Determination and Focus Yields Big Results

Christianna Hang (’04) has a vision for education that stems from her desire to create a far more positive learning environment than the one she first experienced as a new immigrant to the U.S.

Hang is one of 10 children born in Laos during the Vietnam War.

Six of her siblings died there; the remaining family members fled to Thailand in the early 1970s where they were refugees for nearly a decade until their 1980 immigration to the U.S.

Hang approached her first contact with the American education system with both excitement and apprehension.

With no previous formal schooling nor training in English, her inability to communicate with other students led to relentless ridicule, even physical abuse, from her classmates, while complaints to school administrators fell on deaf ears.

Despite her discouraging first experiences with school, Hang persevered.

When her family moved to St. Paul in 1982, Hang thrived with excellent ESL teachers and a more supportive school system. She became the first generation, and only girl in her family, to ever receive a formal education.

She graduated from college, earned her M.A.in Organizational Management from Concordia University, and now is pursuing her doctorate.

In addition to language challenges, Hang had to overcome a cultural tradition that did not emphasize formal education, particularly for women. She now seeks to foster a new tradition that encourages both Hmong boys and girls to pursue higher education.

In 2004, Hang took an important step toward achieving her vision when she founded Hmong Academy, a charter high school in St. Paul sponsored by CSP that is dedicated to providing rigorous college preparation while building a solid connection between Hmong heritage and academics.

As the school’s president and CEO, she is now transforming Hmong Academy into a K-12 institution.

Married with four children and a rapidly expanding school, Hang credits her large support system - immediate and extended family members, Academy teachers, staff, student and parents, and the community at large - with helping her balance the many demands on her time.

“They have provided me with endless support,” Hang said. “Without all of these people, I would never dream of being successful. The key to achieving a healthy balance between family and career,she said, is to “motivate them to believe in the same vision as you do.”

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