Second Generation, Born in the USA

Matthew Dinh is an Electrical Engineering student at the University of Southern California. Matthew was born in Philadelphia to refugee parents from Vietnam. His mother, an Amerasian woman, was born to an American serviceman and a Vietnamese woman near Da Nang. His father was born in Hanoi and was the son of a North Vietnamese soldier who died during the war. Matthew’s parents met in Vietnam before fleeing in the early 1990s under the Amerasian Homecoming Act, a law that granted refuge to Amerasians and their families. Before coming the U.S., Matthew’s family resided in a refugee camp in the Philippines where they experienced severe economic hardship. Upon arriving in the U.S., Matthew’s family moved regularly looking for work before finally settling in Philadelphia.Lindsay Ladd is a sophomore studying astronautical engineering.; James Blakely is a sophomore studying mechanical engineering.; Lily Turner is a freshman studying health and human sciences