Super Students
Saturday, June 28, 1997
Name: Ngan Thai
Age: 17
School: Roosevelt High School
Favorite subject: Physics
Future: Orthodontist
When she was 8 years old, she escaped from Vietnam on a boat crammed with 154 other refugees with nothing to eat but rotting rice and the sweltering heat burning her skin. Such a trial could degrade the spirit, but giving up seems unfathomable to Ngan Thai. Determined to make it
Now a graduate of Roosevelt High School, Thai overcame the shadows of adversity with sunny determination. She finished in the top 15 percent of her class, was awarded numerous scholarships and will attend St. Mary's College in California this fall.
"My mom told me there's a lot of chocolate in America -- that's why I thought we were going," she said. "But it was horrible. You had to hold onto the boat or else you slide down to the ocean." While her parents stayed in Vietnam, Thai and some of her siblings spent 13 months in a squalid Philippines refugee camp before moving on to Hawaii.
Thai's household has nine siblings and spouses, including a handicapped sister who is mainly Thai's charge. "We all get along. They're really strict with me, but I'm glad I have so much responsibility. Sometimes I get really sad when I think of the past. But then I remember why I came to America."
"She's determined," said Nancy Scarci, Roosevelt college counselor. "Ngan is perfectly happy to do whatever it takes."
"I have to try really hard in school and sometimes it's embarrassing when I make mistakes," Thai said. "But I love it."
Mary Sano, Special to the Star-Bulletin
