From the Sunshine State, She’s Got What it Takes
By Veronica Ogbe
As a young girl one 16-year-old writer felt that college was more of a dream than an eventual reality. Her parents inspired this dream after emigrating to the United States from Vietnam. It has become a goal in her life to be a first-generation college graduate and a journalism major.
Ellen Pham has taken the initiative to make those dreams a reality. “Growing up, I had to learn things on my own because my parents being Vietnamese, didn’t know much about how to set me up on a successful path towards college,” Ellen said. “I knew early on if I wanted to go to college, I would have to learn and research things on my own,” Ellen said.
With such motivation, Ellen is involved with her local newspaper and writes a movie review every week.
“I spend time over the weekend writing the review on the movie I watched, and its due Sunday at midnight,” Ellen said. She was also given the opportunity to work with the College Board and travel around the country to speak at conferences.
“I like being the voice for other people who don’t have access to the resources they need in order to succeed, especially since my parents weren’t there to help me find out about opportunities that programs were offering,” Ellen said.
Being involved with these programs shows Ellen’s passion for a good education, and her love for writing. With her tools of knowledge and writing skills, this will help her reach her goal of finishing college and becoming a journalist.
“College is about the experience you get, and for me it’s a stepping stone towards success. Education all together is important and it’s something worth paying attention to,” Ellen said.
In the near future, Ellen would like to have an impact on others through emotions in her stories.
“I like human interest stories that give you an emotional impact. I want to write stories that make people think, laugh, cry and maybe even scared about things that could possibly happen in the world,” Ellen confessed.
In order to touch large amounts of people through her stories, Ellen would like to work at The New York Times. She would like her future employer to know that she has a curious personality, and would bring out the best in those she interviews in order to get a good story.
“I’m an optimist, and I say that proudly. I love telling peoples’ stories and that’s one of the reasons I want to become a journalist,” Ellen said.
In order to stay focused on her goals and dreams, Ellen constantly reminds herself about this quote written by Gandhi; “Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.”
“To me this means that something may seem meaningless in life, but it can still have an impact on someone else around you or it can lead up to something better in the end,” Ellen concluded.
This is why to Ellen, an article you write may not seem as important to the public as the journalist may think, but all it takes is one person to change from the story you created.