By Emily Chan
As Kenny Nguyen, Fountain Valley High School’s (FVHS) new Accelerated Geometry and Pre-calculus teacher walks through the vast campus, he often reminisces on his own FVHS experience. Though there have been many changes made to the school in terms of modernization and student culture, FVHS will always hold a special place in his heart.
“[It] is kind of like you’re reliving [your own high school experience]. [When I’m] walking around the campus, I always kind of [have] this feeling of like, back when I was in high school … I hung out [here],” Nguyen said.
Nguyen’s professional career began when he was quite young. Since he wasn’t as well off as a child, he often worked odd jobs in order to purchase what he wanted and needed.
“It taught [me] a lot because it … taught [me] the meaning of a dollar. When someone gives you the money versus when you go and you make money is a little bit different … because you care more,” Nguyen said.
In his earlier years, Nguyen’s goal was to always be a computer programmer. Following his goal, Nguyen had been a website developer for a car customization company before his teaching career. Since his job was to promote the company’s products, he spent his time reading books on website programming and coding. However, once he began to help kids with their spiritual life as the president of the youth group at his church, he understood that his heart was somewhere else.
“I realized that I did not want a nine-to-five job … [because] I found a passion [for] helping kids and being able to kind of motivate and push them in a positive direction. That was always really exciting for me,” Nguyen said.
Nguyen has also always been passionate about math as well as guiding others. Thus, it was only natural for him to become a teacher.
“Math is super fun on any given day so I decided to follow that route and it worked out pretty well [for me],” Nguyen said.
During his classes, he often odes knowledge to great mathematicians who came before him such as Euclide, Einstein and Tao. Nguyen was first introduced to these mathematicians during his college courses and has implemented their teachings within his own lessons ever since. This is because he believes in the importance of introducing the why behind each branch of mathematics.
“I took all of these difficult math classes and these [mathematicians] would always come up. [Since it has always been] because of him we’re able to do this and because of him we are able to discover that, I’m able to kind of see math in a different way,” Nguyen said.
Although there are many events in his life that have influenced the person he is today, two events, in particular, were significant because they had the possibility of ending his life.
Nguyen grew up on a farm and since his family didn’t have access to running water, they had to get water from the nearby well. One day, as he went to get water, the weight of the water-filled bucket began to pull him down into the well. However, just as he began to make his descent into the water, his sister grabbed his leg and pulled him up.
The next incident occurred around his sophomore year in high school. While he was boogie boarding with his friend, another surfer lost control of his surfboard. That surfboard hit Nguyen’s head, knocking him unconscious. Once his friend noticed his state, he pulled Nguyen out of the water and ultimately saved his life.
That being said since both events happened pretty early on in his life, they didn’t have a big impact on him and his perception of life itself. But even if these near-death experiences didn’t majorly alter Nguyen’s worldview, he will say that he is very grateful for the people he had in his life during those moments and those in his life currently.
So, he urges students to have gratitude for what they have and reminds them how happiness is not achieved from materialistic things.
“What makes you happy [is] the people you have around you [and having an understanding of] what [you] are doing to keep the people around you around. [Happiness] means [sharing] your love and [giving] more than you receive [because] that’s how you show [your loved ones that] you love them,” Nguyen said.
