Ben Franklin once said, “Energy and persistence conquers all things.” This quote couldn’t ring truer for Dilara Abudureman’s experience at Irvine Valley College.
When Abudureman came to the United States in 2016, she was looking for more than an education — she was looking for an opportunity. She began her studies by earning her bachelor’s degree in music at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in Shanghai, China. After graduating, Abudureman knew she wanted to aim higher.
She left China and made her way to the U.S., where she set her sights on graduate school. After arriving in California with her younger sister, Abudureman says she quickly hit a roadblock.
“There’s a big difference between the education system in China and then here,” explains Abudureman. “I really wanted to go to grad school, but because of the education difference, I think I have to go to community college to attend some music classes to prepare for grad school.”
For the next few years, the musically inclined student began taking English courses to improve her language skills. Once she was confident with her English, Abudureman knew it was time to continue working towards her master’s degree. The first step was enrolling in the Piano Pedagogy certificate program at Irvine Valley College.
The curriculum would help build the skills essential for Abudureman to enroll in a master’s program while in the states. The Piano Pedagogy program centers around techniques to teach piano to beginner, intermediate, and advanced students, along with business knowledge for running a piano studio. Additional courses also teach students the fundamentals of childhood and adolescence developmental psychology, piano performance, and entrepreneurial skills.
Abudureman’s time at Irvine Valley College further developed her sharp musical talent. Through guidance from Susan Boettger, professor and music director at IVC (pictured above), the motivated student even picked up a position as a private piano teacher at Boettger’s own business, the Lyceum Foundation.
“She’s a very hardworking, very humble, very perseverant person,” says Boettger. “She was very trusting of the [music] program and following the program she learned a lot … [IVC] was such a perfect place for her to grow.”
Abudureman says Boettger’s guidance helped push her to do her best, even during one of the worst periods of her life.
“I’m Uyghur, which is a minority group in China,” says Abudureman. “We have our own language, culture, and religion.” The Uyghur people are a predominantly Muslim, Turkic-speaking ethnic group who are native to northwestern China and reside in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
Since 2017, the Chinese government has been targeting the Uyghur people by placing them in internment camps throughout the Xinjiang region. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, over one million Uyghurs have been detained in these internment camps in the last four years. With Abudureman’s family and friends still living in her homeland, their fate remained uncertain as it became more difficult to keep contact while living in the U.S.
Abudureman says during this time she hadn’t spoken to her parents for almost a year. She says “I had no idea what they were doing. I didn’t know if they are at home, or a concentration camp.
“At that time, it was really tough for me.”
Balancing school, her career, and caring for her younger sister, Abudureman recalls not knowing her parents’ whereabouts as one of the most difficult periods in her life.
“Even if [my parents] are suffering there, I have to keep going … to make them proud of me and my sister,” says the strong-willed student. “I have to take care of her. I need to encourage her and tell her that it’s okay.”
But Abudureman put her perseverance and self-motivation to the test. Even on her hardest days, she knew she would get through the difficult time by focusing on her work, throwing herself into her career, and concentrating on the positives.
“I had to practice hard, I had to focus,” explains Abudureman. “I couldn’t really do anything for [my parents], but I have to do better on my own so they would be happy for me.”
Finally, her optimism started paying off. “After two years, my parents finally connected with me,” beams the student. “And they were fine! The situation in China is still happening, but my parents were doing good.”
Thankfully, Abudureman and her parents were able to reunite in California. Now, Abudureman says things are looking up as she wraps up her first semester of her online master’s program, continues to teach piano, and is planning her wedding.
With a laser focus on the future, Abudureman is even drafting her next moves after her master’s program. “I’m a musician, but I don’t like performance,” she confesses. “I really enjoy teaching. I love kids. I really want to have my own studio or school.
“That’s my dream. That’s the future plan.”