JUNCTION CITY, Kan. – Elyse Nguyen, a 2021 Junction City High School graduate, has definitely made the most of her time as a student at Yale University. She will graduate from Yale, one of the most prestigious universities in the world, with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology on Monday, May 19.
“Being a Yale graduate gives me a lot of pride. I am very honored to share not only a part of my identity with so many amazing people and peers whom I am going to graduate with, but also several other amazing alumni who are doing great work throughout the world now and have done great things throughout history,” said Nguyen.
While at Yale, Nguyen recently received the Dwight Hall Mental Health Fellowship, a one-year financial award for students with a passion for community mental health, which supports current shadowing and research activities at both the Yale School of Nursing and Connecticut Mental Health Center. She is also a member of the Psi Chi Membership, an International Honor Society in Psychology.Following graduation, Nguyen, who is Vietnamese American, will be attending the Yale School of Nursing in August with goals of becoming a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner - PMHNP.
“The program is three years long and will allow me to sit for the NCLEX exam and become a registered nurse after one year while also graduating with a master’s degree in nursing after two more years of school. I will also be eligible to sit for the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner board certification exam and be both an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse and a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner,” said Nguyen, who plans to be a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner at a community health center and serve underserved populations following her time at Yale.
In about two weeks when Nguyen walks across the stage, she will do so proudly as she will be the first member of her family to graduate from a university in the United States as her parents Tina Pham and Nhan Nguyen are both from Vietnam and migrated to America in 2002. Her mother, Tina, who currently works at Lincoln Elementary as a cafeteria worker, graduated from college in Vietnam, but did not complete her graduate degree. Her father, Nhan, was stationed at Fort Riley.
During her time as a student in Geary County Schools USD 475, Nguyen attended Morris Hill Elementary, Lincoln Elementary, Junction City Middle School, the Freshman Success Academy and Junction City High School.At every stop along the way, she learned so many valuable lessons that she still uses today.
“I am really thankful to all the teachers I had during my time in JCHS and in USD 475. I feel like I had the best, most supportive teachers ever. I really owe it to teachers for nurturing my love for learning and allowing me to keep challenging myself. I am also really grateful for the career path system that JCHS had. It allowed me to take so many courses in various career fields and narrow down my interests. It also meant I got to take so many classes that don’t have much to do with my current career plans but that I still really enjoyed like Intro to Accounting and Intro to Drawing,” said Nguyen.
Those teachers that were so supportive of Nguyen in USD 475 like Lincoln Elementary’s Jennifer Farr, former Lincoln principal Kathi Teeter, now Junction City Middle School’s Tyrek Artley, Junction City High School’s Alicia Goheen, Michael Brown and Nancy Dettmer, as well as countless others she named throughout the district are still making a difference in her life today even though she is 1,404.8 miles away. She looks back at her time with them fondly as they really poured into her and allowed her to shine throughout her time in USD 475 and at Yale.“I could honestly write a personal thank you note to everyone and so many other teachers who I am unfortunately forgetting the names of at this exact moment.
I am really grateful to Alicia Goheen as she was a huge mentor to me at JCHS, and I loved having her as both my Spanish teacher as well as my Scholars Bowl coach. Most importantly, I always felt that she cared strongly for her students, something that was very evident during the pandemic when I remember I would attend her office hours and just talk about life. I also am really grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Brown. The high school musicals were always a highlight of my year, and I am so grateful that they took me in and fought to keep me there. I had the best and most stressful weeks at JCHS thanks to them. They always made everyone feel welcome. They allowed you to have fun while challenged to put on a great show,” said Nguyen.