NKU Foundation Student Leadership Award Winner: Hanson Nguyen

NKU Foundation Student Leadership Award

Fourth-year health informatics major Hanson Nguyen has lived in Highland Heights for as long as he can remember. He grew up within minutes of Northern Kentucky University’s campus and attended Newport Central Catholic High School, where he was involved in drama, National Honor Society, cheerleading and mock trial. When it came time to enroll in college, Nguyen chose NKU for its generous financial aid and offerings for health care majors.

However, it was NKU’s tight-knit community that ultimately made Nguyen feel at home as a student. Despite initially struggling to find a niche as a freshman, getting involved with organizations like the Student Government Association, and later, Presidential Ambassadors, helped him gain the confidence to grow into a leader on campus.

“After putting myself out there for the first time, I continued to follow the notion that I could approach people instead of waiting on others to say something first,” Nguyen says. “I now have so many different people in my corner that I can depend on, and it is due to the fact that I pushed aside my nerves and took the initiative myself.”

Nguyen’s favorite NKU memory is representing Presidential Ambassadors on Homecoming court in his Sophomore and Junior year.“

It was such a big milestone to me because I don’t remember seeing an Asian person on either of the sophomore and junior or senior Homecoming courts when I was a freshman,” he says. “I was proud to be the one both years.”

After graduation, Nguyen looks forward to continuing his education by enrolling in a master’s program at NKU as well as continuing his work within the Center for Student Engagement. His passion for helping others led him to pursue health informatics, which focuses on the technologies and methods that make hospitals function smoothly and securely.

“Getting my degree means that I have persevered,” he says. “I want my degree to not only make myself proud but my family as well. I was able to endure four years of college curriculum without the aid of my single mother because she had no prior experience. I had the strength to push through and learn concepts I never knew before.”

Nguyen recommends that new NKU students audition for an NKU show, watch at least one SOTA performance and consider studying abroad.

“As a health informatics major, I never thought I could audition for the shows on campus as I was in a different college,” he says. “I finally auditioned to be in the Emerging Choreographers Showcase (ECS) my junior year, and I am so glad I did. I saw how talented our students really are, from watching them dance to watching them teaching other students their own choreography. Even though I was new, everyone was extremely supportive and had faith in me to dance alongside them.”

If Nguyen had to describe NKU with one word, it would be “family.”

“I was nervous during my first few weeks at NKU because it was a large transition going from a high school with less than 300 students to a university with over 15,000 students,” he says. “All of my professors and advisors were welcoming, understanding and very helpful, which eased my transition into college and let me know I made the correct choice in attending NKU.”