Young animatedly describes her adventures in over 40 years at FVHS. Photo by Yasir Khaleq.by Steve Phan, Staff Writer and Photographer
When students come into Marianne Young’s office to discuss the California English Language Development Test (CELDT), many would be surprised of all the memories she has hung up in her office.
Young was born in the 1940’s and went to a French school in Da Lat, Vietnam. After going to school, Young resided in city of Saigon and started a newspaper company. Then she escaped to America to find a new life, after the assassination of President Ngo Dinh Diem.
In the States, Young worked as an interpreter and cultural liaison for the Rand corporation. This led her to be featured on channel seven, and when Superintendent Jack Abbot watched channel, he saw potential in her.
“The superintendent said, ‘ We need [Young] in our district,’” said Young.
Thus started Young’s career as a bilingual teacher in the 1970’s when Fountain Valley High School’s first principal, Dr. Paul Berger was there. She was paid 19 dollars an hour and to show contrast, gas was around 20 cents a gallon in that time period. After a decade of teaching, California changed their laws to laws that forced teachers to have a Bachelor’s degree in order to teach. This was a problem for Young because she did not have one but as an invaluable person as their staff, the school board had to do something.
“I said that I was going to quit! That’s when [the school board] said that they would give me a grandfather clause,” said Young.
A grandfather clause is a provision in which an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations while the new rule will apply to all future cases. Along the way, Young established the Program for English Language Learners (PELL) in 1975 to help students ease into high school and accommodate classes to their level. Within the cabinet where she keeps the files of the foreign students, students from Burma to Germany are present there.
“It’s a lot of work, but I enjoy it because I created the program… I’ll keep working here until I am cannot work anymore,” said Young as she describes the work she puts into PELL.
Starting off in the summer, Young organizes the students who marked a different language as their home language into a cabinet. When the school year arrives, these students talk to her about the classes that will be geared towards their level and about the CELDT testing that every student who does not speak English at home has to take.
Inside Young’s office, on the left wall lies a huge timeline that has all the principals from Dr. Paul Berger to Dr. Morgan Smith. This timeline signifies how long Young has been working to improve Fountain Valley High School. Baron clothing and trinkets, Vietnamese cultural items, and Vietnamese Student Association club items lie throughout Young’s office. From a person who has lived 76 years, Young advises young students to not forget their culture.
“We need to keep our culture alive,” said Young.
