Senior of the Year: Nhan Phan

By ANDREW YANG ‘27

“Exeter was out of my league,” senior Nhan Phan recalled as we left the cold, windy weather outside and entered the cozy Big Bean Cafe. As we sat down for dinner, he continued, “And bear in mind that when we had talked about going to America to study, it was mostly my decision.”

Hailing from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Phan is a proctor in Wentworth Hall, an editor for The Exonian, the co-founder of ESSO Mailroom, and the Secretary-General of PEAMUN. He also heavily contributes to the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA), holding leadership positions in the International Student Orientation (ISO), International Student Alliance (ISA), Vietnamese Society, and Asian Advisory Board. He served as class rep for two years and is now Rec Committee Cohead in Student Council.

Aside from Phan’s busy schedule, he is also an incredibly caring friend and avid traveler. International Student Coordinator Mrs. Jennifer Smith praised, “I will always remember Nhan for his incredible generosity whether he is bestowing the gift of his time, treating a friend to dinner, or volunteering to take on more tasks. Nhan is always giving to those around him. He cares deeply for his peers and the Exeter community.”

From a young age, Phan has always admired Anthony Bourdain as a travel documentarian. He explains, “I watched many of his shows, one of which is called No Reservations. In his first episode, he visited Vietnam. Vietnam was, as he called it, an intoxicating place. It was so affirming to see my home country being represented in such a positive light. He came in like a foreign dignitary, but still sat down, ate, and talked with people. Just something as simple as that was inspiring in a world where there is so much war, so much conflict, and so much divisiveness.”

Thus, taking Bourdain as inspiration, he embarked on his own Senior Project exploring the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Hoi An. ​​Ms. Erica Lazure, an English instructor in Exeter, praised Phan for his astonishing senior project. She said “You could see these qualities during his senior presentation at the assembly hall, which I had a chance to attend. The combination of his photography, his understanding of Vietnam and its economy, especially as it relates to tourism, alongside his own personal journey throughout his home country was certainly the result of his passion for completing his senior project, but it was also so well done due to his ability to stay organized, focused, and on task. 

In addition to a mini-documentary, Phan curated a photography exhibition and arranged an installation consisting of rows of lanterns. Phan said, “I worked with Mr. Christopher Dowling, who was a carpenter in facilities. Together, we put together the lanterns that you might have seen in front of the marble staircase leading up to the Assembly Hall.”

Senior Byron Grevious remembers the night when Phan’s friends helped him prepare the lanterns in his room. “He had a lot of Vietnamese lanterns, and we were helping him set up those lanterns in his room. That was really fun,” Grevious comments.

One of Phan’s most memorable breaks was during his upper spring break when he took senior Thomas Leopold and his family on a trip to Vietnam. Leopold described, “He took us to a phenomenal Vietnamese restaurant where they wrapped food up in tinfoil and lit a crystal on fire underneath it. It cooked as it was sitting on the table. Nhan got us a feast of everything. I have so many photos of that meal.”

Leopold continued, “He had us on one of those pedal bike services that goes around Ho Chi Minh City. We saw a gorgeous stretch of the city from those bikes. Bikes and cars were flowing in and out, and it was loud and overwhelming, but watching these guys navigate it was one of the most immersing and enjoyable experiences as someone visiting the country as a tourist.”

Something as eye-opening as the tourist attractions in Ho Chi Minh City to Leopold and his family was the itinerary that Phan provided Leopold’s family with during their trip. “It was a 10-page document about the trip. Here are the amenities that you will need. Here’s cell phone service. Here’s the food. Here’s my phone number. Here’s anything you could possibly need. And my parents were like, how is a 17-year-old teen this prepared and aware of these things? They were, they were blown away by him. And I think we all were,” Leopold explained.

As Phan and I began ordering from the Big Bean’s menu, he mentioned his famous Pho stall: a staple of the Exeter community and a product of his passion to share a part of himself with others. “I do this because I genuinely enjoy giving people the opportunity to bond over food. Anthony Bourdain was a food critic himself. He saw that food was such a humanizing element: you can eat food with everyone else, regardless of where they come from or what language they speak. They can all experience the same emotions. I was inspired by the notion of food as a bond and a community tool. I want to make people happy and have a good meal with people and the community that I love so much. It’s a way of giving back to the community in a way that I can call my own.”

Senior Eric Wu, a resident of Wentworth Hall, describes the impact of Phan’s Pho Stall on the dorm community. “Nhan, being able to put on a great representation of cultural food, genuinely shares a part of his life with the entire dorm. Being able to do it at such a high level, comes with a masterful sense of self and culture. He understands the community and environment that we live in. Being able to introduce food that is foreign to a lot of people and make it stick with the community is incredibly impressive and impactful. It really does bring the dorm community together.”

Class of 2023 alumni Dax Knoll praised the warm-hearted intentions of Phan’s Pho stall. “He has no reason to be doing it besides the goodness of his heart and being able to utilize one of his skills to the benefit of the Exeter community. It’s a vehicle to bring people together. It’s a vehicle to start conversations in the Wentworth basement. It’s more than just giving out food. He’s just bringing together a community in a non-school-host event, which is rare these days.”

Prep Samuel Kopun, a member of the Wentworth community, comments, “He was very happy when he served his pho. You could really see how much he liked the dorm when he served his pho, bowl by bowl, to everyone.” 

Phan’s strong presence in the dorm doesn’t only stem from his famous Pho Stall. As a proctor, he provides academic help, organizes dorm events, and takes care of his peers’ well-being.

Wu explained, “Nhan has always been a facilitator. Everyone understands that his door is always open, whether that’s during check-in hours, or simply just any night of the week when people need help. There are so many times when if you just walk past the first floor, you would see seven or eight guys in his dorm having a fun time hanging out, eating his imported Vietnamese delicacies and snacks, and overall, just feeling really comfortable in that environment. And he has strategically arranged his room, having that sofa be a place of community while being someone who’s open to having great, genuine conversations with everyone.”

Lower Sid Mahajan, who lives on the same floor as Phan, said, “I think he takes his job very seriously, so I respect that about him. But during other times, he can be a very cool guy to hang out with and be around. So I think he’s good at striking that middle ground of being responsible and fulfilling his duties as a proctor while also being a good friend to everyone on our floor.”

Upper Tripp Rondero, another resident of Wentworth’s first floor, recalls the first time he went to Nhan for academic help. “It was a weird prompt, something that I had never done before, and I was really unsure of what I was doing the entire time, so I asked Nhan for help. He helped me formulate points and taught me how to structure my paper. He also encouraged me to go talk to my teacher about the paper.”

After our dinner was served, Phan talked about his experiences outside of the dorm. He described how he reciprocates the kindness of his friends by doing them a favor. As the manager of the cross-country team, he filmed an hour-long documentary for the team, recording everything from their training to inside jokes. He dedicated months to this project, condensing some of the best moments of the team and turning it into an invaluable gift for his friends.

“I realized that I have the capacity to make their season special. I have the capacity to transform a team into a community. And the best part of all, I’m doing it for my friends,” Phan reflected.

Senior Malcolm Courchesne, one of the three captains of the cross country team, reacted to Phan’s dedication to the challenging documentary project that Courchesne proposed in his upper spring. “I wanted to do a short video during our upper year season but kind of gave up when I realized how much work it needed to be high quality. I mentioned it to Nhan during our upper spring and he ran with it, much to my surprise. He was super willing to help and devote a huge amount of time to it, and he even increased the scale of it so much more than I had ever expected,” Courchesne said. 

Senior Byron Grevious, another captain of the team, thanked Phan for his efforts. “It meant a lot to the whole team to really encapsulate our team culture, and memorialize a season. We’ve never had these moments or runs captured on camera. Nhan put in a lot of effort and I think he stitched together a really good documentary that we’ll look back on. I can’t thank him enough for that.”

Courchesne continued, “The documentary was a project that spanned so much time and brought the team together. It gave us something sentimental to look back on for a good laugh in the future when anyone on the team thinks back on our time at Exeter.”

International student coordinator, Mrs. Smith, comments on Phan’s leadership skills, “Nhan has a distinct ability to manage many things at one time- in fact, I’ve become convinced he doesn’t sleep! Nhan is very organized and passionate about everything that he does- whether he is leading a meeting or helping to plan an event, he has all of the details sorted out and the deliverables identified. I always picture him carrying around his iPad with the pen stylus and taking notes, or marking up a document or drawing a map of an event space to detail the layout for all the stakeholders.”

Class of 2022 alumni Jack Archer recalls Phan’s diligent work ethic during the International Student Orientation program, “There was one night where we couldn’t find people and he stepped up to help the teachers. He goes above and beyond and really wants to do a good job. He is a great leader in the sense that he will lead by example and put his best foot forward.”

On campus, Phan is also known for the series of class- and schoolwide events he organized. Phan stated, “It’s all about intentionality. Everything from how you lay out the space, the food choices, the music choices, lighting, contributes to making an event special.” 

It’s no surprise that Phan’s detail-oriented ethic serves as a huge asset when he coordinates school activities. As Rec Committee Coheads, Phan and senior Gigi Lannon works together to organize events such as Casino Night, Pep Rally, and dodgeball tournaments. Lannon praised Phan’s detail-oriented work ethic and describes what working with Phan was like when hosting Casino Night. She said, “When we were doing Casino Night, we couldn’t have all the lights off. Nhan was like, “Right, I need to find the perfect color lamp, the perfect size lamp with the right amount of LED, and the right price range.” Eventually, we had these little table lamps at every table, and that was something that he was super excited about doing.”

And through Phan’s diverse array of work, he always makes sure to leave a mark on the different communities on campus. At the start of Phan’s upper year, he started ESSO Mailroom with Lannon. Through this experience, he saw the importance of building interpersonal connections. “In this process, we found a community. It’s so important that when I do my work, I reach out to communities but also create new ones. Creating a community among kids that love the mailroom and see the mailroom staff as key adult figures in their lives, is something I never would’ve imagined. This just shows you the transformational power of talking to people,” Phan said.  

After we finished our dinner, Phan chatted with the waiter and paid the bill. As we sipped on our drinks, he went back in time and described his journey before Exeter, recalling the first time he ever met his closest friends. 

Before coming to Exeter, Phan studied at an international school in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. After completing middle school, he challenged himself by applying to boarding schools in the US. “I’ve been learning at an international school in Ho Chi Minh City for 14 years up to that point, and things began to get boring. I also loved to travel with my family, and we’ve been traveling ever since I was very young. So my family and I were thinking, it’s time: let’s get out of our comfort zone and let’s try something new. Let’s do it.”

To Phan at the time, opportunities to attend schools like Exeter and Andover were few and hard to come by. More interestingly, Phan applied to Exeter by mistake. “When I applied, I thought about Exeter and Andover, but my mom was like, “Is it really the right school for you?”. When it was time to pay the application fee, I accidentally paid the fee for both of those schools, so my mom was really mad at me.’’

Adding on to the unexpected turns of events during his application process, Phan’s Exeter story started with the pandemic. The first half of Phan’s prep year was entirely online. He reflected, “I was taking classes online from my room in Ho Chi Minh City from 8:00 p.m. to midnight, and I’d wake up at 7:00 a.m. the next day for a ‘night’ class. It was really weird. But at the same time, it made going on campus so much more exciting. Everyone was socially distanced and that was a period of time I could never forget. Everyone was six feet away from each other. Everyone was socially distanced and wore masks. Everyone was stuck in their own rooms. We couldn’t do what we’d usually do. It was definitely not the high school experience I was imagining, but that time was a time of resilience. It was a period where we had to adjust to unprecedented circumstances.”

Despite being physically isolated from his peers, Phan left a unique impression and connected with many peers online. Senior Aaron Park mentioned, “Something that was memorable was seeing him always in a cafe in Vietnam in the middle of the day while I was at a 5:00 p.m. class in a dull winter. He was just out there in the great weather, just chilling and eating, looking all organized and everything. He was just in a great mood overall.”

After six months of online learning, Phan traveled to Exeter and met senior Rex Bedwick, one of his closest friends, on the way. Phan recalls, “I still remember it so clearly. I met him in Tokyo at Narita Airport. We sat in business together, but remember, this was the only time I ever flew business. My mom was way too scared to let me sit in economy because she was freaked out about the virus.”

Bedwick also remembers this coincidence and his first impressions of Phan. “I was on campus in the fall and Nhan wasn’t, he was in Vietnam. I had him in a couple of my classes on Zoom, and we were talking over text. When we came back to campus for winter term that year, we met each other at the airport in Tokyo on our way over here, which is a pretty funny coincidence.”

Rex continued, “When I first met him, he was intense, very serious, and very driven. Here’s this kid who I’ve only seen from his shoulders up on Zoom, and he’s way shorter than I expected. He’s in this bright neon hoodie with a mask on and a face shield down his face.”

Park also recalls the first time he met Phan. “The first time I ever met him was when I went into his room because I didn’t know any of the preps. I saw him with a trench coat and we talked over that. I have known him ever since.”

Four years later, Phan has grown to become a person who deeply cares for the people and communities around him. And in return, his friends thank him for his companionship.

Wu praised, “You genuinely did a lot to bring communities together and create spaces for newer students to feel seen and thrive in. As your fellow floor proctor, I really appreciate you taking the initiative and creating opportunities for our floor to bond and become the awesome social group that it is today. Without you, this floor and the communities that you are in just wouldn’t be the same. You truly bring everyone together.”

Lower Syan Desai, a resident of Wentworth, thanked Nhan for his helping hand. “Thank you for everything that you’ve done for me. You are a very important mentor in my life who helped my Exeter experience be just as great as it is.”

Leopold concluded, “Nhan is just constantly giving, constantly there for me. So ultimately I’d just say thank you. Thank you for being my friend for these three years.”

Senior Anna Kim describes the impact of Phan on the many communities he is part of. “I think our entire campus and all the different communities that he’s part of really value his presence. We appreciate and value him just for showing up and being present.”

As we walked out of the Big Bean Cafe, and back towards the campus in the freezing cold, we looked up at the lit bell tower before crossing the street. Phan reflected, “We’re all travelers. We’re all just trying to find our footing. All the times that a stranger has been kind to me on the road is another time that I would like to be kind to someone else, right? And I, through my work, am hopefully able to share a lot of myself with others, but at the same time, be a positive force impacting their lives. I hope that’s how I’m remembered.”