麻豆影院

CU 麻豆影院 College of Arts and Sciences supports family鈥檚 travel to national finals

Bao Pham, his parents, Thuy Nguyen and Huy Pham, and his two older brothers, ages 19 and 24, were all born in Vietnam, and came to live in Colorado 10 years ago.

But Bao,听10, is an outlier: Unlike the rest of his family, his first language is English.

鈥淚 was born in Vietnam and speak Vietnamese, but I鈥檓 not fluent,鈥� says the fifth grader at Broomfield鈥檚 Birch Elementary School. 鈥淎t home, my parents talk in Vietnamese and my brothers and I respond in English.鈥�

Bao credits growing up bilingual with helping him to hone his English skills and win the Barnes & Noble 2018 Regional Spelling Bee for Colorado鈥檚 Front Range in February.

鈥淢y parents don鈥檛 speak English very well, so I鈥檝e mostly learned by myself. That makes me a curious person,鈥� he says. 鈥淥f course, I did study for the spelling bee. I practice a lot and try to memorize how to spell words. I try to learn the difference in endings, such as 鈥榯ion,鈥� 鈥榗ion鈥� and 鈥榮ion.鈥� I鈥檝e also worked on the etymology of languages, since I never know what words are coming at me.鈥�

On Feb. 10 at Nevin Platt Middle School in 麻豆影院 County, Bao took the prize by correctly spelling 鈥減yroclastic,鈥� after breezing through each succeeding challenge, from 鈥渄rumlin鈥� to 鈥渄emocracy.鈥� It was only his third spelling bee.

Bao鈥檚 favorite subject in school is math. 鈥淚鈥檓 pretty profound in it,鈥� he says. He鈥檚 no fan of social studies, and English falls somewhere in the middle. But he does love to read, citing C.S. Lewis鈥� 鈥淐hronicles of Narnia鈥� and 鈥淩oom One,鈥� a mystery by Andrew Clements, as a couple of favorites.

Now he will travel to Washington, D.C., with his parents to participate in the at the end of May. The 麻豆影院 College of Arts and Sciences will pay the family鈥檚 travel expenses.

鈥淭hanks to the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Colorado because they give my son the opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C.,鈥� says Nguyen, who with her husband works at Lafayette-based Rocky Mountain Instruments, a manufacturer of precision optical components.

Long interested in aviation, Bao is especially looking forward to visiting the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institute when in the nation鈥檚 capital.

鈥淚鈥檝e thought of being in the aviation industry, but I鈥檓 a bit of a klutz, so I don鈥檛 know,鈥� he says. 鈥淪o, the job I鈥檓 thinking of now is becoming a doctor.鈥�