Y Hoang speaks to a gathering at St. Mary's Academy.
St. Mary's Academy photo

Laughter rings throughout the St. Mary’s Academy commons. Then Y Hoang gets down to business, heading over to the piano. She adjusts her seat and sets her fingertips lightly on the piano, but she doesn’t play. She simply touches the keys, moving silently through several different chords. It’s her way of getting focused for a serious conversation.

Music may calm Y (pronounced ‘ee’) Hoang, but it’s also one of her greatest passions. This passion is perhaps elevated by the fact that it is her music that brought her to a new life, and, ultimately, to St. Mary’s Academy.

Born in Vietnam, Hoang’s first opportunity to come to the U.S. came when she was invited to play at Carnegie Hall when she was 14. She took first place at the competition, even though she had been playing only six years.

While in the U.S., Hoang travelled to Portland, which took her past St. Mary’s.
“The tour guide said it was an all-girl’s Catholic school,” Hoang says. “I saw all these enthusiastic, athletic girls at P.E., and I thought, ‘That is so great!’”

Unfortunately, her return home was not a triumphant one, despite her first place award. She returned to find that she was not allowed to go to school because she had missed the test to get into high school.

“It felt like my life had ended before it had really started,” Hoang said. But her luck soon turned around.

While in the U.S., Hoang met and played for a family, who, upon hearing that Hoang could not attend school in Vietnam, helped her become an exchange student. Hoang went to live with them in April 2006—alone. Her family would wait in Vietnam for the chance to become legal immigrants to the U.S.

“We’ve been waiting for 30 years to come to the United States—ever since the Vietnam War,” Hoang says.

Hoang’s grandfather fought for the United States in the war, which, along with her family’s Catholic faith, made life difficult in communist Vietnam.

“It was pretty hard,” Hoang admits. “You have to be careful about everything you say. If you don’t, it will get you into trouble.”

In February, Hoang came to St. Mary’s as a student with a smile and an eagerness to continue her education. It didn’t take long for her to make friends. Her energy was infectious.

“I was captivated from the beginning by who she is and her outgoingness and gratitude at being here,” says Michael Reinbold, religion teacher.

Hoang’s friends joke that her enthusiasm for the school, teachers and even homework showed the symptoms of “freshman-itis.” However, unlike many students’ attitudes as they are bogged down with more and more homework, Hoang’s outlook never changes. Even as a junior, with college looming ahead and an increasingly rigorous workload, she exhibits a love of life that inspires those around her.

This year, Hoang’s enthusiasm has found new outlets. “She’s getting more involved, and doing things that she really loves,” says Kim Kilday, a junior.

Hoang has thrown herself into extracurricular activities like French. Nothing she adds to her schedule is taken lightly. Hoang chooses activities she is passionate about and then gives them everything she has. Her family joined her this summer after more than a year of separation, finally able to move to the U.S. as legal immigrants. The dream her family held onto since the Vietnam War is finally realized. The journey was not easy but Hoang faced it, not with bitterness, but by embracing every opportunity life has handed her.

“Y caused me to realize how lucky I am to come here and how lucky I am to have so many friends,” Kilday says. “Other people blow their problems out of proportion, but Y has an in-proportion view.”

Now Hoang goes to the piano again, this time to play. All of the students in the commons turn and watch her, smiling. Y Hoang just keeps on playing.

The writer is a junior at St. Mary’s Academy.