The Nexus

Jessica Chang
James Vipatapat (11) and his cousin Ben Vibhagool (11) eat dinner after a long day of school. Vibhagool was sent to the U.S. by his parents, who live in Thailand, to receive a better education at Westview.

Ben Vibhagool (11) gets to see his parents twice a year. Twice a year, he gets to go home.

That’s because Ben is roughly 8,300 miles apart from his parents living in Bangkok, Thailand.

It isn’t because his parents wanted to get rid of him; they sent him to the United States to get a better education than he would have gotten in Thailand.

“They just wanted to give me the best education I could get,” Ben said. “If I ever had kids I would probably send them to the best place I could find, which as of now, is the United States.”

His mother, Chitralada Vibhagool, who graduated from Harvard University in 1995, was sent to the U.S. by her parents to attend school in the U.S. After her experience, Chitralada wanted to send her children to have the same experience she had. She said that she and her husband chose to send Ben to the U.S. because its education system is more advanced than Thailand’s, and because Ben had family who lived in the U.S.

“[We’re] just looking for the best options for Ben,” Chitralada said. “Education is so much better [in the U.S.], because the education system offers greater variety in classes.”

Ben says that despite the distance, he still keeps in touch with his parents through phone calls.

Ben started attending Westview as a sophomore. On his first day he had no idea what to do and where to go. Everywhere, students greeted their friends and compared teachers before hurrying off to class. His cousin, James Vipatapat (11) had told him a little about Westview but that did not prepare him enough.

“I felt completely culture shocked,” Ben said. “I didn’t know what to do or where to go.”

When he was 12 years old, Ben was sent to Wanganui Collegiate School in New Zealand, before coming to Westview.

“I was going to be in New Zealand until my high school period ended, and apply to colleges in the U.S., but [my parents] decided that it would be better for me to be in the U.S. and to prepare for college [here],” Ben said. “They didn’t make me leave [New Zealand]. They just asked me and I was the one to really decide.”

On the first day, standing there in the quad, in his jeans and casual clothes, Ben felt very under-dressed, being used to the ties and collared uniforms he used to wear at boarding school.

“Everything was so different,” Ben said. “Not just the way everyone dressed, but education and the whole atmosphere. Everything felt so much more independent.”

In boarding school in New Zealand, schedules that included eat, sleep and study times ran students’ lives.

Ben said the high school classes in Thailand are divided into two categories: academics and non-academics, such as art and music.

Students do not pick their own classes but instead choose the category of classes depending on what profession interests them: art, engineering or medicine.

“There, everybody mostly has the same classes,” Ben said. “But here, I pick classes based on what I want. It’s very independent. You can’t rely on anybody else.”

Ben said that choosing classes here offers more freedom.

“You can pick the hardest classes and shine, or you can be lazy and take the easy classes,” Ben said. “You really get what you work for.”

With the high cost of traveling back and forth and well as for school supplies, Ben said that there is a lot of pressure for him to get good grades.

“Like [all] parents, they are proud [of me],” Ben said. “They spent a lot of money to send me here. [I didn’t come] all the way here for nothing.”

Ben said that he plans on staying in the U.S. to finish his high school education. He wants to become an engineer but knows that things can change.

“As of now, I don’t see any clear advantages,” Ben said. “But I think it will matter once I finish my education. If I go back and apply for a job, I would be at a huge advantage compared to people who were educated back [in Thailand].”

While Ben knows he is lucky to go to school in the U.S., he still often misses home.

“I get homesick a lot, actually,” Ben said. “Not being at home, everything depends on you alone. You have to learn to be independent.”

Even so, Ben does not want to give up the chance for a better education.

“I realized that it’s a good opportunity to be here,” Ben said. “Most kids in Thailand don’t get this good education, [this] chance that I have.”