Hometown: Saigon, Vietnam
Communications Major, Class of 2017
What drew you to Concordia?
The class sizes and the distance from home. I’m from Brooklyn Park, so it’s far away enough from my mom that she won’t drive up and see me, but close enough so that when I lived on campus I could go home for the weekend. I like the community here, and the diversity is great. I just love how Concordia has a bunch of different races here. Everybody here's very welcoming, even the Caucasian people. It makes my experience richer because I get to learn about new cultures and experience what different people go through everyday.
Tell me about your family’s journey.
I was born in Vietnam. I moved to the U.S. when I was five. My older sister was 10 and my mom was like 28, and we three moved over here and left my little sister behind because we didn't have enough money to take her with. When we got over, we lived with my uncle in Minnesota for two and a half years and then he kicked us out. Then we lived with this American lady for about two and a half years because we didn't have a house to go to. So she took us in, and she helped us find a house, helped my mom find a steady job, and then we moved out in like 2003. Then we finally got my sister in like 2006. When she was about 6. We left her when she was only a baby. Pretty sad, pretty sad.
What do you like most about working in the library?
I love how it gives me knowledge of what our resources are. If I have to access them for a paper, I can access them easily because I work at the library. And I get to meet new people and see new faces everyday. And all the wonderful librarians I have here. And Amber, my supervisor.
Is there anything about yourself that you want to share?
I am a pretty big LeBron James fan. So if you come at me saying Michael Jordan or Kobe’s better, then we’re gonna have an argument. I know everything about everything about LeBron James. The most interesting thing about LeBron James would be that he moved seven times before he got to high school. Seven different apartments. That’s pretty interesting, right? And then he finally settled down when he was a freshman in high school at this apartment in Akron, Ohio. His mom was a single mother, and he never knew who his dad was until like a few years ago. He’s a pretty cool dude. The thing I admire most about LeBron James is that he’s not cocky. He’s very humble about his achievements. You know he kinda resembles me - I’m not very cocky, I’m very humble about my achievements! I just like the way he acts, the way he portrays himself in the media. He’s my role model, next to my mom.
What do you look up to in your mom?
How she’s such a hard worker and that she gave up everything for her kids. She’s always looking out for others before herself. She works two jobs just to support us financially. I love my mom. I’m here at college for her, not for myself.
What are you hoping to accomplish in the coming years?
I hope to finish this semester and sophomore year strong, and hopefully find an internship by next year. And just keep working hard in school until graduation (hopefully with a good enough G.P.A.). I want to do something with sales, so I want to find an internship with a corporate company. Or a sports agent internship. I think that would be so fun.
If you had a million dollars, what would you do with it?
Give it to my mom. I’d keep a thousand for myself, and give the rest to her.
