Meet Thang, One of Our Scholarship Winners!

“My family immigrated to the United States from Vietnam when I was three years old. I still remember landing in LAX...” 

Listening to Thang is pleasant. With all the negativity, anger, and confusion out there, listening to this young man share where he came from and, most excitingly, where he hopes to go...it’s just refreshing. 

Thang is one of the winners of our City Heights Legacy Fund Scholarship, and he has big plans. He worked hard and overcame plenty of obstacles to reach this point. He seems happy, but he remembers hard times. 

“Just a couple years after we immigrated, my dad—who suffers from bi-polar disorder triggered by substance abuse—became very aggressive. He eventually split from our family, so most of my life has been growing up with a single parent. Seeing how hard my mom worked, seeing her work extra hours and taking on any overtime she could find set the example for me. I saw what hard work looks like, and it taught me to work hard. Now I want to go to college.” 

Thang’s hope is more than just college, Thang hopes to get into the medical field or, as a plan b in case that doesn’t seem like a good fit, he hopes to get into computer science, but he emphasized that education is about much more than just gaining knowledge. 

“Every year, I become a more mature person because of education,” he shared. “And that’s what I want out of higher education. I want to grow, to become a better person.” 

When you give to our City Heights Legacy Scholarship, you make the growth Thang is talking about possible. You offer bright young students options, enabling them to continue working toward their goals. 

Will you help us serve more students like Thang next year? They rely on donors like you! Stay tuned for more stories of your impact on students’ lives, and please consider donating below.