Adversity, ambition, And Accomplishment

By Savio Motha

Amidst the pandemic our population is still fighting to recover. There are many who’ve been hit extremely hard; many of those people are teachers. Though there are a few you can say just making due, Vy Ngoc Thai is thriving in her new life as a teacher.

Thai has a strong passion for teaching and enjoys her occupation and has so much passion for teaching that she can lose track of time, subsequently not even checking the clock

Vy Ngoc Thai: You know I actually enjoy it, I don't really think like ‘what time is it?’ ‘when it's gonna be done?’ or ‘I don't wanna do, I wanna leave it.’ But that's a hint for me that, ‘Oh I enjoy it,’ and my students give me good feedback.

However things weren't always so simple and easy as there were many hurdles and sacrifices made to get to this point. Vy Thai, being an immigrant, has not had it easy in the slightest in her journey and experience on her way to America and goes into how she got here in the first place.

Vy Ngoc Thai: My family, we are immigrants. We moved to the US. I remember the day—it's December, 31 2009 and the person at the airport, they even say, "Happy new year" in Vietnamese to us when I came here. I was already 20.

Before coming to the US, there were some sacrifices made by her and her family: they had to decide between their business and the American Dream of opportunity and prosperity.

Vy Ngoc Thai: For better opportunity, mostly for us, me and my 2 siblings, because in Vietnam my parents have a very good business there. But then for our future, they actually sacrificed their business to give us the chance to have the education here.

In the United States and full of ambition, she took adult classes to learn English. As well as the addition of new opportunities, she began to feel the freedom of the U.S, noticing less constraint from parents and peers. She's more in control of her life than ever before.

Vy Ngoc Thai: Everything is follow[ing] my parents instruction. Like I do what they want and go to any school they choose for me, wear the clothes they want. here I think I have more freedom and I can make my own decisions.

Following her arrival, a year later at the age of 21, and after completing her English education, Thai attended Evergreen Valley College. She then transferred to San Jose City College and eventually ended up at U.C Davis, where she would get her bachelor's degree with a major in math and a minor in education. She would go on to tutor students in math. This is where she would find her inspiration and passion for teaching.

Vy Ngoc Thai: When I worked with my students in college back then, a student gave me an idea "like oh why don't you become a teacher?" And I even laughed at that; I'm not confident about my English, but I really like it. And the more I volunteer [and] the more I work with the high school students, I'm like, "Actually I can help them; it makes me feel like i'm helpful.

She would go on and start off in a school setting by being a parent specialist. She expresses her gratitude for the opportunity that she was given, being able to work here and gain experience form working in the office.

Vy Ngoc Thai: I found a job here and I worked as the parent specialist like supporting parents, especially Vietnamese parents, Vietnamese students for any support…I learned a lot more about the system, but then working as a parent specialist in the office, I learned how to look at the school system as a whole picture not just the from classroom environment, so I did learn a lot.

Vy Thai would then go on to teach during summer school and gain experience before starting her first year as a high school math teacher. Here, she has thrived and became a better teacher everyday. She's getting into the flow of being a teacher, teaching five classes a day, which is way more than she had ever done before.

Vy Ngoc Thai: In the beginning of the school year, I am so stressed; I was so stressed because—I did experience it with summer school when i was a student teacher, but I got help from my mentor teacher. But when I’m on my own, five classes, you know, continuous, I was so shocked with the lesson plan[ning]—so many things I need to handle so I was really really frustrated, but time by time it's getting better.

Ms. Thai is a growing teacher that has a bright future and a very expressive and welcoming personality. There is a lot to learn and a lot to teach, especially, but only time will tell.

For the Warrior Times, this is Savio Motha.