Mai-Loan Nguyen
Central Catholic High School
AAYLC 2012 Scholarship Essay
“Be The Difference”
Martin Luther King Jr. was the difference between equality and inequality during the civil
rights movement in the 1960s. MLK led people through his courageous acts and served as a
leader through example. His example started a chain reaction that eventually changed the
whole United States. MLK exemplifies how leadership is the key element of being the
difference. Martin Luther King Jr. and many other leaders have been the difference and today, it
is my turn to be the difference by leading my peers to change.
In order to be a good leader, a person should encompass qualities such as courage,
understanding, and humility. Courage is the most important quality because it gives someone
the audacity to make change and stop going along with inequality in society. Understanding
allows a leader to comprehend and feel the passion others feel about the situation. Humility
allows leaders to admit they are wrong when their strategy is not working; it makes leaders open
to other ideas and essentially makes the movement more successful.
At the start of my freshman year, I was timid and shy. I did not say what I thought or
want to act smart because I was afraid my peers would make fun of me. Over the course of the
last four years, I learned to be myself; I have started to speak up and use my voice. My voice
has become who I am and I cannot hide that. I cannot be afraid of success or be ashamed of
who I am. My voice has become the way that I can defend myself from the racism, stereotypes,
and insulting jokes that surround me at school. Many of my peers who are also Asian American
also face these challenges at school, which is what led many students my freshman year to
create the Asian Pacific Islander Club.
It was challenging to start a club like this because many students thought that this club
was racist and exclusive, but that was never our intention. Our intention was to have a safe
place where we could all be understood. I had been treated unfairly and bullied by my peers
because of my ethnic background. The way I responded was to make people aware that there
are many clubs that are a safe zone and will help to raise awareness to the rest of the school
about how racism, stereotypes, and insulting jokes can hurt people severely. Although those
panels have stopped, I have continued responding to this unfair treatment by joining peer
mediators as well as being an active member of the Asian Pacific Islander Club. As a result of
my response within the last four years at Central Catholic, I believe that I have helped many
students, including myself, to find their voices. Through finding our voice, we also found a sense
of pride and joy in our ethnic background and who we are. I hope that in the near future, the
diversity panel as well as other way to raise awareness of diversity is carried out by another
student who sees the vision of one day ending racism at our school. I hope to end racism at our
school in order to build a fair, safe, and kind environment for all students to learn and be
themselves.