In October, Dr. Jack Paduntin, president of Pacific Oaks College & Children’s School, was the keynote speaker at the Samakkee Summit in Los Angeles, California. First held in Washington, D.C., in 2013, the event (“samakkee” means congregation in Thai) is an annual coming together of Thai and Thai American community members and leaders from across the U.S. The primary objective of the gathering is to address issues that affect the Thai and Thai American community and to highlight areas of opportunity in community development, engagement, and immigration reform. Dr. Paduntin’s own story is one overcoming obstacles and achieving a measure of success that comes from hard work and dedication.
Dr. Paduntin and his family moved frequently around Thailand, a result of his father’s work with the government. As a young person, he enjoyed learning the dialects of the places his family lived, but he struggled to learn English. When this lack of proficiency led him to be rejected by the architecture school he wished to attend, he was inspired to excel in business and graduate school and emigrate to the U.S. In America, he has risen to his current position through perseverance and his hard work to pursue the American dream.
“The problem that we have as a Thai community,” Dr. Paduntin told the summit attendees, “is that we were taught by our parents and grandparents to be humble and to never brag about our success.” In addition to that reality, he explained, people of Thai descent make up only about 1% of the U.S. population. Therefore, it is very difficult for the positive impact of the Thai community to be recognized by the general population. “That’s why I am an advocate,” he explained. “Not just for the Thai community but for all minority groups.”
As a college president, of course, his primary goal is for each student to achieve the highest level of education possible. “I still believe that this country is a land of opportunity,” he says, adding that those who are educated are in the best position to take advantage of those opportunities.
For Dr. Paduntin, one lesson of the American story is that immigrants work harder to succeed because they must overcome bias. This is why he finds his work so rewarding at Pacific Oaks College where more than half the population is minority and a sizable percentage of the students are above age 30 and have returned to school to improve their lives.
“We need to celebrate our success stories,” Dr. Paduntin says. “And we must celebrate the successes of those among us who are too humble to do it themselves.”
Learn more about Pacific Oaks College
If you would like to learn more about the academic programs available at Pacific Oaks, fill out the form below to request more information, or you can apply today through our application portal.
