Many students dread early mornings, long nights of studying and all the commitment it takes when you’re a full-time student. Often the education that is offered to students in countries as fortunate as the United States is taken for granted. When sophomore Huong Le stepped foot onto U.S. soil at the age of eight, it was her dream to seek the education that she couldn’t believe was offered right in front of her.

“I cherish this opportunity because I know that people in Vietnam don’t get the chance for education,” Le said.

When Le traveled to the United States from Vietnam, it not only gave her an opportunity to pursue her dreams but it allowed her mother to give her children what she never had the opportunity to have, an education. Le spoke about Vietnam as a place that wasn’t as fortunate to have such a need for education in comparison to the U.S., “My mom’s dream was to go to school and have an education but in my country, it was poor so she didn’t have an opportunity to,” she said. According to Le, when she attended school in Vietnam for first and second grade she had to pay to be enrolled in school. Yet, to this day, students mock the importance of education but Le is motivated by her mother and never hesitates to challenge herself because of the new beginnings moving to the U.S. managed to give her.

As a sophomore, expecting to graduate in 2020, Le is enrolled in five AP classes such as AP U.S. History and Pre Calculus, alongside many juniors and seniors. As first rank in the class of 2020, Le has the goals and aspirations where some upperclassmen have just now been considering before their graduation date. In the future, she hopes to be studying business administrations and marketing at the University of Iowa. Already ahead of the game as usual, Le has already submitted an application to attend the University of Iowa Booksbound program where a high school student gets the opportunity to experience college life and college classes while completing high school classes as well. In fact, her older brother Phuc Le, senior sparked her interest when he got the chance to be enrolled into this life changing experience this year. She hopes to follow in her brother’s footsteps since he has set the bar so high for her.

It was just a matter of time, until Le was granted the #1 rank in her class. For Le, it took dedication to reach to the top especially with all her classmates having the same ambitious mindset.

Le talks about how she worked her hardest to take the #1 spot during the first semester of her sophomore year. ”This student in my class had a higher rank than me, so that motivated me to be better. This year I tried harder and got my GPA up so I could get first rank.”  
But right now, it is just the beginning for Le, constantly enrolling for AP classes, hoping to acquire a 4.5 GPA by her senior year and planning her future far before it arrives is what is setting her up for success as North High. Many students can learn to appreciate how great the opportunity of education is from Le and her story.