Not Your Average C-Average Kid

Few parents of a C-average middle school student would have their child shoot into honors courses, then bypass high school for college. And few colleges would accept such a youngster.

But that’s exactly what happened to James Nguyen, who at age 15 graduated Friday with an associate science degree in biology from Santa Ana College--the youngest in the graduating class of 2,000.

Two years ago, James, who was getting Cs and Ds in sixth grade, told his mother he was bored.

“I would come crying to my mom, telling her I was going nowhere,” James said this week as he prepared for his final exam in chemistry. “I was not being motivated by what I was being taught.”

His mother, Ilene, at first listened hesitantly to his complaints.

“A lot of people were saying, ‘School knows best.’ So I didn’t say anything. I let it go,” she said. “But then he started coming home crying and told me he couldn’t take it anymore. I decided to see if I could help him out.”

She lobbied for her son to take honors courses at his Santa Ana school, in the hope that more difficult material would stir his intellect. Part-time at first, James got good grades that eventually lead him to a full-time honors course load.

“At first, the schoolteachers and administrators laughed at me, but when my son got straight A’s it was like a wake-up call for them. They realized he was something special,” said James’ mother, who works as a secretary for the safety and security office at Santa Ana College.

When Nguyen realized her son--then in seventh grade--needed more challenges, she persuaded Santa Ana College officials to allow James to take classes there. He has been at the community college since, bypassing the rest of middle school and all of high school.

“I was a little nervous at first,” Nguyen recalled. “But I knew he was something special.”

James now is heading for a summer full of greater challenges. He will attend Harvard University’s medical school for a summer internship. In the fall, he will attend UC Irvine to study biology, with the goal of becoming a doctor.

“I would like to become a cardiologist,” James said. “Several in my family have suffered from [heart disease], and I feel that I give back and help out that way.”

For Tom Osborne, honors coordinator of the Rancho Santiago Community College District, James’ situation exemplifies how students need to be motivated.

“James is a striking example that students fall through the cracks and want to be challenged and nurtured,” Osborne said. “Students like James also need support and attention to develop their full potential.”

James can’t agree more, and he hopes his example will inspire others. “I just hope other students in my position can learn that they need to ask for more and aspire for more.”