17 year old WIlliam Nguyen, junior at DSST Montview High School, comes from a family of Vietnamese immigrants, having arrived in America before his birth in search of opportunity. William has grown with great expectations for him by his family, constantly working to ensure his success in school to satisfy these expectations. “I would say my greatest strength is reliability, because it ensures that whatever task I’m entrusted with, will be completed.” He works constantly both at home and school to maintain his high academic standards. “My greatest achievement is being able to push through multiple AP classes and balance my life and their work with my junior year.” His dedication was far before his junior year as he also  found pride in his ability to “push through AP Chem as sophomore, which was notoriously difficult.” He is a man who finds fulfillment in his ability to work things out for himself within the school environment. He is often a shoulder to his friends as well, using his hardworking mind to assist them with their academic endeavors. Similarly, he serves to be an important role model for his younger brother, Winston, another aspiring boy who has begun his careful academic journey. However, this hard work cannot come without its problems. “Weaknesses, the major one is procrastination, and another I would say is organization. I’m not great with working on assignments until the last minute, and I normally start organized but it quickly breaks down into shoving everything in my backpack.” These two have been the greatest factors to holding William back from his more stress free chances at keeping up with his work and expectations. Even so, this did not dull his work ethic in any manner. He would continue working as hard as possible, despite his setbacks. “I think advice I would give my old self is to tough it up and it’ll be fine, no matter the circumstances, life will continue to move forward and they have to accept that. While I wouldn’t be suggesting accepting defeat, I wouldn’t want the past to weigh too heavily on them, especially from things that would be null one day in the future.” Seeking a bright future through his academic prowess, William seeks a higher education in fields of his interest. “I’ve been able to use the technological skills that I took from Robotics and have been able to utilize them in AP Comp Sci. It’s been extremely helpful in learning a new language that has similar syntax.” He uses new and old information to inform his decisions about his education and ensure his continued academic achievement for when he makes his decision. This decision, of course, is not one easily made on a whim or through simple interest alone, so he remains yet undecided, but hopeful nonetheless. “In five years, I see myself wrapping up my Senior year of college as a member of the class of 2028. I see myself walking into the big graduation stage and accepting my degree in the major I decide to pursue.”