A mother’s dreams for her child, fulfilled at Augsburg

Chau Nguyen was nervous as she waited for her mother to ride the escalator down to the baggage claim at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

"What if I don't recognize her?" Nguyen asked her two friends from Augsburg College.

It had been nearly six years since Xuan Loc Dang had put her 14-year-old daughter on a plane from Vietnam to the United States. Since then, Nguyen had grown from a teenager to a young woman -- big purse hanging from her arm, BlackBerry in her hand, Puma sneakers on her feet.

"Is she going to like what I've become? Am I too Americanized for her?" Nguyen said. "She tells me every time she e-mails, 'Remember who you are. You are a Vietnamese woman.'"

She kept bending down to glance up the escalator. Her mother wasn't coming. Nguyen walked to the baggage carousel, rounded a concrete pillar, and there she was.

They hugged. And cried. And laughed. And cried some more.

Nguyen will graduate on Saturday from Augburg College with a degree in international business and math. And cheering her from the seats in Melby Hall will be her mother, proud that her sacrifice paid off, with ambitions that her daughter will continue her new life a world away from Dalat City, Vietnam.

Nguyen -- who is called Tina by her family and friends -- had just completed the Vietnamese equivalent of junior high when she found out she had been selected for an exchange program in the United States. At that point, there was no question what was going to happen.

"I was scared, I was pretty sad," Nguyen said. "But [my mother] said, 'No, this is for your future.'"

It was August 2002. Nguyen left for the United States wearing an orange winter coat and $500 stashed in a secret pocket her grandmother had sewn in her pants. She spent a year in a small northern Illinois town called Oregon.

That first winter, Nguyen tried ice skating and broke her ankle. "It was hard the first year," she said. "My English wasn't that good. I couldn't understand people half of the time."

She learned other things. American teenagers hugged each other in public. French fries and potato chips tasted good. And she was more independent than she had thought.

She spent the following year in suburban Denver, squeezing her final two years of high school into one.

Nguyen learned about Augsburg through a college fair in Denver and was drawn to the opportunity to study both international business and math while graduating in four years. She had never seen the campus until she arrived in Minneapolis in 2004.

Sitting in the lobby of Augsburg's Orem Gateway Center, Nguyen can't go more than a minute or two without waving or flashing a big smile at someone she knows.

International students make up only 2 percent of Augsburg's 2,400 undergraduates, and unlike Nguyen, tend to be older than their American-born counterparts.

"It's difficult to appreciate the perseverance [she had] to stay on track and accomplish her academic goals," said Jim Trelstad-Porter, the international student advisor at Augsburg. "So few people can relate to the kind of sacrifice she and other international students make to get a university education."

Nguyen told her story at an event for Augsburg donors.

"Of course I cried," she said.

But she also touched the hearts of one couple. Augsburg supporters Jim and Kathy Haglund decided to pay the airfare for Dang's journey from Ho Chi Minh City to Hong Kong to Los Angeles to Minneapolis.

Dang arrived Monday night. She was amazed by the number of cars on the road. She was surprised by how big and clean grocery stores are here. She wants to cook Vietnamese food for Nguyen.

"People [at Augsburg] told me Tina is a good girl and always does her best and she tries her best to learn," said Dang, a manager for a restaurant chain who now lives in Ho Chi Minh City with her son and other daughter. "It's not easy to get a diploma from a university in America."

The first night, mother and daughter stayed up talking until 3 a.m. The nervousness Nguyen felt is gone.

"I'm really happy for her, because this is her dream for me to graduate from college," said Nguyen, who will also have her host families from Illinois and Colorado at Saturday's graduation. "Having me finish college in America is a huge dream come true for her. I'm really happy that she can see my accomplishments. The reason I'm here is because of her."

Now Nguyen has to figure out what's next.

Her student visa will allow her to stay in the United States for another year and work. After that she has to work for a company that will help her secure a more permanent visa, go to graduate school or return to Vietnam.

She is applying for jobs in the Twin Cities -- where she would like to stay in part because of her Vietnamese-American boyfriend -- but acknowledges that finding a company that will help her navigate the visa process can be a challenge. She also wants to earn a masters degree in business administration.

Nguyen would like to return to Vietnam next summer and see her family. Those relatives, however, are concerned that if she visits, red tape will keep her from returning to the United States.

"I know my whole family's hopes and faith is for me to stay in America and build a future," she said. "They really don't want me to have to go back to Vietnam and take a job that doesn't pay well. They really want me to stay here and get a nice-paying job and get a house and invite them over to visit."

Jeff Shelman • 612-673-7478