Ben Nguyen has made history as Ohio’s youngest and first South Vietnamese American elected official in the state.
“My grandfather came over from the Fall of Saigon,” he told Spectrum 1 News. With only $2 in his grandfather’s pocket, Nguyen said his family escaped and came to the U.S.
At only 18 years old, Nguyen was sworn in this week as a member of the Lakota School Board. He will be serving the same district from which he just graduated.
“I’m going to deliver on my goals and really prove that Gen-Z is here to stay,” he told Spectrum 1 News. “We’re not just the future, we’re the here and now. We want a seat at the table.”
Nguyen, a student at Miami University studying finance, will begin his four-year position at the board’s first meeting on Jan. 12.
“I look forward to being a full-time student these next four years and at the same time still dutifully serving the 101,000 different people in Liberty and West Chester Townships, and I think that I can juggle that. That’s why I signed on,” Nguyen told Fox19 Now.
Last month, Nguyen won one of three open seats against five other candidates. With more than 18 percent of the vote, he will be the only conservative on the board, Fox19 Now reported.
“This is a great country where anyone can go ahead and do anything, and I’m so deeply grateful that this community has given me the great privilege and honor to invest in the future of our students,” Nguyen told Journal-News.
Nguyen ran his campaign opposing the district’s tax levy, arguing his first-hand experience as a student in the Lakota school district provided him with different perspectives, Journal-News reported.
Michael McNamara, Butler County Treasurer, told Journal-News he was one of the first to encourage and support Nguyen’s candidacy.
“He has a depth to him that a lot of people don’t have, but he also brings a different perspective to the school board that is important,” McNamara said to Journal-News.
During Nguyen’s swearing in cermony, family, friends, state, and local officials all supported the newest board member.
“I really see an opportunity there for the school district to expand educational opportunities and ensure that, if we’re making future-ready students, that we’re actually providing them with a future of success,” Nguyen told Spectrum 1 News.
The Lakota school board is the state’s ninth-largest district and the largest suburban school system in Southwest Ohio, Journal-News reported.
Registration is closed for Common Ground: Building Together conference and gala award banquet in San Francisco on January 24. A shoutout to our planning committee: Jane Chin, Frank Mah, Jeannie Young, Akemi Tamanaha, Nathan Soohoo, Mark Young, Dave Liu, and Yiming Fu.
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