We are proud to announce the winner of our 2022 Stout Law Firm Scholarship Contest: Anh Nguyen!
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Read Anh’s Essay
Some would think it was small, cramped, and dark, but I couldn’t tell them enough how much
this bedroom that my family shared meant to me. It was this room that welcomed my family to a
new life in America when we had nothing in hand. As night came, all four of us would lay down
together on a bed and share a blanket- the moment that wiped away all the loneliness and
nostalgia of the day with the warmth of unconditional family love.
August 28th marked seven years since my family moved to America from Vietnam. Looking
back, the memories of our early days in America hold a special place in my heart as a constant
reminder of the importance of family and my parents’ bravery to embark on a new life at an age
that no longer accommodates failure mercifully. Day by day, I am motivated by the chapped
hands of my father who has worked tirelessly in a factory. I am driven by the sore back of my
tenacious mother who has been bending down for hours in a nail salon while taking college
accounting courses. Their silent love and resilience as immigrant parents shaped the home that I
grew up into who I am today.
Through any challenge, my family has given me inner strength. Although growing up as
someone who has faced numerous hurtful comments and jokes about my accent or flaws in my
English, I woke up every day with eternal gratitude for my imperfection as I thought of my
parents who secured my family, found jobs, and raised me and my sister with their “broken”
English. I figured that my accent nor my barriers make my potential and value any less, but they
are a reflection of my migrant heritage, a vital piece that made up who I am today: driven and
relentlessly determined to embrace all opportunities that my parents have gifted me through their
sweats and tears. My family and I have crossed the border with nothing in our hands but hopes
so that someday I will cross the stage with a M.D in my hands.
My migrant heritage mindset stays rooted in my heart, nurturing me to become a risk-taker in
chasing my dreams. Not everyone is born at the same starting line, yet I believe that being a
low-income, first-generation immigrant does not limit what I can do. I reframed every setback
into moments of learning and a reason to move forward, making every step count. From each, I
learned, and to each, I adapted.