Some of us are born to smile and Henh Lee, who friends lovingly refer to as dorky or a goofball, was able to spread his joy of life and passions to those around him with a simple smile.
"He always had a smile on his face," said Satima Cordova, a senior at William Fleming High School. "You could have the most horrible day, everything could go wrong and then when you saw his smile everything would be better, his smile is very powerful. By looking at his face the world can tell he was a great person, marked for success."
Those that knew Henh describe his work ethic as intensely devoted, but add that this focus pales in comparison to the love he had for his friends and family.
"He's a very stressed out person but just about school work," said Linda Pham, a freshman business major at Virginia Tech. "Other than that he had no other worries in the world. He liked to organize us and get people together on breaks, and even though he always said he didn't want to be the organizer, he'd always end up making the calls."
Pham said that she and Henh spent a lot of time together in the fall, going to lunch or going to the different activity fairs, leaning on each other for support as they got a feel for college.For two people who had been around each other since the fifth grade, Pham said that it's just a weird feeling because he's always been a person in her life that is there for her.
Cordova, who was aware of Henh's friendly reputation long before she knew him, ended up being Ly's senior prom date.Because of a long wait for larger tables in the Olive Garden reservation line that night, Henh and Cordova's group chose to split up, giving Cordova the opportunity to really get to know the kind of person Henh was.
"My family is very sacred to me, and Henh felt the same way about his," Cordova said. "The love for his family was totally different that the love for his friends, he kept his family separate from his friends, but he was always there for both."
Henh is the second youngest in a family of 10 children who immigrated to the United States from Vietnam in 1994.With the strength and determination that defined Henh, he quickly became a top student and was a model of work ethic and motivation.
Whether it was an academic competition with his fellow classmates, which they concede they barely ever won, pushing a friend to rediscover their passion for the piano together, or just encouragement to fight those bouts of procrastination which we all face, Henh would do it with a smile on his face.
"He was very competitive, he got a lot of individual scholarships which is impressive," said Ashlee Murphy, a freshman at the University of Richmond. "The first time I met him he was building an origami crane and he had to fold over a hundred pieces of paper for this project, it just showed his dedication and creativity."
From hundreds of Facebook wall messages, it is clear that Henh was a rock for so many people.He was unselfishly loyal to his friends and family, but more importantly, his accomplishments were an inspiration to all those around him.So many of his friends turn to his senior graduation speech in which he said, "If I can do it, everyone can do it."
"I don't want to make him sound like a superhero, but whenever you were in class with him, you just knew you were going to have fun when Henh was around," Murphy said.
