Hong-Gam Le was born in the countryside of central Vietnam, where she spent the first seven years of her life. April 25, 1995 marked a significant turning point of her childhood; it was the day she and her family flew from Saigon to Boston. While trying to adjust to the new environment and lifestyle, this traditional girl was determined to preserve her native culture and language. This is maybe the reason why she has such a strongly distinguishable accent when speaking English. Growing up under strict parental discipline, she is a family-oriented daughter and a serious student. Education and community involvement are her top priorities.
With the aid and preparation provided by the Steppingstone Magnet Program, Hong-Gam entered Boston Latin School as a sixie. It was then that she started to really speak English and make American friends. Having always been at the top of the class in previous schools, she felt totally intimidated when being among one of the most intelligent selected group of students. Sixie year at the Annex building, however, is one of her favorite year at BLS. Although she was completely in tears when she received her first C in computer class, she enjoyed reciting Latin declension and memorizing Shakespeare for declamation.
Eighth grade was also a special year; members of class of 2006 finally moved to the main building and became a part of the BLS community. The school year was even more interesting for Hong-Gam. She participated in the Connection Program, which offered Theater and Art class in addition to regular curriculum. Her talent and interest for art, particularly visual art is uncovered and develops in later year as she enrolls in the Art AP program. She made a big mistake, however, for having chosen French as a foreign language. As much as she loves and appreciates this romantic language, she suffered twice during the last four years. Other than that, Hong-Gam is fairly satisfied with her academic performance at BLS. She has learned and experienced so much. Each year she makes more friends and becomes more active within and outside of school. She has been singing in Gospel Choir for two years and also participates in various other clubs as well as volunteering for community event. On her free time, Hong-Gam likes to listen to music and watch Chinese movies and read Vietnamese poetry and novels. She also enjoys talking and arguing with her three sisters and younger brother.
Looking back as an arising senior, Hong-Gam finds her junior year to be most meaningful and unforgettable. It is the most difficult, busy and stressful year of her life thus far. The experience, however, served as a mirror for her to look into it and see who she really is as a person. Besides having to keep up to the challenges of taking three AP and three honors courses, she also had to fulfill the mandatory 20 hours of internship at her community center each month and spent every Saturday at the Coalition for Asian Pacific American Youths or CAPAY. Joining this educational organization as a YouthlLearn, she learned about Asian American History in U.S and the problems and injustices in society. Although it was seriously time consuming and interfere with her academic performance, she finds it truly worthy to let her GPA drops a little in order to do what she thinks is no less important and what she is passionate about and feel proud of. The knowledge and experience that she gained were inspirational and deeply motivated her to become a helpful person for society and an activist fighting against social problems. Ultimately, this is one of the reasons why she applied for the Ward Fellowship, from which she wishes to learn and experience more about public service.
Her Sponsor is Mayor Thomas Menino.