2021 PLV Scholarship Winner: Nina Yến Nhi Nguyễn on Constructing Her Cultural Identity and Initiating Empowering Conversations

I am proud to announce the 2021 PLV Scholarship winner, Nina Yến Nhi Nguyễn, who graduated valedictorian at Rancho Alamitos High School in Garden Grove. Nina’s story includes her experience as a six-year-old child immigrant from Vietnam fiercely determined to help her family members create new lives in America. Nina assumed tremendous responsibility from a young age, not only translating regularly for her parents, but also overseeing such major financial operations as completing mortgage paperwork and choosing insurance plans before she was even old enough to drive a car. She worked multiple jobs throughout high school to help support her family, as well as provided financial assistance and transportation to work for a friend in need — all while achieving straight As in multiple AP courses and assuming leadership positions in a variety of extracurricular engagements. Nina’s story demonstrates an incredible ability to navigate new challenges, overcome obstacles, and give selflessly of herself to others while also building her own future.

So just what does Nina have planned for her future? Currently a freshman at Stanford, Nina is majoring in human biology (pre-med track) with a possible minor in psychology. While Nina is open to exploring various career options, her current aspiration is to become an obstetrician-gynecologist with an emphasis in infertility and/or sexual assault. Nina’s application revealed her passionate commitment to initiating difficult conversations about some of today’s most pressing social issues head-on. Informed by her strong feminist values and personal life experiences, she believes that through open dialog, shame and ignorance can be replaced by empathy and empowerment. If we can connect with others with open hearts, we can build bridges instead of walls, creating space for healing.

I feel honored to have had the chance to support Nina on her journey, and I can’t wait to see her dreams and ambitions unfold during her time at Stanford and beyond. Below are Nina’s responses to some interview questions she answered last summer. Her writing beautifully illustrates her hard-earned values as well as her personal process of building her identity as a young Vietnamese-American woman.

Nina in Her Own Words

Speaking from your own experience as a child immigrant from Vietnam, what are some of the barriers immigrant youth face when coming to America? How did these obstacles contribute to the person you are today?

Nina: As a child immigrant from Vietnam, I struggled with confidence. I was from a poor family and went to a predominantly white, affluent elementary school. I vividly remember the sight of the girls from my class whispering into each others’ ears while gawking at me because of my black hair, black eyes, hand-me-down clothing, and choppy English. I felt ashamed eating the Vietnamese lunches that my parents would occasionally pack for me because my peers commented on the smell. I’d throw it away, wishing to myself that I wasn’t Vietnamese and instead had blonde hair and blue eyes and ate cheeseburger sliders with waffle cut fries. There was no way for me to prove that I was not inferior, physically because after all, I was the minority. So I decided to prove it mentally. I learned to be academically competitive in the environment that judged me for being a minority, and that competitive nature continued to thrive even when my family relocated to a predominantly Vietnamese area. From that blossomed a passion for learning and desire to try my best in anything I do. 

Although immigrant children and teens enter a new country to begin new lives, their ethnic and cultural identities are forever shaped by their countries of origin. What are some of the ways that you celebrate or honor your Vietnamese and/or Asian roots as a young Vietnamese-American woman?

Nina: I still enjoy Vietnamese dishes with my family every night, participate in an annual Tết celebration, speak Vietnamese to my parents as best as I can, and use my mom’s odd home-remedy methods, such as putting tumeric on my scars to make them go away. One of my biggest regrets, however, is taking on an Americanized name. People persistently mispronounced the first name that I was given at birth, Yến Nhi, as “yen knee” so my uncle proposed to adopt the name Nina, based on the second part of my first name, Nhi. As of a few years ago, I began to wish that I had just forced everyone who wished to address me to pronounce my name the way it should be pronounced, because I believe that it is a beautiful name gifted to me by my parents. Now it’s too late, because my entire identity has been built on the name Nina. So, I recently decided to reclaim my name on one of the platforms that are most influential in my life, Instagram. I renamed my IG name to include both my adopted and native name, and influenced several of my friends to do the same. Although it is a small gesture, it is significant to me because I see it every day when I open the app, reminding myself that I have finally learned to love my Vietnamese culture while living in western culture. 

What are some of the ways that the life challenges you have faced have contributed to your maturity and resilience?

Nina: The life challenges that I have faced thus far have contributed to my maturity and resilience by proving to me that I was strong enough to have overcome it all, and will be strong enough to overcome anything new. No matter how difficult any challenge is, I find comfort in knowing that I am brave, smart, flexible, and persistent enough to overcome it despite any level of discomfort. For me, the hardest part is figuring out how to overcome it, not overcoming it per se. Knowing this, I face my obstacles with a mature mindset and emerge more resilient than yesterday. 

What inspired you to want to become an obstetrician-gynecologist?

Nina: I want to be a safe harbor for women going through one of the most vulnerable stages of their lives. I want to hold their hands through tragedies and jump in delight through their celebrations. I admire the bond between mothers and their children because it is like no other bond in the world. And lastly, I want to develop a long-lasting relationship with my patients on a consistent basis over the course of their treatments because in my opinion, developed relationships bring and cause the most joy for everyone involved. 

In your application essay, you mention the importance of confronting difficult conversations head-on. Which conversations do you, personally, find most important or relevant at this moment in time?

Nina: Personally, I find the conversations between generations about acceptance the most important at this moment in time. Now more than ever, people are expressing their differences (in terms of gender, sexuality, religious beliefs, and cultural/economic/social/historical backgrounds). I believe that those differences have always been there, but people feel more empowered now to voice them in hopes of creating a community of similar individuals. While much of the millenial and gen-z groups are generally quite accepting of differences, I have noticed that older generations are not. One road to narrowing this acceptance gap can begin when the youth find the courage to challenge the insensitive comments and beliefs of their parents and family. I know that this is true in my own family, as I have shared difficult conversations with my traditional parents about self-expression, gender roles, independence, politics, and education. 

What resources do communities need to effectively address these issues in order to pave the way for a better future?

Nina: In terms of physical resources, communities need the most basic physiological and security necessities in order to fulfill the next stage of love, acceptance, and belonging, according to psychologist Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. In terms of other needs, I believe that empathy is required for people to learn and embrace the idea of acceptance of differences. Without understanding each other, it is impossible to accept each other.