Child and family science student follows parents’ footsteps to pursue counseling career
By Marisa Mata (’19)
At the end of her time as an undergraduate student at Fresno State, Patricia Yang looks back and feels like she’s made it. Her story, like many other students at the university, begins with the sacrifices, hopes and aspirations of her parents — who both came to the U.S. as Hmong refugees, earned their master’s degrees from Fresno State and went on to become school counselors.Â
Yang recalls growing up and helping her father with projects at his school site — a counselor in Fresno Unified School District, his job encompassed managing programs to support at-risk Southeast Asian students.
“Wb qhov keeb kwm tso tseg thiab kev npau suav rau koj yog rau siab kawm ntawv mus kom siab,” he would often say to his daughter. “Our legacy is for you to continue to higher education.”

Yang grew up close to the Fresno State campus and attended Hoover High School, where she was involved in a variety of extracurricular activities. She graduated as a valedictorian in spring 2020, with the world largely in lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was at this time Yang and her family also learned her father had pancreatic cancer.
“I found out in May 2020, and he passed away on my first day of college, so it was very fast,” Yang says. “Because of this devastating loss, I debated whether or not to stay in school. I ultimately decided I would, because of my father’s value in education.”
Going into college, Yang knew she wanted to pursue a career that would allow her to help people. She initially majored in political science thinking she would go into family law, but ultimately decided to study child and family science instead, after discovering she connected better with the course materials.
Getting Plugged In
Much like her time in high school, Yang became very involved on campus — finding a mentor through the College of Social Sciences Linked Peer Mentor Program and, later, guiding her peers through the Learning Center’s Academic Success Coaching Program.
Dedicated to serving students on academic probation, Academic Success Coaching offers personalized support and helps students develop motivation, time management and other skills. As an academic success coach, Yang facilitates workshops throughout the semester for students and also meets with them one-on-one to connect them with resources and help them improve their college experience.
“We talk about their academic struggles and their root personal challenges,” Yang says. “I had a student that I met with, and seeing the physical weight lifted from her body as we connected her to resources and made a plan — being able to build that rapport and those connections with students — it really solidified my choice to go into counseling.”
In the later half of her time as an undergraduate, Yang also served on the Student Health Advisory Committee, through which she was able to host events like speed friending, offering students an opportunity to form new friendships and learn about fostering healthy relationships, and contribute to her peers’ wellbeing.
Yang also became increasingly involved with research led by Dr. Jessica McKenzie, a professor in the Department of Child and Family Science, focused on perspectives and practices of Thai youth coming of age during a time of rapid globalization.
She says, “In my culture class with Dr. McKenzie, there were discussions about how mental illness manifests differently depending on a person’s cultural background. It reaffirmed my family’s experience when my brother was diagnosed with Schizophrenia, helping me realize he was a product of a system that wasn’t made for him. It also opened my eyes more to research.”
Research and Mentorship Opportunities
Yang became one of a handful of students working in the lab under McKenzie. Yang and the others worked with longitudinal data gathered in Thailand, focusing on definitions of morality and the development of moral reasoning among Thai adolescents.
Through this work, Yang contributed to an article published in Sage Journals, a renowned publisher that oversees more than 1,000 peer-reviewed academic journals.
Yang also contributed more recently to a book that was published by the United Nations. The chapter she contributed to is focused on research in Southeast Asian countries related to gender identity and development of sexuality during modern globalization
and the influence of social media.
“I’ve been lucky with finding good mentors on campus like Dr. McKenzie and also Mazie Moua and Ruby Sangha-Rico in the Learning Center,” Yang says. “I think it’s my dad watching over me and sending them my way.”
Having crossed the stage and receiving her degree at commencement, Yang says, “It feels full-circle. I’ve put everything I could into everything I’ve done, for myself and for my parents.
“I think of the sacrifices they both went through to get me here, and how I’ll be able to give back to my mom now, in honor of my dad’s legacy.”
Looking ahead, Yang is excited to travel to Brisbane, Australia later this summer with her labmates. They will attend this year’s International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology Regional Conference and present 10 years of research related to moral reasoning and change in morality. This will be Yang’s first time traveling outside of the U.S.
In the fall, Yang will return to Fresno State to pursue her master’s degree in marriage, family and child counseling. She plans to dedicate her career to serving children and families in the Central Valley.
– Marisa Mata is a communications specialist at Fresno State, specializing in the Division of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management.