A resident of South Boston, Minh Nguyen entered Boston Latin School in the seventh grade and is a member of the class of 2003. Finishing his junior year of high school, Minh humbly accepts the John William Ward Fellowship. For the summer, he is an intern for Senate President Thomas Birmingham but reports directly to the Counsel to the Senate. Fascinated by the nature of his office, Minh feels very lucky to be assigned to a branch of the State House that has such a direct impact on the laws and policies of Massachusetts. The Counsel to the Senate is composed of six lawyers who go through all of the Bills and Resolutions that are passed by the State Senate. Their job is to make sure that the wordings in all of the Bills and Resolutions are well defined, easy to understand, and most importantly lawful. The Counsel to the Senate also gives legal advice to State Senators on matter of State interest. Working in this office, Minh has been fortunate enough to look over some of the Bills that are currently being considered in the Senate. From the lawyers and staff members, Minh is learning how a Bill is draft and the many steps that are required before it becomes a law.
Minh did not join the Ward Fellowship for its prestige. Far from that, he strongly believes in community service and has great interests in state and local government in these volatile times. Leaving a job that pays eleven dollars an hour, Minh embarks on a journey to seek inspirations and knowledge of how a small house on top of a hill with a staff of a little over 1,000 people is able to manage and run a state whose population is over six million people and whose land stretches over 140 miles from east to west and 110 miles from north to south at its widest point.
Minh’s interest in community service is shown in his founding of a 501 (c) (3) non-profit program called Project Book-net (www.projectbooknet.org) in December of 2000. The program works with publishing houses and book donors to facilitate donated books and learning materials to needy academic institutions around the world. The program holds a strong presence in Boston and last year with a partnership with U.P.S. has begun working in Africa. Minh also spends his time volunteering as a suicide and crisis counselor at the Samariteens of Boston, a chapter of the suicide and crisis hotline called Samaritans. Because of his work with Project Book-net and Samariteens, Minh is interested in a career of business, public relations, or psychology. His interest in business has led him to found a business called MN Enterprises (www.mnenterprises.net). MN is a web consulting company with a staff of seven web masters most of whom are college students. Working with MN, Minh gets a different taste of what it feels like to run a for-profit organization.
In school, Minh is a member of the Varsity Tennis Team, the Founder and Director of a Latin book restoration project called The B+I Legacy Project. He is also involved with the school magazine and newspaper. When he has free time, he likes to jog and hang with his friends. In the fall of his senior year, Minh is looking forward to applying to Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard College, Boston University, NYU, Columbia University, Brown University, Georgetown and Tufts University.
Minh’s sponsor is Thomas Birmingham.