Thoroughgood Scholar Eyes Career In Medicine

By Steve Daniel

The Alumni Association couldn’t have hoped for a better recipient of its first Adam Thoroughgood Scholarship than freshman Jennifer Trang Le. The endowed award includes full tuition, room and board, books and computer for four years, plus funding to study abroad or conduct research for three summers.

“Jennifer Le is going to be an extraordinary addition to the university and the alumni family,” said former Alumni Association president Lauren Conner ’79, who chaired the selection committee. “She is certainly a worthy individual and one who will represent the Alumni Association beautifully. She epitomizes what a scholar at Old Dominion University can be.”

As recipient of the scholarship, Le will serve as the student representative to the Alumni Association board of directors.

A graduate of Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School for Government and International Studies in Richmond, Le met the preferred requirements for the new scholarship – minimum 1450 SAT score and 3.8 GPA, demonstrated leadership, productivity in a specific area of interest and proficiency in another language (she has taken one year of Latin, two years of Japanese and five years of French). But it was the well-rounded, motivated and compassionate person behind these achievements that most impressed the committee.

In addition to her strong academics, Le was a member of her school’s We the People team, which took part in simulated congressional hearings before judges in the nation’s capital. The team finished first in the state and fifth in national competition. She also competed in cross country, track and soccer. She plays the piano and violin, and since 2003 has given piano lessons to students in grades 2-8. She has volunteered at both a local hospital and a YMCA child-care program, and tutored a young child who was struggling in elementary school.

Le, who plans to become a doctor, served the past year in a mentorship program with Dr. Wei Zhao, director of the Allergy and Immunology Clinic at Medical College of Virginia. In a letter of recommendation, Zhao described Le as “mature and self-motivated, eager to learn.”

In the essay she submitted for the scholarship competition, Le wrote, “My compassion toward the underprivileged has driven my lifelong goal to assist people in developing countries as an experienced medical practitioner. Pain is indiscriminate regardless of economic status or nationality. A patient dying of cancer in a United States hospital suffers from pain as does an abandoned and emaciated man by the side of a road in Calcutta.”

Le said she will likely major in biology, and plans to pursue a minor in music. “Lately I’ve been considering the prospect of becoming a surgeon, particularly one who specializes in plastic and reconstructive surgery,” she said. “I work well with children and can also see myself involved in a pediatric specialty. One day I hope to use my skills to help impoverished children in other countries around the world.”

Le will be the second-generation member of her family to attend Old Dominion. Her father, Hoang Viet Le, graduated in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree in engineering technology. He currently is an engineering manager in the nuclear engineering department at Dominion Virginia Power.

It was April 1975 when the elder Le came to the United States from Vietnam, after Saigon fell to the communist forces. He was 16 and knew little English. Jennifer’s mother and her family also left Vietnam in the summer of 1975, escaping on one of the helicopters that lifted off from the U.S. Embassy compound, an iconic scene frozen in time by film footage of the Vietnam War.

Le’s parents are understandably proud of their daughter. “While I am happy with Jennifer’s academic achievements, I am most proud of her ambition to travel abroad as a doctor to help needy children,” her father said.

He was also pleased by Jennifer’s decision to enroll at his alma mater. “Ultimately, she chose ODU over UVa after visiting the school and meeting with two biology professors and the dean of the Honors College,” he added.