Vy Ho ’18
As an international student from Vietnam, Vy Ho ’18 first heard of Messiah College while attending Lancaster Mennonite School. She wanted a school where she could major in engineering and take violin lessons—which she did—but she also accomplished so much more during her four years on campus.
With biomedical and mechanical concentrations, she worked on prosthetic projects through the Collaboratory. As part of the BioSTEP group, she studied transfemoral prosthetics and received a grant to present her research at the LIMBS Summit in El Paso, Texas. In her junior year, she worked with the Collab to develop a clubfoot brace using the College’s 3-D printer.
In between her engineering classes, Collab work and work-study position in the Intercultural Office, she always added violin playing to her schedule as a stress reliever, in the form of private lessons and the Messiah College Symphony Orchestra. “It would be heartbreaking for me not to play the violin,” she said.
As part of the orchestra, she had the opportunity to perform with David Kim, violinist and concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra, when he was in residence at Messiah in March of 2017 as part of the Performing Arts series.
She found leadership opportunities by joining the International Student Association (ISA)/MuKappa. Serving as vice president and then president of the organization, she was responsible for planning the annual International Banquet, a 550-person dinner and show. She credits her ISA/MuKappa cabinet and advisors with the event’s success. “Without them,” she said, “there is no International Banquet.”
After Commencement, she and a group of friends traveled to Vietnam so she could show them her home country. “After that, I went on a solo adventure to Japan as I have been dreaming to go there for a really long time,” said Ho.
In June, she started a new job as an electro-mechanical engineer at Stanley Black and Decker in Towson, Maryland.