Written by guest blogger Ghazala Knight; Inspired by Huy Nguyen
It’s my wish for you to be in love with the pursuit of your dreams because if there is one thing I wholeheartedly believe for you, it’s that your dreams will come true. I can say that with conviction because I’ve been fortunate to work within a community of potential. Ryerson University at its core challenges every one of us to create a vision greater than ourselves. To help me show you, I thought I would introduce you to one of our youngest and brightest rising stars. His name is Huy Nguyen from the Ryerson ESL Foundation Program (RESLFP). Born and raised in Vietnam, Huy moved to Toronto with a passion for numbers. He’s on track to majoring in Finance and Accounting next year upon his RESLFP graduation. English is a barrier that he feels is minimal in comparison to what he believes he must overcome in pursuing his dreams of investment banking. “If you can overcome yourself, you can do anything” says Huy, who spends 30 minutes alone everyday imagining the life he dreams of, and then dedicates every other waking minute to realizing it. “In the process of pursuing your dreams, you will feel pain, but that’s not something I’m fearful of because I’m in love with the pursuit of my dreams.” This was the very moment I became inspired by him. At just 17, living in a brand new city from across the world and not knowing a soul; Huy has made a promise to himself that he will never break. To be happy with the people that he loves. That’s it. That’s all.
Life is really hard, and making money is a big part of that hardship when you’re someone who comes from poverty. Simply put, Huy’s mantra is “I have to keep going, keep going, keep going.” Because for him, money will bring the ability to choose, when you have money you have choice he says, “I want a choice in living the life that I want. I just want that choice.” He shares his vision with me, which he believes he will bring to life here at Ryerson University; “I want to help others make that choice. People have ideas, and companies invest in those ideas, I really want to help the people with those ideas. Their success will be my success.” He tells me higher education will bring him closer to his dreams. “Language is the most important thing, [without it] you cannot observe knowledge,” crediting RESLFP for providing him with the power to see challenge as an opportunity where others may see difficulty.
“People in my country make themselves out of nothing, they have a dream and they want to change their life. If you’re really good at [what you do], you will be successful eventually. So, do what you love. Everyone says I want to be successful in life, but everyday they didn’t do something to support that dream.” The right words have the ability to move you in ways you hadn’t known until you’ve heard them. “I’m in love with the pursuit of my dreams” should be yours. This time of year forces us to look within ourselves, to ask if we pursued everything our hearts asked us to. I hope you can say with a resounding “yes!” that with every ounce of strength in your veins you moved closer to who you are destined to be this year. The thing about movement is that no matter the direction, it will always propel you to where you need to be in order for you to get to where you need to go. Look around you, this is where you are and it’s your gift to be here.
