Refugees find refuge as college students in Vermont
Champlain College awards scholarships to Rwandans, Vietnamese, and others, enriching recipients and fellow students.
from the February 7, 2008 edition
Page 3 of 3
Maria Thach has lived in Burlington since she was a toddler, but her goals are shaped by her roots in the Vietnamese refugee community.
By high school, she knew she wanted to attend college and study criminal justice. Her family and other new refugees had been terrified by what should have been friendly encounters with police, "because of what they had encountered in Vietnam," she says, and she wants to help people understand "that law enforcement is there to help you, protect you."
The first in her family to apply to college, she found it stressful. Her parents had never learned English as well as she had and didn't understand the system. But her high school counselor told her about the scholarship at Champlain. "I had never heard of a scholarship like this before," she says.
While she is often the only Asian woman in her classes, she enjoys contributing something unique. "When we were discussing a topic like different government structures, I actually shared stories my father told me about the Vietnam government. A lot of people, from the war, have stereotypes ... but over the years [the country] has definitely changed.... They were like, 'Wow, I can understand now.' "
Hau: Finding courage to be an artist
For Hau "Howie" Le, the New American Student Scholarship means freedom to pursue a career in multimedia graphic design.
"As a kid, my parents told me, 'You don't get paid as an artist, so forget about it,' " he says. He dutifully started out with a criminal-justice major. After one semester, he had the confidence to follow his own dream. "With the scholarship, I realized I'm not going to be in debt that much after I graduate ... so I should still try."
Now he just has to prove he can succeed in college, defying the track record of some others in the Vietnamese refugee community, including his aunt, who have tried and dropped out.
Beyond academic opportunities, one of Mr. Le's favorite experiences was a volunteer trip last spring break to build Habitat for Humanity houses in New Orleans.
"That was life-changing," he says – even for his family, he hopes. "[They think,] 'We take care of the family, we don't need to worry about anything else.'... So I told them that I'm going to do this to prove that community service is important."
He showed his parents a movie he made about the trip. "They had no reaction on their faces ... but they told their friends what I did, and it sounded like they were proud of me."
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