Dear

Malcolm,

Hi, my name is Jenny Nguyen (I dont have a middle name, thank you parents) and I am 18
years old. I was born on July 16, 1996 in Atlanta,
Georgia. Ive lived there for five years until my
parents divorced and I moved to Columbus, Ohio
with my mom. We lived there for 7 years until my
mom remarried and we moved to Lumberton, NC (I
hate it there). Youve probably never heard of
Lumberton and if you havent, its a very small, rural
town located right on Interstate 95. Its about 30
minutes from Fayetteville, NC. I am an only child, but
I have a half-sister named Jenna on my dads side. My
dad and his family now lives in Indiana and I frequently visit them.
Jenna is seven years old and she is my mini-me really.

Jenna & I

So, on to more stuff about me. I played tennis for my high school team for a while. I wasnt
that great, but it provided great exercise and a great way
to de-stress. But thats not the reason why I joined the
team. I really do love tennis and actually went to this
intensive tennis training camp over the summer in 2013. I
love watching soccer but Ive never played it. (You should
have seen me during the world cup games over the
summerI was a crazy lady). Im not really an athletic
person. I meanI tried to be. I was on this cheer team
when I was in 2nd grade, and honestly, if I actually stuck to
it, I could have been a pro at cheerleading by now. But it
wasnt for me and I didnt go through with it long.

My parents
Here at UNCC, I am currently a freshman and I was a chemistry
major but I changed it to biology. Im planning to apply for pharmacy school after I
graduate, so I have to intensively study in both fields of biology and chemistry. A lot of
people think Im crazy because I put all this work on myself, but science is my passion and
if anything is your passion, you can always do it. I realize its very difficult, but why would I
hold back just because its difficult? When I was younger, I went through this phase
where I was sure I would grow up to work for NASA and be an astronomer. Then I was sure
I was going to be a marine biologist. I even thought I wanted to study and work as an
underwater cave explorer. (Please dont laugh). I wanted to do everything with science.

I have an obsession with reading books. (And Im

not just saying that because youre my writing
professor either). Everyone close to me knows I
enjoy readingfriends, family, even my high school
English teachers. I enjoy reading because I dont
usually watch TV and reading is my only means of
escape. Im expanding my interests but as of now, I
love reading teen fiction, or just fiction in general. I
enjoy reading dystopian and fantasy novels and
even made a personal goal to read 70 books by the
end of last year. However, since college started, I had
I couldnt take pictures on the set of
to focus on my studies and ended up finishing 47 books
Paper Towns but I did sneak and take
total. Every teen girl that reads would know and love
this picture of those fancy chairs the
John Green and his books, especially The Fault in Our
actors sit on
Stars, which was made into movie adaptation. His novel
Paper Towns, written in 2008, is currently being film and was actually filming in Charlotte
just last month. I was even booked to be an extra on set for two days and it was the greatest
experience of my life. (The movie comes out in theaters this June, please see it; you might
see me in the background).


Besides studying for college or reading like crazy, I love to travel and attend concerts. In
2013, I attended the One Direction concert in Raleigh and even got to meet them. I saw
Scotty McCreery live. Last April, I saw Miley Cyrus perform live in Raleigh. Ive been to
Thailand and Vietnam. I go on cruises with my family during the summers to the Bahamas.
Just last year, I went to Orlando with my senior class and over Christmas break, I traveled
to Las Vegas with my parents and my best friend, Callie, who also goes to UNCC. I used to
play piano and took lessons for five years while living in Ohio. I even remember my teacher
was this scary Russian lady. I am a Twitter and Instagram user. I keep a journal and use it
to write about teen girly stuff. I dont watch TV, but I do enjoy Netflix and movies. I enjoy
painting and drawing and I have a lot of my artwork on my dorm walls. Just to show off, I
won the Math Cup at my high school because Im a nerd.

One Direction. Harry Styles is touching my
shoulders.

From the left; my ex-best friend, Alexis, who goes to

Campbell, me, my best friend, Kelli, who goes to The
Art Institute here in C harlotte, and my best friend,
Callie, who goes to UNCC. We were in Orlando, F L.