Guest Speaker Agent Vo
Allison Lillestol dresses up in the speakers police vest. (Photo Provided by Allison Lillestol.)
January 6, 2022
On Jan. 5, Notre Dame grad Agent Vo visited Rosary to discuss his life as a Drug Enforcement Officer.
Almost every year, Rosary has a guest speaker who speaks about drug prevention. But this year, Agent Vo’s original talk about life in the police force demanded attention and engaged many students.
At first, many students were stunned by the officer’s appearance with his long locks and “shady look,” but he explained how he uses his appearance to trick many criminals into thinking he isn’t an officer. Anahi Pintado ’23 said, “Something that I liked most about the talk they had with us is that —to be honest— when I first saw him, he did not look like a DEA agent at all, and I thought it was humorous. He was super mellow and down to earth, which made him very approachable, which I liked as well.”
Agent Vo spoke about his journey from Vietnam to America. He told an amazing underdog story by pointing out that he went from living off of food stamps to being one of the highest-level officers with a killer salary.
DEA Agents risk their lives to help our country. (Photo Provided by Google via the creative commons license.)
One of his main points was that people should trust their parents, and he credits his parents for pushing him to achieve his successful career. He also emphasized that drinking and drugs are not worth it to try at any age, but especially in high school and college. Additionally, he taught students about the hard work it takes to be a top-level federal agent. He explained that it may take risks and pay cuts to earn a dream job but, in the end, the risks can pay off.
Many students loved his inspiring talk. Junior Marlie Machado said, “The talk was motivational in a sense because he was very focused and determined to get to the highest law enforcement position.”
When asked if she was inspired to become a DEA agent, Allison Lillestol said, “I’m not sure that I’ll join the DEA, but it opened me up to other fields besides just the FBI. It was inspiring how he followed through with his dream and made it happen.”
Overall, the speaker told an inspiring story and encouraged many Royals to remain humble and to work hard to accomplish their dreams.
