SF Community College District Trustee Steve Ngo

(The Bolsavik did this for his job at Nguoi Viet, here)

In the City and County of San Francisco, there’s only one Viet elected official.

That sole Vietnamese-American is Steve Ngo, elected in 2008 to a seat on the Board of Trustees for the San Francisco Community College District.

The District is one of the largest in the nation and serves over 100,000 students.

Ngo is born in Lexington, Kentucky, in a Viet refugee family. After fleeing Vietnam for the United States, Steve’s mother worked as a waitress and nail salon technician in New Orleans, Louisiana. After 20 years, she eventually opened her own nail salon business. His father took jobs as a busboy, roofer, and chef, and later attended community college to become an auto body repair technician. According to Ngo, his mother only had a third grade education and his father only completed the eighth grade, but “in America they were able to build a better life through hard work and vocational education.”

Ngo became an attorney and practiced election law and civil litigation, before winning office. Previously, Ngo was a budget consultant for the California State Assembly Budget Committee, where he was a recipient of the Jesse M. Unruh Assembly Fellowship.

Ngo received his B.A. from UCLA. He later received his Master of Public Policy from Georgetown and a law degree from UC Hastings in San Francisco, where he was elected student body president.

Vũ Quí Hạo Nhiên (NV): What in your views are the most important missions of a community college in educating its students?

Steve Ngo: The fundamental purpose of the community colleges is to provide lifelong access to education and training. The United States, and California in particular, have a competitive advantage in that its citizens can enter or re-enter the pipeline for advanced training or higher education at will.

NV: With 4-year college tuition rising rapidly, do you see an increase in students choosing the community colleges as a low-cost alternative to the first 2 years of college instead of heading straight to UC or other 4-year colleges after high school?

Steve Ngo: Yes, absolutely, based on simple laws of economics. We cannot, however, continue to price our citizens out of a good that is both private and public. Moreover, even as the laws of supply and demand push more students into our community college system, we also have to ensure that the system can handle the increased demand for education. Otherwise, the state simply pushes our citizens out of education entirely. That is a disaster with long-term economic and social implications.

NV: In the same vein, do you see an increase in students who are already enrolled at UC, CSU, or other 4-year schools, taking community college classes to save money?

Steve Ngo: Yes, but again, the problem is whether the state will fund the community colleges to adequately handle the increased demand for its services.

NV: For the non-transfer students, what does statistics say about their employability after community college? What majors or courses of study seem to do better, in terms of jobs and salaries?

Steve Ngo: Studies show that by 2018 63 percent of all jobs will require a degree beyond high school. But the most pressing fact is the nascent retirement of the baby boomers, which will at once create jobs to provide for their care and jobs to be filled by their exit from the workforce. There will also be demand for workers as the economy continues to grow in the post-industrial era. You need to get a post-secondary degree to compete in the workforce for jobs in most sectors. Our state budget must have the foresight and vision to contemplate this reality. Past budgets did not.

NV: Is the budget situation worse at the community colleges compared to UC or CSU?

Steve Ngo: I won’t speak for UC or CSU, but the community colleges have sliced their budgets down to the bone, and have still been able to provide moderate access to the increased demand. But we should be doing more for our citizens and getting them – and the state – ready for the economy of the future. The funding levels do not reflect that commitment.

NV: Compared to other community colleges, how is SFCC doing budget-wise?

Steve Ngo: We are one of the largest community colleges in the state, mainly due to our large immigrant population enrolled in our English as a Second Language courses. Because these courses get funded at a lower level than general education courses, the system is at an inherent disadvantage. But it shouldn’t be. These types of courses are the bedrock of the system of education that the state must provide to all of its citizens if we are to build a future in California that is vibrant, prosperous and just.

NV: How are SFCC transfer students coping with the increased costs and restricted admissions at UC and CSU?

Steve Ngo: Our students are resilient, but as a society, we shouldn’t have to make the burden harder to obtain a college degree. Individual families would not make it harder for the children to go to school; our state, too, cannot continue to make it harder for our citizens to get a degree. The lack of funding means lack of counselors to advise them on college and financial aid options and it means a lack of courses to help them transfer in time to the four-year college of their choice.

What people must know is that the Obama Administration and the Democratic-controlled congress enacted two vital laws that were smart about our future: (1) the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act was the largest investment in higher education in a generation, cutting bank subsidies and providing the savings from that money to increase financial aid to low-income students, and (2) the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, also known as the “stimulus,” which enabled schools, including at our college, to keep teachers and counselors from being laid off. These are the people who help get our students where they need to go. So the long answer to this question is our students have been able to cope in due part to the work of our teachers, counselors and staff, and also because of the leadership of President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, George Miller and the U.S. Senate.

NV: Does SFCC have specific programs to help unemployed mid-career people find jobs?

Steve Ngo: Yes, our Career and Technical Education programs run the gamut. We are also working to improve our vocational ESL programs so that all San Franciscans can have better access to those jobs in the sectors that are growing the fastest in our economy.

Arthur Tran, a 7th grader at Fitz Intermediate in Santa Ana, won the GGUSD spelling bee for middle schoolers

The Garden Grove Unified School District announced the Top 10 finishers for the district-wide spelling bee for middle schoolers (called intermediate schools in this district), and all ten have Vietnamese last names.

The winner, Arthur Tran (pictured), a 7th grader at Fitz Intermediate School (located in Santa Ana actually) beat out the runner-up, Nancy Nguyen of Alamitos Intermediate, by correctly spelling glaucoma.

Arthur’s favorite school subject is math, according to the press release by the school district.

The complete list of Top 10 finishers, all with Viet last names, are in the press release below.

Press Release
Garden Grove Unified School District

Release Date: Immediate Contact: (PIO) Alan Trudell (714-663-6503)

Fitz Intermediate School Student Claims the Crown as

Grades 7-8 Spelling Bee Champion of GGUSD

Arthur Tran of Fitz Intermediate School earned the title of champion of the annual spelling bee for seventh and eighth-grade students in the Garden Grove Unified School District. The event was held Thursday, Jan. 13, at the Garden Grove Community Meeting Center.

Arthur, a 13-year-old seventh-grader, correctly spelled the deciding word, glaucoma – becoming the top speller among more than 7,500 intermediate school pupils in the GGUSD. The bee winner, a Santa Ana resident, is a straight-A student who says math is his favorite subject.

English teachers Michelle Gunderson and Michael Coyle served as coaches for the four spelling bee contestants from Fitz Intermediate, located in Santa Ana.

In this year’s district competition, Arthur dueled for first-place with Nancy Nguyen of Alamitos Intermediate, who earned runner-up honors. Nancy was followed by Tommy Nguyen of McGarvin Intermediate, third place; and Ryan Tran of Ralston Intermediate, fourth-place. Other honored participants included Vincent Nguyen of Doig Intermediate, fifth-place; Danny Vu of Doig Intermediate, sixth-place; Calvin Ly of Walton Intermediate, seventh-place; Sunny Le of Alamitos Intermediate, eighth-place; May Vo of Ralston Intermediate, ninth-place; and Julie Nguyen of Ralston Intermediate, 10th-place.

The district champion and the nine runners-up will represent the GGUSD at the Orange County Spelling Competition, with the written segment scheduled February 16 at the Orange County Department of Education in Costa Mesa followed by the deciding oral spelling round on February 26 at the Orange County Department of Education.

Each of the district’s 10 intermediate schools entered its four best spellers in the district competition. Contestants were asked to spell such words as concomitant, lackadaisical, and cumulonimbus.

Board of Education President Lan Quoc Nguyen presented trophies to the top 10 spellers, and all contest entrants received certificates of participation.

PR #838

The fellowship, named the Lan and Mark Beyster Fellowship Program, will provide $25,000 to enable a law school graduate to provide legal services to and advocacy for the community, announces the Vietnamese-American Bar Association of Northern California in a press release.

This fellowship “is the first fellowship of this kind given by any minority bar organization in the country,” noted Quyen Ta, President of the VABANC. It will be the largest fellowship amount offered by a minority bar organization.

Download the application form (in Microsoft Word) here (wiggle the inner scroll bar if nothing shows).

Read the entire press release after the jump (or read the PDF here).

VABANC Launches First Ever Year-Long Fellowship
to Provide Legal Services

SAN JOSE, California.

The Vietnamese American Bar Association of Northern California (VABANC) proudly announces the establishment of the Lan and Mark Beyster Fellowship Program, a post-graduate fellowship to be provided to a recent law school graduate. The Lan & Mark Beyster Fellowship Program will provide $25,000 to enable a law school graduate to provide legal services to and advocacy for the Vietnamese American community and/or other underserved/underresourced communities.

“This is the first fellowship of this kind given by any minority bar organization in the country,” noted Quyen Ta, President of the VABANC. “We are very excited by the program. This fellowship builds upon the work VABANC has done to encourage public service,” said Ms. Ta.

This fellowship will be the largest fellowship amount offered by a minority bar organization to encourage and provide legal services and pro bono work with the Vietnamese American Community. Most Vietnamese Americans came to the United States as refugees. Despite some instances of model-minority accomplishments, many Vietnamese Americans still live in poverty and lack access to the legal system.

For the last 8 years, VABANC has provided two to three scholarships per year to law students to recognize their achievements and commitments to serving their communities and to encourage public service. The Lan and Mark Beyster Fellowship builds on VABANC’s goals by supporting a recent law graduate who will serve the greater community and whose work will achieve a richer and more inclusive vision of social justice in underserved communities.

For many years, Mrs. Lan Beyster, Mr. Mark Beyster and their family have generously contributed to many philanthropic and educational endeavors. With this fellowship, the Beysters want to encourage public service in the Vietnamese American community and to provide low-income communities with legal services.

To learn more about VABANC, please visit its website at www.vabanc.org.

Here are some multiple-choice test questions from the Vietnamese-language class at Coastline Community College:

* You ask someone to repeat what she said.

a. Xin hỏi, ông tên gì? (Sir, what’s your name?)
b. Xin lỗi, ông tên gì? (Excuse me sir, what’s your name?)
c. Xin hỏi, ông làm gì? (Sir, what do you do?)
d. Xin lỗi, ông nói sao? (Excuse me sir, what did you say?)

Yes sir, you’re a woman.

* Oanh can speak and read Vietnamese

a. She knows Vietnamese.
b. She is fluent in Vietnamese.
c. She is learning Vietnamese.
d. She is not fluent in Vietnamese.

* Oanh and Tâm are friends

a. Tâm and Oanh are in the same Vietnamese class.
b. Oanh and Tâm know Vietnamese.
c. Oanh and Tâm are born in Texas.
d. Tâm and Oanh live in California.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is supposed to be how critical thinking is conducted in Vietnamese….

(These questions are taken from the blog of a student currently taking the class. Not sure s/he wants the teacher to know about it, so the Bolsavik is not making a link to that blog.)

The three finalists are Kevin Pham of La Quinta High School (Westminster resident), and Minhngoc Nguyen and Quynh Nguyen of Garden Grove High School (Garden Grove residents), are semifinalists in the prestigious National Merit Scholarship program.

Being a semifinalist for the National Merit Scholarship is actually just based on PSAT scores. Further consideration includes school records, SAT scores, and an essay. About 90% of semifinalists advance to the finalist rank, and about half win the scholarship.

The Garden Grove USD covers most of Garden Grove and portions of six surrounding cities – Anaheim, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Santa Ana, Stanton, and Westminster. The entirety of what is commonly considered the “Vietnamese area,” including the commercial area known as Little Saigon, falls within the GGUSD.

People accessing the Cal State Fullerton home page today saw a happy Viet face smile back at them.

That would be Annie Nguyen, a graduating senior who just won the Miles D. McCarthy Health Professions Award, presented annually to the outstanding health professions student who demonstrates high academic achievement and integrity, as well as a commitment to serve humanity, says the CSUF in a press release here.

Nguyen has been raising funds for the American Cancer Society, running food drives, helping children at the Thai-Lao Mission Church, and volunteering 1100 hours at a hospital in Long Beach.

She chairs the chemistry course section of the Student Science Alliance, which promotes interest in all science courses, and last summer did research at Yale Med School on West Nile and dengue viruses, while on a Howard Hughes scholarship.

While piling up a 3.92 GPA.

Wait wait wait. Not done yet.

“Nguyen has studied how iron is transported in rat liver cells with Maria Linder, chair and professor of chemistry and biochemistry; received a National Science Foundation-Research Experiences for Undergraduates program stipend to support her research; and garnered the Doris A. Howell-California State University Program for Education in Research and Biotechnology Award — an honor that fosters the development of young investigators,” the press release continues.

“Growing up, medical offices and hospitals were not unfamiliar. Health problems plagued my family,” Nguyen said.“What I saw is through it all, at least one person in each of my family members’ lives worked constantly to restore their health: their physician. Now I am driven to help those who suffer.”

Nguyen is going to Harvard Med School next year. That is also her mentor Dr. Linder did her graduate work.

“I accepted Annie into my lab early in her undergraduate career because I was impressed with her enthusiasm and intelligence,” Linder recalled. “She has developed into a highly accomplished and capable young woman, performing at the highest level academically, and powering through some hardship to get there. I did my doctoral work at Harvard Medical School and I’m so glad she’ll be going there, too. It will be a portal to a bigger world.”

Since 2008, Nguyen served as a student assistant in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Transfer Student Services Program. “I was highly interested in a program that promotes student success as this one does. I can contribute ideas on program development and can organize workshops. And I’ve learned from other students’ life experiences.”

Nguyen will be honored during the university’s annual honors convocation Friday, May 21, and will be taking part in Cal State Fullerton’s commencement ceremony May 22.

A team of 3 students from Garden Grove High School, two of whom are Viet, won 2nd place in the annual Popsicle Stick Bridge Contest sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers – metro L.A branch, announced the GGUSD in a press release.

The team, consisting of Kalin Zaluzec, Steven Chau (second from left in photo) and Scott Nguyen (right) from the school’s Math, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) Club won second overall.

There were 39 teams participating in the contest, where they’re supposed to build model bridges using Popsicle sticks. The bridge’s strength is determine by the weight of the load each bridge sustained before collapsing.

The GGHS group – calling itself “We, Team” – scored 87.32, behind first place winner North HS’s 95.20. See the results on ASCE’s web site here.

We, Team placed 1st in presentation and 2nd in technical report. Their bridge was also judged 4th in strength, but apparently it wasn’t so good looking. The judges ranked the bridge 30th place in aesthetics.

The team’s faculty adviser id their math teacher on special assignment, Sunny Costello.

Dr. Long Nguyen is the founder and CEO of Pragmatics based in McLean, Virginia, a leading information technology solutions provider with more than 500 employees.

The 180,000-square-foot building formally opened this fall. It is also the university’s first LEED-certified green building.

Dr. Nguyen currently serves on GMU’s Board of Visitors. He actually did not go to school or teach there at all. Dr. Long Nguyen came to the U.S. as an exchange student in 1960, received his B.A. in physics from North Carolina State University, his M.A. also in physics from the University of Virginia, and his Ph.D. in computer at Iowa State University, according to the bio posted on his company’s web site.

The GMU Board of Visitors’ web site says that Dr. Nguyen has taught as professor in computer science at Georgetown, Indiana, and the Bolsavik’s alma mater, Purdue.

Dr. Nguyen is noted as a “frequent giver” in the Greater D.C. area. He has established 9/11 and Katrina relief funds, and funded endowed chairs at Iowa State University and at George Mason University.

He once hosted a dinner for 80 wounded soldiers, and gave phone cards to the patients at the Walter Reed Army Hospital.

In 2008, Dr. Nguyen was named one of Washington Business Journal’s 2008 Minority Business Leaders.

GoldSea, the Asian American daily newspaper, ranks Dr. Nguyen among the 100 Top Asian Entrepreneurs. At no. 83, Dr. Nguyen is 10 places ahead of famed designer Vera Wang.

Dr. Nguyen is also active politically. In 2005, when Tim Kaine was elected governor of Virignia, he picked Dr. Nguyen to serve on his transition team.

Dr. Nguyen has donated frequently to political causes. Most of the recipients have been Democrats. In 2008, Dr. Nguyen gave $28,500 to the DNC and another $28,500 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The year before, he gave $26,700 to the DNC.

The Pragmatics Inc. PAC also made donations to mostly Democratic candidates. Joe Biden received $2000 in 2008, and the same year Jim Webb got $1000. Two Republicans received donations from the Pragmatics PAC in 2008: Congressmen Virgil Goode Jr., and Frank Wolf, who frequently joins Rep. Loretta Sanchez as a co-author and/or co-sponsor of several bills and resolutions in support of human rights in Vietnam.