Minh Pham has 50 associate degrees. He’s run 42 marathons. He’s completed NASA internships, theater productions and Ironman triathlons.

To learn anything about him from his transcript is like trying to get a personality read of your professor from the SAC course catalog. 

He holds associate degrees in chemistry, biology, mathematics, theater, paralegal studies, music, real estate, ethnic studies, gender studies, library technology, early childhood education, public health, political science, anthropology, sociology, and dozens more, very few of them related to the other. Certificates range in everything from Vietnamese/English legal interpretation to Adobe web design.

I know that Minh went to UCLA and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry. So why did he return to SAC to complete so many programs after earning his B.S.? What does Minh want to do with all of this? 

For starters, he wants to be a doctor. A dual degree in medicine and public policy, or in medicine and medical law. He has so much more schooling to do, but he knows the reason why.

“So I can go and teach anywhere and practice,” he explains.

Which is great and all, but…why is he taking dance classes this semester? Why the certificate in real estate? Why did he spend a semester learning to cook paella?

MINH IRL

Minh sits across from me at Vietnamese cafe BAMBŪ Desserts & Drinks. He seems happy but tired because he just came from the gym. He’s sipping his favorite drink, an iced cold drink with coconut water, pandan jelly, basil seeds, brown longans and coconut. He has a slight build but is definitely in great shape, a sleeper build, as you say (he’s something of a fitness fanatic). He has a cherubic face and wears wire-rimmed glasses that somehow make him look pensive and younger than his 32 years of age. He speaks in a soft, almost playful voice. Minh smiles whenever he speaks, whenever you’re speaking, whenever he’s thinking. 

If you’ve been at SAC for a while, then you have probably seen him or even taken a class with him. Everybody knows him and praises him, and says he’s going places. 

Professor Chris Cannon from the theater department called Minh “the ultimate theater student.” 

A professor of anthropology described him as a “cheerleader” and “humble person.”

Anyone you ask. Nothing but praise. All I want to know is what makes Minh tick? 

WHO IS THE REAL MINH PHAM? 

By the end of our chat, I’m not sure if I really know. If anyone really does, but I do learn that he wakes up at 3 a.m.

Ask him why, and he’ll tell you about discipline. About mindset. About never giving up. But listen to him closely when he talks about it.

For nearly 17 years, Minh has been building a map. A comprehensive map. A map with so many routes, so many detours, so many alternate paths that it’s become less a navigation tool and more a work of abstract art. I guess I’m trying to get a sense if it’s a Jackson Pollock or an Etch-a-Sketch. Maybe it’s too soon to tell.

AMERICAN DREAMS

What’s certain is that Minh arrived in the United States from Vietnam with his family nearly two decades ago, when he was 15 years old. Minh’s father was in the Army and fought with the U.S. against the communists in Vietnam. He never had a chance at higher education. He went to trade school instead. His message to Minh was clear: “Make sure you get your education so you don’t struggle and make decent money.”

Minh got that message. 

With limited English, Minh was enrolled at El Modena High School just three weeks later. Minh started in ESL classes where he learned the pledge of allegiance and important holidays such as Thanksgiving, Fourth of July and Christmas. 

But he was motivated and asked his ESL teacher, Cherilyn Jensen, how to improve, challenging himself to move into regular English classes with native speakers. By the time he graduated, he had mastered the language.

Minh then came to SAC, and like any student with a clear goal, he transferred to a nice university. He graduated and claims he was accepted into medical school. 

That’s where the story gets weird.

NASA INTERN, LEADER FELLOW

It was seven years after he graduated that he got the opportunity to work as a Space Cadet and Leader Fellow. Now think about this: just seven years after getting his bachelor’s degree, Minh is working with the same organization that just sent astronauts around the moon. Minh talks about it with genuine excitement. It taught him critical thinking. It taught him how to analyze problems. “MESA saw how this internship with NASA had my two interests: medicine and humanity,” Minh said. “While doing this internship, it taught me that critical thinking and analytical problem-solving are everything, especially when doing research,” Minh said.

He was one of seven students selected out of hundreds. It truly all is impressive — Minh is impressive — but what does a future doctor have to do with outer space? 

Perhaps he viewed the internship as a way to prime his mind for the rigor of medical school, residency and taking the boards. Maybe, but fast forward from then, and Minh is now a fellow with Orange County. 

The full title is a New Leaders Council of Orange County Fellow, which basically means that Minh has been identified by some higher-ups as a young leader within Orange County, and they want Minh to meet other young leaders. To shape a better future through collaboration and innovation. To drive social and political change rooted in equity. Future politician stuff.

Wendy Cundiff, professor of anthropology at SAC, was jazzed about this opportunity for Minh: “He is very humble, and he wants to help the community.” Cundiff believes that Minh will continue to be a big help to the Vietnamese community of Orange County.

Bets are he will. It’s not hard to picture him running for office or becoming a mayor or senator or something one day. Heck, Minh for governor. 

But first…doctor, lawyer.

The question is if Minh is ready to move on. He knows SAC. He’s figured out how to get scholarships so that he doesn’t take a financial hit, and believe it or not, there are more classes he wants to take at SAC. “Taking all these classes is a part of nurturing my mind,” said Minh. “I want to be well-rounded.” 

Will the rounding out ever end, though? When does the next chapter begin?

What happens when he’s at a top-tier medical school surrounded by students who didn’t need eight years of community college to find their path? Students who’ve been on the “right track” their whole lives, while Minh was fashioning himself into the ultimate renaissance man? He’s a big Minh in a little pond right now. The ocean is a big place. Maybe it’s scary to take the plunge.

This could be the case. It could not. And at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter, because there are parts of Minh that haven’t been fully explored. Parts that are more spiritual than practical, more like music than language. The part that genuinely loves learning for its own sake, not for a degree, not for validation, but because the world is fascinating and he wants to understand it. 

The parts of him that enjoy dreaming about having a family one day with his girlfriend in Vietnam, in listening to Taylor Swift’s “Exile” (yeah, Minh is a Swiftie), in walking outside and helping a homeless person, not because it looks good on a resume, but because it makes him happy. The part that runs marathons not for recognition but because his body can. There’s something sacred about pushing past limits and discovering what you’re made of. 

He’s a human being who’s striving, who’s scared. Who’s brilliant and lost and determined and procrastinating all at once. He’s mysterious, and why shouldn’t he be? 

Here’s the truth about Minh Pham: all of Minh’s roads lead to greatness, but no one, not even Minh, knows which one he actually wants to take. 

In the meantime, he’ll be at SAC, registering for classes, pursuing internships, participating in anything and everything, and honing his mind, body and reputation for whatever’s next. 

The mystery of Minh Pham isn’t who he is. It’s how far he will go. And honestly, when the time comes, Minh will be ready. The only thing bigger than his transcript is his heart.