Vietnamese American teacher opens school in US

Van Tan Hoang Vy, 38, is the principal of Van Houston Academy in Houston, Texas. For Vy, the journey has been a long time coming.

The native of Nha Trang City said he never dreamed of becoming a teacher when he was a child. In 2001 when he was a 10th grader specializing in mathematics at Nha Trang’s Le Quy Don High School for the Gifted, he won a scholarship to study at Ashbourne College London, a private high school in the U.K.

After high school, he enrolled in imperial College London and studied at the Department of Mathematics.

On his first Easter holiday in the U.K., Vy joined professors at the university in a tutoring program for students in Hackney, the poorest area of London. He was hired as a teaching assistant.

Vy admitted that he initially only joined the program because of the high payment. Working as a waiter, he earned five pounds (US$6.30) per hour, while the payment for a teaching assistant was five times that. Then, due to a lack of professors, he was chosen to teach several classes instead of just assisting.

"By then, I had never thought of learning math to work as a teacher. I always dreamed of working for investment banks," he said.

However, after just a few days working as substitute teacher, Vy became more enthusiastic about the work when he saw the positive effect he could have on students by helping them understand their studies.

The following summer, he continued to work as a tutor and became adored by many students. This made Vy more confident in his teaching proclivities and he decided to pursue a career in education.

After graduating, Vy came to the U.S. to visit his family and learned that Sam Houston High School in Texas was recruiting teachers. By then, the school had been ranked "academically unacceptable" by the state for six consecutive years. Most students at the school come from poor families, had not been instilled with an appreciation of education, and many had become mothers and fathers and/or criminals at an early age.

"I wanted to challenge myself. If I’m a good teacher, I must be able to teach and approach all students, regardless of their situations and qualities," Vy said.

Van Tan Hoang Vy (first row, 3rd from L) with his students at Sam Houston High School in Texas in an old photo. Photo courtesy of Van Tan Hoang Vy

In late August of 2008, Vy became Sam Houston's new math teacher, in charge of teaching seven 11th-grade classes with 200 students. Of 80 female students at the school, 70% were pregnant or had already given birth to children. Many of them were not able to perform basic equations, did not know how many sides a triangle had, nor how to calculate the radius of a circle or solve rudimentary math problems.

Vy surveyed the students and began preparing lectures according to the state's curriculum. During each lesson, he analyzed which skills students did not yet have and began to make adjustments so that they could keep up with curriculum slowly but surely.

As many students did not like going to school, Vy recognized that to change their minds, he must prove that he really cared about them. For every class that lasted 55 minutes, he only spent 7-8 minutes lecturing and spent the remaining time giving example of the practical uses of math. Vy also tried to become friends with each student to learn about their family situations as well as their romantic relationships and give them advice when they asked.

Knowing that his students liked to play basketball after class, he stayed and watched them play. On the weekends, he came to the garage where his students worked part-time to wash cars with them and then used the payment he earned at the garage to take students on field trips to famous universities.

Vy believes that he kept students interested this way and nurtured their dreams of going to college. At the end of his first school year at Sam Houston, Vy's students had been able to grasp basic mathematical concepts and all students he tutored passed their final exams.

Over four years at Sam Houston, he helped almost 600 students get into college. Also during this time, he obtained a master's degree at Stanford University in the field of lesson planning and teacher training.

Then with his experience and the MA degree, Vy decided to open his own Vietnamese school in the city. Van Houston Academy (VHA) came into life in 2016 and at first, it operated like an education center that only had extra classes to help weak students and tutor those who wanted to get higher SAT scores. Two years later, the center was upgraded into a private school.

Vy said that in order to open a private school in the U.S., he must also obtain a principal's certificate. In the first two years teaching at the school, he studied, took an exam, and got the certificate from the state. To fund the school, he maintained the after-school tutoring model and opened more SAT training courses.

When VHA first opened as a private school in 2018, it had only three teachers and eight students. At the end of that year, the number of students had increased to 20, and a year later to 40. "The school drew more and more students thanks to the parents who believed in me," said Vy.

Van Tan Hoang Vy is now the principal at the school he founded, Van Houston Academy. Photo courtesy of Van Tan Hoang Vy

According to U.S. regulations, private schools must operate for at least two years to be considered for Cognia accreditation, without which high school diplomas lose their value. For the accreditation, five educational experts were sent to the school, interviewing teachers, students, and parents to grade and check lesson plans. Eventually, the school passed the assessments by Cognia, the world's largest educational accreditation organization.

These days, the school has 20 teachers and 200 students from kindergarten to 12th grade. "This year, the school was licensed to recruit international students from Vietnam for the first time, and we got 20 students," Vy said.

Among the curricula at the school is a course teaching Vietnamese for students from kindergarten to 9th grade. "We have received a lot of positive feedback from Vietnamese parents. They are happy that their children can now speak their mother tongue," said Vy.

Vietnamese student Johnny Nguyen was one of the first six VHA students to graduate from high school last year. He is currently a first-year student majoring in nursing at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota.

Studying at VHA since the eighth grade, Nguyen said he was grateful to his teachers for creating an "open, safe, non-judgmental space" for students to be themselves and not feel afraid to ask questions. "They always encouraged and pushed me in the right direction. In addition to knowledge, they also taught me about time management and communication skills," Nguyen said.

Van Tan Hoang Vy (C) and other teachers take photos with the first six students to graduate from high school at Van Houston Academy in 2022. Photo courtesy of Van Tan Hoang Vy

Lily Nguyen has two children studying at VHA. She said both of them have made clear progress, and have not only improved their studies but also are able to help other students.

"My two children like studying here because the teachers are enthusiastic, and also they have the chance to learn drawing and gymnastics. I am very grateful to teacher Vy," she shared. "I am proud of the results the students have achieved. No matter how well I say it, if students do not make progress and cannot enter university, their parents will not trust the school."

In the near future, he hopes to move VHA to new, larger location and increase its scale to about 600 students.