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!