Our student spotlight focuses on Thu Mai, an intern at our Minneapolis Veterans Home. Thu Mai attends the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and is working toward a Health Services Management degree, with a minor in both management and social justice. She is on track to graduate in December of this year. On top of that, Thu has served six years in the Minnesota National Guard and works in her university’s Veterans Office.

When Thu moved from Vietnam to Minnesota in 2009 at the age of 12, she states she was “fascinated by healthcare.” She explained that the healthcare system in Vietnam is very different than that of the United States and many cannot receive proper treatment. With this lens, she tackles her work with the Minneapolis Veterans Home with enthusiasm.

Given an overarching goal of bettering the dining experience of Veterans in building 21, Thu spends her days working with different departments and finding new ways to collaborate. Meeting with directors, budget planning, and a multitude of new experiences every shift is simply her day-to-day. Thu highlighted the importance of learning as much as possible about each department and how they function, in order to complete her goal. In this work she is pushed to see new perspectives, which she says is “really cool to compare to Vietnam.” Constantly learning from the experiences at the Home, Thu hopes to be able to make a difference for the better.

After graduation, Thu has a goal of achieving a dual MBA and MHA at the University of Minnesota in three years, working toward a GRE, and moving back to Vietnam. Upon returning to Vietnam with her knowledge, she wants to open a reproductive healthcare clinic, helping women of Vietnam receive services that they may not have access to otherwise. She stated that part of her motivation comes from the view of Asian women in society. “Certain people have certain expectations of what an Asian woman can do,” going on to say that “we’re expected to be submissive.” Thu wants to defy this stereotype to show others that what you may think is not what you get.

Thu Mai is one of many bright young student workers that work at MDVA and our Minnesota Veterans Homes. The tenacity and dedication that she carries into her work every day should be a reminder to us all that these are the leaders of the future. We are proud to have Thu Mai working to make our Minneapolis Veterans Home at better place!