Moving to a foreign country in your teens can be tough. A new language must be learned. New friends must be made. And a successful future must often be built on new soil.
For 18-year-old Uy Tu, hard work, a passion for learning and subsequent recognition of his academic strength by the Shoreline Community College Foundation helped make his transition from Vietnam to America successful.
Tu and his family moved to the U.S. from Vietnam during Christmas of 1999, when he was in seventh grade. He spoke only Vietnamese upon arrival. Yet when he entered Shorecrest High School two years later, he was fluent in the English language.
While at Shorecrest, Tu was the vice president of the International Club and student of the month in his English class. Tu’s impressive academic performance and extracurricular involvement in high school earned him a $1,500 Scholarship of Academic Excellence from the SCC Foundation for fall 2005, his first quarter at SCC.
Tu is grateful for the scholarship, which will help pay for his first year of college. “I want to support my parents instead of burdening them,” he said.
In addition to financial assistance, Tu is grateful for the opportunity to continue his education. He is enrolled in precalculus math and an English/study skills combined course, the latter of which is designed to prepare students “for studying successfully in their college classes.” Tu is currently learning about plagiarism.
But his passion lies in math. Tu hopes to major in mathematics at the University of Washington after two years at SCC and one day would like to be a math teacher or engineer.
“I feel excited that people (in America} speak the same language as they do in Vietnam,” said Tu in reference to his impression of math as a universal language.
Tu is currently tutoring his 10th grade sister in math as she prepares for the Washington Assessment of Student Learning.
In his spare time, Tu enjoys hanging out with his friends, who “talk for hours and hours” together. He also likes to read, eat Mexican food and stroll through Northgate Mall.
The $1,500 Scholarship of Academic Excellence was also awarded to six other Shoreline freshmen for fall 2005. Recipients of the scholarship are selected by the SCC Foundation board. Applicants submit transcripts, three letters of recommendation and an essay. The board also conducts interviews with applicants.
SCC Foundation Assistant Lynn Yaw speaks highly of Tu. She remembers his first day on the SCC campus. “He said, ‘This is the best day of my life.’”
Emily Page is a student in the University of Washington Department of Communication News Laboratory.
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