Paulette Brown

When commencement speaker Paulette Brown received her GED on March 24, 2010 she was one of the oldest graduates in the room — and proud of it. At 40 something, she had been planning to finish high school for decades. A mother at 16, she went on to have four children and work hard to support them.

“Then, one day, I had an epiphany,” she explained in her speech. “I acknowledged the fact that I was required to participate in my destiny, and I began to plan my future.”

Quy Vo

Several months ago Quy Vo, an NEDP graduate, visited us to share his big news. We remembered Quy to be a mature nineteen-year-old, ambitious, hardworking, and dedicated. What we did not know at the time were the extreme conditions under which he sought his high school diploma.

Quy grew up fatherless in a family of five during the post-Vietnam War era. His father was a P.O.W. for thirteen years and his mother single-handedly raised five boys in a village with no running water, no electricity, and no toilet. With the family earning a mere forty cents a day, struggles for food and shelter overshadowed Quy’s academic dreams.

In 1993 Quy’s father was granted asylum to the United States. The family of seven lived in a small, roach-infested two-bedroom apartment in Alexandria, Virginia. Quy often dreamed big about his future. Watching his mother slave at three jobs and his father working the graveyard shift to support him and his four brothers motivated him to be financially independent. He worked odd jobs to alleviate the family’s financial pressures instead of attending classes throughout high school. As a result, his focus shifted away from academia and into the workforce. The tension between school, family and excessive work collided by the middle of his junior year. He dropped out of school and decided to move out of his parents’ house.

Shortly thereafter, Quy came to NEDP, asking for a waiver because of his young age. Once accepted to the program, he worked with enthusiasm and completed the program. Quy did not stop with NEDP. In 2010 he graduated magna cum laude from Northern Virginia Community College, a dream he would have never thought possible. After graduating, his next goal was to attend a university, and he applied to several. His two-page admission letter ended with the following.

“… My unique academic and business experiences have enabled me to see beyond the textbooks and helped me appreciate learning much more than my peers. If you are looking for an intelligent student who is not deterred by failure, highly ambitious and is able to advance beyond conceptual thinking and into practical wisdom, then I look forward to meeting my professors and classmates in the fall.”

Recently Quy visited, this time with his fiancé, a student at the University of Virginia. He excitedly told us he was accepted at the University of Michigan and American University, each awarding him large scholarships to support his academic career. Quy is now studying at the University of Michigan. This nice guy is well on his way. Congratulations, Quy!

“No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.” Buddha