My-Linh Thai recently announced her resignation from her position of board president of the Bellevue School Board upon being elected as state representative for Legislative District 41, Position Two.

Thai was elected to the Board of Directors in Nov. 2013. Thai has lived in the Bellevue School District since 2008.

Thai moved from Vietnam to the United States when she was a teenager. After spending two years in the ELL program, she graduated from Federal Way High school, where she said dedicated teachers and counselors helped start her on the path toward higher education and community service. She graduated from the University of Washington School of Pharmacy in 1992. She pioneered Vietnam’s first graduate nursing program in 2008 and 2012.

Thai said she is looking forward to her new position, even though it will be a change.

“With encouragement from the community and my family, I took the giant step this year to run for state representative for Legislative District 41, Position Two,” she said in her resignation letter. “I am both excited and humbled to have been elected to this position on Nov. 6, 2018.”

Throughout her time serving as part of the Bellevue School Board, Thai said she is proud of what she and the other members of the Bellevue School Board have been able to accomplish together.

“As both a board director and the parent of two children in the district, I have witnessed up close our community’s extraordinary commitment to providing an exemplary public education for our students,” Thai said in her resignation letter. “I feel privileged to have learned so much from every person I have met these past five years, and I carry with me the lessons learned and my passion for education into my new role at the state level.”

Thai’s last day as board president will be Nov. 21.