2023 Hamilton Scholar William Vo has been deeply shaped by his family’s struggle during and after the Vietnam War. William, an immigrant from Vietnam, has dedicated himself to building and improving communities – particularly through the use of technology. His family’s beginnings are his motivation to succeed and set an example for those around him.

William is the proud founder of his high school’s potluck. He led the effort to bring different cultures and backgrounds together to share and understand unique perspectives, foods, and histories. His idea started with a small group of friends who brought food every week to share – together they created beautiful memories that brought them closer together. r With the support of his friends, William initiated the first student-run event at his school. This took students and teachers by storm, opening a clear gateway for all to learn and understand each other's background and differences.

William is also the captain of his school’s CTF and Technology Teams, winning numerous competitions including the Congressional App Challenge and Capital One Infomercial. He leads his team in MetaCTF, National Cyber League, and PicoCTF. With his skill set focused primarily on programming, he interns as a Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Developer at Capital One and stands as president of the programming club. He has many interests outside of computer science, including serving as the president of his school’s chess club and playing Libero for his school’s varsity volleyball team. He is a part of many programs helping to pursue his passions such as Partnership for the Future (PFF), Pathway of Future Engineers, and Dean’s Early Research Initiative (DERI).

William comes from a family that fought and died in the Vietnam war, in turn causing his mother to drop-out of high school to support their struggle; the disruption of war caused countless years of poverty upon his family.. Motivated by his origins, William wants to pursue success to help others and let his mother rest happily in the latter phase of her life.