Huy Tran (left) helping senior Derik Pham apply to colleges. Photo by Olivia Le, La Quinta H.S. Yearbook photographer, courtesy of Huy Tran.

A Vietnamese-American counselor at a high-Viet-concentration high school in Bolsavikland has been honored by Yale University with its Educator Award.

Huy Tran, Head Counselor at La Quinta High School in Garden Grove, was one of 52 educators to receive the award, which is given to educators worldwide.

The Bolsavik, in his other capacity at his other job, spoke to Tran, who said he was particularly proud that the nomination came from a former student, affirming the importance of his work.

According to a press release from the Garden Grove USD, the “prestigious recognition honors outstanding educators from around the world who have inspired their students to achieve at high levels. Newly admitted Yale students are invited to nominate high school educators, and a committee of Yale admissions officers reviews the nominations and designates the recipients.”

This year, 175 peole were nominated, and 36 teachers and 16 counselors were selected.

Tran was nominated by Christina Bui, a Yale first-year student who graduated from La Quinta in the Spring. In the nomination essay, Bui writes, “Mr. Tran endeavors to interact and understand his students on a personal level. As a counselor, he advises, teaches, and encourages students to try harder and to take classes that challenge them.”

Other student sources told the Bolsavik that Mr. Tran has a reputation of something of a “mean” counselor. Bui, however, didn’t see it that way and wrote, “On a personal basis, he is charming and always welcoming of discussions and conversations about school and life in general.”

Bui writes about her own interactions with the counselor:

“”In addition to taking care of his designated set of assigned students, he also has additional responsibilities to oversee the entire counseling office. And yet, he still makes time for me. On top of that, he is not even my assigned counselor!”

When Bui was preparing for her admission interview to Yale, Tran stayed more than two hours past closing time to prepare her for the interview. “By the end of the conversation, I felt confident in myself and in my abilities, and I had learned a great deal about Mr. Tran as a person,” Bui writes.

Tran considers La Quinta High School as “a great place to be able to give back to the community.”

The school is 70% Viet, but lacks Vietnamese-speaking staff in the front office. As a result, “I talk to all kinds of parents every day,” Tran recounts.

Tran ends up helping parents in everything, not just the stuff a counselor usually does. “Some days I may even help the parents write the notes that excuse the kids’ absence for being sick,” he says.

“I feel pretty important,” Tran chuckles. “I feel like I’m helping a lot.”

As Head Counselor, Tran also tries to reach out to all students, “not just the ones that come in to see their counselors.” The school has more students than the skeletal counseling staff can handle, but Tran doesn’t see it as an excuse not to reach every student.

“Information on college applications, we go to the classrooms and give presentations.Information on financial aid, we go to the classrooms and give presentations. Scholarships too. We try to get everyone involved.”

For the Educator Award, Tran gets a recognition letter from Yale, accompanied by a deskset with pens and a globe. Tran puts it on his desk, a reminder of how significant his work is to his students, he says.

And of a job well done too.

Duc’s email has nothing to do with boat people. It’s about the new requirement under California law that teaching about the Vietnam War must include, among other things, “the ‘Secret War’ in Laos, the role of Southeast Asians in the war, and the refugee/immigrant/new American experience.”

Apparently, to carry out that mandate of the law, the California Board of Education is forming a Curriculum Framework and Evaluation Criteria Committee to work on this.

The Board is also putting together focus groups to discuss all the things that should go into the new curriculum. The focus groups meet openly, and the public has a chance to provide input.

If you are an educator, please apply for the committee and add an authentic voice to the teaching of the history of the Vietnam War. Click here for announcement and application form. Deadline is September 3, 2008.

If you’re not an educator (and, for that matter, even if you are) please come to the focus group meetings and provide public comments.

Duc’s email follows:

Dear friends,

For those who have been frustrated by the lack of Vietnamese American voices in Vietnam War textbooks and school curriculum, this is an excellent opportunity for us to get our stories told in California schools. In the next several months, a major undertaking takes place within the California educational system. The California Board of Education is working to update the History-Social Science Framework for California public schools. Bill AB2064 was introduced by California Assemblyman Arambula (co-authored by Senator Lou Correa of Los Angeles) requiring “”the State Board of Education (SBE) and the Curriculum Development and Supplemental Materials Commission (the Curriculum Commission) to ensure that the history/social science framework, evaluation criteria, and instruction materials include the ‘Secret War’ in Laos, the role of Southeast Asians in the war, and the refugee/immigrant/new American experience.”

For more information about the bill go to:

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/bilinfo.html

Type in bill number AB2064 and click search.

In next few weeks, there are several public focus group meetings for the History-Social Science Framework in different cities. I encourage you to attend these meetings. Here are the schedule and places.

Please go here for more information about the focus groups and curriculum frameworks: http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/hs/cf/index.asp

* June 5, 2008: Los Angeles County Office of Education. [Notice and agenda here. Public comments begin at 5:10.]

* June 6, 2008: San Diego County Office of Education. [Notice and agenda here. Public comments begin at 4:10.]

I created an online group for our campaign to get our stories . Please join this group by sending an email to ab2064-subscribe@yahoogroups.com to stay inform, post comments, network and exchange ideas. There are also information you can download about the bill and California Board of Education’s curriculum framework.

EDUCATORS!!! Please apply for a Curriculum Framework and Evaluation Criteria Committee (CFCC) position. The CFCC plays a very significant role in the framework adoption process. They bring a voice from an area of expertise while providing input into the initial writing of the draft framework. Attached is an application. If you are not in the education field please pass it on to those who would qualify.

Duc Nguyen
Director/Producer
BOLINAO 52: A Vietnamese Boat People Documentary

Social studies teacher John B. Nguyen (photo right), of James Hillhouse High School in New Haven, Connecticut, used innovative methods that are data-driven and helped students raise their scores on the state’s academic performance test (CAPT).

Nearer to the Bolsavik, math teacher Aaron Chung (photo left), a Vietnamese-American of Chinese descent, of Temple Intermediate School in Rosemead, California, established an Algebra Academy and helped his students, many of whom are Asian and Hispanic immigrants classified as English language learners (ELL) achieve proficiency on California’s math test. The Algebra Academy and other innovations by Chung helped Temple jump from being the district’s lowest-achieving school five years ago to the district’s top campus academically.

Each received a cash prize of $25,000.

When asked what he would do with the money, Chung said he already established several scholarships for college students in Vietnam. He also asked a friend to take him around Saigon on a motorbike, and just randomly stop and give poor people money, 100,000 Vietnamese dong each (about $7).

Read more about Nguyen here, and about Chung here.