Coming from a Filipino family that strongly believes that money equates to success turned out to be the total opposite of what graduating senior Resty Grey found to be true during his journey at CSUSM.

Before transferring to CSUSM in 2013, Grey attended Mt. San Jacinto. Initially, his plan was to go into the math or science field, but found that his heart was not in it.

“My parents hold a lot of value to the medical and engineering field because there’s a lot of money in it. They see that as financial stability which equates to happiness in the Filipino life.”

“But coming from a Filipino American perspective, where you have privileges that are already allotted to you…I kind of wanted to pursue more of a creative aspect, more teaching like morals, morality through stories and things of that nature,” said Grey.

It wasn’t until the age of 19 that Grey noticed that his passion lied within comic books when he was captivated by the idea of being transported to another space while engaging in a text.

“If I can transport others and teach them it’s okay to feel sad sometimes or this or that, contrasting them to these other feelings that are in society…That’s where I want to go with my creative writing,” said Grey.

With that, Grey said he wants to pursue his career in creative writing.

“Creative writing is definitely in my future, but I know as a Literature and Writing graduate with this degree, you’re not as easily able to promote your degree as say engineering or something specific like science,” said Grey. “But since my major is more of a ‘learning how to learn’ major, I think the best case scenario would be to go into journalism because it’s so broad.”

Not heeding his parents dreams, Grey understands the consequences of possibly having a career with unsteady financial stability., However, he says it’s not about the money, but more about the people who are passionate about their craft.

In the future, Grey said he would like to attend grad school for journalism. He has been advised to head straight for the work field, but feels there is so much more he could learn by going to grad school. In addition to that, he said he can also see himself going for his doctorate.

For future graduates, Grey heeds that everyone gets out as soon as possible.

“Finish school as fast as you can so that you can pursue your career, or if you’re going to go to school have a job in mind so that you have something to pursue,” said Grey.

“If you’re going to be a writer, pick a niche and pursue that because it’s a waste of time taking classes and reading books that you have no real interest in. Be confident in what you read and read widely and vicariously,” he said.

As for a quote that Grey lives by, he dubs Tupac’s “thuglife” saying.

“He was never a gangster himself, but he claimed the thuglife because that’s what was portrayed by him, so that’s what people saw him as. I stick to ‘don’t judge a book by its cover.’ You know, explore a little further, don’t allow the surface to tell you what it is,” said Grey.

“It’s like if someone tells you ‘Oh yeah, I’m leaving the thuglfe.’ Well what does that mean? It’s that you’re living these different experiences and that’s what Tupac lived by. I like to live by this because it’s all about being yourself despite what others say. Someone’s going to call you this and that— it don’t matter because you have your own life and you can portray it and you know what it means.”