first generation Americans. In immigrant culture, it is very common to refer to close family friends with familial labels like <em>aunt, uncle, grandmother, or grandfather. <\/em>Even though the individual is not blood related, they understand your story and roots to the extent that their comfort is comparable to the love of family. Janesik shared his admiration for her \u201cgrandma and grandpa\u201d in North Carolina, \u201cObviously they are super close to me. They\u2019re always like yeah your mom was super hard working and helpful to us. They had an appreciation for her, and that\u2019s why they are grandma and grandpa now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Janesik_Clip3.wav\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the fact that he has grown to be disconnected from his Czechoslovakian culture and traditions, he hopes to pass the Czech language onto his future children. Preserving language is how we continue to pass down stories and keep the light of rich culture beaming. As stated by Dean Woods, \u201cLanguage is so important, not just in one culture, but in all of our cultures because it is how we share tradition from one generation to the next.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Max_Grandparents-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-82\" style=\"width:355px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Max_Grandparents-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Max_Grandparents-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Max_Grandparents-2000x1500.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Janesik accompanied by his &#8220;grandma and grandpa&#8221;, &#8220;uncle&#8221;, sister, and additional relatives.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Maintaining language serves as a reminder that it is a gift from his mother. \u201cMy mom was the one to give me this. Knowing that the language will always be there, the culture will always be there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When asked how he culturally identifies himself, Max Janesik affirmed, \u201cI consider myself to be North Carolinian but also my family comes from the Czech Republic.\u201d&nbsp; Janesik\u2019s identification with North Carolinian culture differs vastly from the responses from both Nangoli and Gundimeda who strongly identify with their parents\u2019 homeland. Janesik expresses a deeper connection with &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/index.php\/max\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read more<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Meet Max Janesik&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-12","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108,"href":"https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12\/revisions\/108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/fall-2024\/farjami\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}