Na Eng, an award-winning journalist and humanitarian, was inducted into the Johnson High School Hall of Fame on April 15. The ceremony marked a historic moment as Eng became the first Asian-American and the second youngest individual to receive the honor.
When Eng was 5-years-old she and her family fled Cambodia’s killing fields. Her family found refuge on the East Side of St. Paul, where she went on to attend Johnson High School.
Michael Thompson, a former Johnson High teacher and principal, said Eng had that “Minnesota nice thing down, but had a resolve of iron behind it.” That kept his attention on her long enough to nominate her for the hall of fame 29 years after she graduated.
Raised by a single mother among seven siblings, Eng says her upbringing “instilled in her a profound sense of perseverance and compassion,” so after traveling the world for her journalism work, Eng returned home to St. Paul, to family, and to “the idea of a village, of people that I benefited from and who guided me as a young person.” She and her husband Paul Bachleitner have a son named Brandon.
After graduating from Johnson in 1994, Eng studied at Columbia University and earned the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, which funded her graduate studies. She also received a Fulbright Fellowship, which gave her the opportunity to produce and direct a documentary in Zimbabwe.
She has had a long career as a journalist for NBC, PBS, and CNBC. She has won several awards including an Emmy Award and an Edward R. Murrow Award. And, she has served as a trustee on several nonprofit boards, including at the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library and the national NAACP Foundation, and in an executive role at the McKnight Foundation.
Eng dedicated her induction to the Johnson High School Hall of Fame to her single mother, but said she also has a deep respect for her teachers and community.
Her induction is a representation of current and future generations of students St. Paul high schools. For the past ten years, the student body population at Johnson has been more than 50 percent Asian-American, marking Eng’s recognition as a “powerful and visual representation for the multicultural students at Johnson High School,” said Thompson.