Last month, Hao had the extreme privilege to participate in the Reading Culture program being showcased at the Houston Community College Spring Branch and Alief Hayes campuses. The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen, was the featured book of the month bringing everyone together to talk about the country of Vietnam and the harrowing plights of so many refugees that sacrificed everything to live a life of freedom in the West. All month long, there were a multitude of themed events to support this topic, and Hao felt honored to have been asked to be a part of it.  

On Wednesday 10/24, Hao had the opportunity to share his own personal Vietnamese refugee story with the HCC community at the Spring Branch campus as a featured guest speaker for HCC’s, THE REEL. While on Thursday, Hao presented a second time to students, teachers and community members at the HCC Alief Hayes campus as well. Having spent more than half of the month so far focusing on Vietnam, the consensus of the audience was heartfelt and teeming with inquiries about Hao’s near-death escape as well as the struggles and successes he’s experienced along the way.   

Hao was invited to these talks by esteemed HCC professor, and local Best in Class franchise owner, Dr. Veronica Reyna, who helped organize this month’s Reading Culture program.  As soon as the topic was decided upon, she knew she had the perfect ace-in-the-sleeve presenter to add to the mix: the CEO and Chairman of the two franchises she and her husband own and run in the Houston suburb, Cypress, TX.  

As an additional special treat, the lucky students in Dr. Reyna’s Thursday morning 9:00 am, Spring Branch class received their own intimate book talk with Hao and had the opportunity to “get real on their own level as well. 

Overall,the three book talks at Houston Community College were a resounding success as Hao’s motivational theme of “pursuing your passions at all costs” fit in perfectly with the Reading Culture’s theme for the month and was well-received by all! Hao is looking forward to the next opportunity he has to visit with more of the outgoing, enthusiastic Texans at HCC!

Hao’s Houston Book Tour kicked off with an emphatic bang today at Nottingham Elementary School, thanks to the young, bright, inquisitive minds of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders that attended Hao’s book talk event this morning. His motivational presentation on perseverance, grit and finding your true passions in life really made a colossal impact on the students of Nottingham Elementary.

“What an awesome morning we had! The students were so attentive and very good listeners – they were paying attention to every single word Hao was saying,” exclaimed Carole Said, the local franchisee hosting the event from the Tully-Memorial Best in Class Education Center.  “They started asking questions even during the talk. So many times, the teachers had to stop and remind them to save their questions till the end!”

As you can see from the photo, many of the confident, astute Nottingham students came prepared to find out absolutely everything they could about Hao’s life. Hao commented, “They asked me so many questions about everything! From my wife, Lisa, to my birthday, to the food I ate in jail… It was incredibly inspiring to see them so excited and invested in my story.”

Hao concluded his presentation by providing the students with a handout containing important questions to ask one’s self this year and for every year thereafter, and he encouraged them to save it and continue to ask themselves what their passions are as they grow up and change over the years.  For all the questions they had ready for him, Hao had one last very important question to leave them with at the end, “I’ve shown you what my story is, now what is your story going to be?”

With such an inspiring group of young leaders present today, we look forward to hearing about all the future CEO’s and Entrepreneur stories that will come out of the Spring Branch Independent School District in the next few decades!

Thank you, Nottingham Elementary, for the perfect start to this Houston Book Tour!!!

We know you’ve been waiting for Hao’s next big Book Talk Tour and we are excited to announce that he is in Houston, Texas this week sharing his inspiring story at many different locations and to an array of audiences.  For two days straight he is bouncing around the city speaking at both private and public events and if you happen to be in the area, be sure to stop by one of these public events listed below to get your chance to hear Hao Lam’s unbelievable story and receive a free copy of his e-book!

Wednesday 10/24:

12:30 – 2:00 pm – Houston Community College –Spring Branch Campus – Eagle Room

5:30 – 7:00 pm – Parent Night – Eldridge Lakes Best in Class Education Center

Thursday 10/25:

12:30 – 2:00 pm – Houston Community College – Alief Hayes Campus – Auditorium

6:15 – 7:30 pm – Parent Night – Cypress-Lakewood Best in Class Education Center

Stay tuned to the haolamstory.com blog page to hear the highlights of this week’s events!

This Sunday, provide the gift of inspiration to your mom this year!

Portland, Oregon Book Talk Event

Join us at the Bethany Village Community Room at 15160 NW Laidlaw Rd. from 5:00 – 6:00 pm to get an energizing boost of inspiration and a free e-book of From Bad to Worse to Best in Class: A Refugee’s Success Story.

Hao will be passing out free bookmarks and raffling off free paperback copies of his book. Plus, every mom that attends will receive a flower from the Best in Class family!  We know our students wouldn’t be as successful as they are without the love and support of their moms and their entire family so we are extremely grateful for all of you out there!

If you haven’t bought your mom a gift yet, this could be the perfect option!  We hope to see you, your mom, and your entire family there!

Join us in Portland on Sunday May 13th to hear Hao Lam, CEO of Best in Class Education Center, share his outrageous story and kick-off his first official book speaking event of the year! (more…)