SAN JOSE, CALIF. – Amy Pham is a Silver Creek High School senior who tackles being an officer at two school clubs, working a job on the weekends, and school all while maintaining and finding out who she is.

Pham is an officer of Creek’s Vietnamese Student Association, more commonly known as VSA, and Silver Creek’s Key Club. As a passionate member of both, she finds herself becoming a part of a community inside both clubs.

In VSA, Pham is one of the Co-Vice Presidents and has been an officer for three years. Along with being Creek’s biggest cultural club, VSA is very active in performing dances at events like Winterfest and Lunar New Year, and even visiting to perform at events outside of Creek like the Mid-Autumn Youth Summit. Though Pham acknowledges that the performances are one of the best parts of being in the club, she says that “My favorite part is making new connections with people through practices and events.” 

Pham has been an officer of Creeks Key Club for two years, after being last year’s Secretary and this year’s Member Recognition Chair. As a volunteering club, Key focuses on helping out the community through different events. Her favorite part of the club is being able to do the work with friends, even when it gets tiring to do. “The memories and Keynections I have made along the way are irreplaceable. Helping my Keymmunity is also a huge bonus too!

Even though she loves being an active member of the school, Pham admits that there have been downsides to being so busy in and out of school. “I tend to miss out on school events or even hanging out with my friends because of my work and school schedule.”

On the weekends Pham works around 12-20 hours at a local Starbucks. She decided to work to get a headstart on college payments and other big purchases she may need to make in the future. Pham laments that having a job has its downsides and upsides at times. Such as not having enough time to get assignments done on the weekends or being ridiculously tired after back-to-back shifts. 

However, she says that should not discourage others from getting a job while still in high school. Having a job means meeting new people she may otherwise never have met before, each with their own work ethic, passions, and commitment. It also really helped to teach herself discipline. “I can go to work and earn money to help out my future self, instead of moping around at home and not knowing what to do at times.” 

Pham is motivated by those around her, with a special emphasis on her cousins, who she says have supported her even when the times got super hard. “They have taught me how to accept and most importantly forgive myself.”

Outside of work and school, Pham likes to read and watch films. If she is not doing those things she is probably journaling to practice doodling and calligraphy. She finds herself the happiest when she knows she makes others happy, even just a little bit.

After high school, Pham plans on pursuing a career in the medical field but does not have a specific dream job as of right now. She aims to simply find out as she goes along.