University of Minnesota first-year Jonathan Trey Hoang is the youngest of seven siblings and a member of Vietnamese Student Association (VSAM). He shares about his life in a Vietnamese household and his own dreams as a student.
Byline: By Maya Bell (Writer)
“My mom is from America and my dad is from Vietnam. When my dad immigrated here, he didn’t have a high school diploma. So, finding jobs, there’s only so many jobs you can get depend on, no matter how hard working you are. So growing up economically disadvantaged meant that I wouldn’t have all the same opportunities as other people.
I think for me growing up it was lower middle class to lower class. But my siblings were definitely lower class. I don’t have the same experience as my siblings because my oldest sibling is almost fifteen years older than me. So it’s almost two different experiences because by the time I was raised, I also had four or five siblings playing second parent almost.
Most of my siblings didn’t even go to college. They kind of just went on their own in life and found their paths. And going to college is more my choice than anything else. Because that’s how I wanted to succeed and where I saw myself in ten years, was getting a degree, going to med school and becoming a doctor, and college is the step to that.
I think being Vietnamese, I haven’t been as immersed in the culture as my siblings. I think knowing that there’s that culture for me has helped me build community with others. Obviously being a person of color has changed the way I see things.
I think there’s a lot of shared community between people whose parents have immigrated. They kind of force you to want to be successful. They push you a lot which will help you in the future.”
I got really lucky because I met someone at Welcome Week who was also Vietnamese, and it was the day of the first Vietnamese Student Association event and we both went to it.
I did a lot for Tet show. I was in four or five of the committees. So I was just very involved. It was an experience because a lot of the things I did, I had never done before. Then I joined modern dance. I’d never danced before. Never did anything fashion related or, being in a skit/play. So it was a lot of new experiences and forcing myself to do them, and I’m pretty happy I did it.
It was really cool because every celebration I had before was kind of a small family thing. We had some food and invited people over, but this was just super big, and I saw so many other people celebrating the same thing.
Right now I’m general assembly at VSAM, but I was an intern during the intern cycle, and I am planning to run for board.”
This interview was edited for length and clarity
Interview by Maya Bell