How the Tennessee lottery allowed a first-generation Laotian American to go to college

Her high school classmates sometimes bullied her. The racial and homophobic slurs left her feeling isolated, depressed and aimless.

Vilayvanh Saysoukha, a first-generation Laotian American, believes she was the only Asian at Smyrna High School. And though she never came out in high school, her classmates assumed the tomboy was gay.

"I was a pretty depressed kid, struggling with being different," Saysoukha said.

In her junior year in 2002, her health science teacher played the Robin Williams comedy/drama "Patch Adams" in class. That changed everything.

Saysoukha related to the main character in the movie, a mostly-true story of a depressed man who became a doctor after he started using humor to help others. She found hope in the character's journey to light.

Saysoukha decided that day she too would become a doctor. To do that, she would have to become the first person in her family to go to college.

And to do that, Saysoukha relied heavily on a four-year scholarship the state had just created using proceeds from its brand-new Tennessee Lottery.

No longer feeling like the 'other'

She remembers receiving $4,000 a year, which covered more than half her tuition at the University of Memphis. It was a game changer that allowed her to affordably attend college, go on to medical school and become a podiatrist who created and now owns three branches of Premier Foot & Ankle Centers of Tennessee.

But the state money was much more than a mechanism to help pay for college — the scholarship signaled to the bullied teen that she was just as worthy of success as any Tennessee resident.

"I finally didn't feel 'other,'" she said. "I felt seen for my work ethic, my achievements, my purpose and my ambitions."

Although Saysoukha (pronounced "sie-SOO-kah") — the daughter of Laotians who came to U.S. from refugee camps — became a target for some classmates, there were Smyrna High School teachers who believed in her.

Her advanced placement biology teacher, Melissa Teply, her advanced honors chemistry teacher, Craig Tilton, and her health sciences teacher, Gina Sipple — the one who played "Patch Adams" in class — pointed her to where to apply for scholarships and encouraged her to pursue her dreams of becoming a doctor.

Saysoukha showed her mom, a dairy farm worker, the letter from the HOPE Scholarship administrators saying she'd get $4,000 a year for tuition as long as she kept her grades up. Mother and daughter were excited and relieved.

"After getting that, it was OK, yeah, she’s going to college and we’ll figure out the rest."

Other scholarships and grants paid for the rest of Saysoukha's undergraduate tuition, and she took out loans to pay for housing and other living expenses.

Saysoukha became the first in her family to graduate from college, a source of great pride for her relatives, many of whom now live in Tennessee and Kentucky. They were even more thrilled when Saysoukha enrolled in podiatry school in Miami.

"My grandmother always told me, 'I’m literally holding onto life to watch you become a doctor.'"

When Saysoukha graduated from Barry University School of Podiatric Medicine, her then 82-year-old "mathu" — a Lao term of endearment for maternal grandmothers — used a wheelchair to join her granddaughter on stage for the hooding ceremony. Her grandmother died four years later, in 2019.

By that point, Saysoukha had started practicing in Murfreesboro.

Launching her own business

In September 2021, Saysoukha launched Premiere Foot & Ankle Centers of Tennessee in McMinnville, and she opened her third branch in Murfreesboro earlier this year. She hired one of her old Smyrna High School friends to work there.

Among the three centers, Saysoukha and her colleagues see about 75 patients a day, and Saysoukha does between two and five surgeries a week to correct deformities and to treat fractures and infections.

Saysoukha lives with her wife and her 16-year-old stepson in Murfreesboro.

She remains grateful for the scholarships that allowed her to go to college. And she remains grateful to the teachers who encouraged her and helped her find those scholarships.

Last year, Saysoukha ran into her old chemistry teacher, Mr. Tilton, in the McMinnville hospital where he now works. The grateful student and her extraordinarily proud teacher exchanged a warm, tear-filled hug.

Reach Brad Schmitt at brad@tennessean.com or 615-259-8384.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Lottery allows first-generation American to go to college