Class of 2019: When he started 6th grade, he couldn't speak English. Now he's graduating 2nd in his Lakeview class

Augustine Vanlianuk arrived in the U.S. a year behind the other members of his family.

Something had gone wrong with the immigration process. He had to stay behind in Malaysia. 

He was 12 when he got here. Unable to speak English, he learned in part by watching "Game of Thrones." 

The 18-year-old Myanmar native and Lakeview High School senior graduates Sunday ranked second in his class of about 330. 

He's giving a commencement speech focused on the importance of not being a bystander and doing something to make a difference.

He has a full ride at the University of Michigan where he will study neuroscience.

"I would say I guess I adapted pretty well," he said.

He got to this point through hard work, of course, but also through observing his peers, learning to fit in but not always fit in. 

"I am mostly an outlier to my peers. I feel like I don’t belong within my age," he said. "Sometimes I act like old people when we make conversation. I get their jokes but it’s not funny for me. I am a serious guy. I want to be very independent. I want to get my own house already. I want to get my own life already."

A complicated past

Vanlianuk, the youngest of eight children, was born in a small village called Zultu in the Chin State of Myanmar.

His mother, Rita Ngaih Lan, died after giving birth to him.

"She could have lived if there was a hospital in Burma where I was born, but there weren’t any in 50 miles," he said.

Winnie Tial Meng stepped in as Vanlianuk's adoptive mom, raised him and, at age seven, took him to Malaysia where he lived for five years before moving to the U.S.

He joined the sixth grade at Lakeview. Here he began to learn English and how to blend in.

"I didn’t really know how to talk to anyone," he said. "Even though I didn’t speak English, I just followed along with what they did and I got through."

Vanlianuk learned by observing what his classmates did in class.

"The teachers were very nice," he said. "They paid special attention to me and actually there were a lot of students that tried to help me through the process."

He also learned from the Lannisters and Starks. 

But learning English wasn't the most difficult change for him. Adapting to the school meals was.

"The portion the school provides is so much different from how I eat regularly," he said. "I would say a lot of Burmese people experience that because we eat a lot for lunch. We don’t usually eat breakfast. I would still be hungry. As soon as we get home we used to eat a lot. I am used to it now."

'He's just so good'

Once Vanlianuk got to high school, he didn't hesitate at taking the more difficult Advanced Placement classes. There are 12 offered at Lakeview. He took 11.

He also played soccer, ran track and wrestled, although he had to cut out soccer and wrestling his senior year because of an injury.

Chris Dunham, math teacher and wrestling coach at Lakeview, would often find Vanlianuk working on homework whenever he had a few free minutes.

"I would routinely see him doing homework on the bus," Dunham said. "I'll never forget him typing a paper on his phone coming back from a tournament one time. I just couldn't imagine trying to type a five-page paper on a phone. He's resourceful. He's just so good and [he knows] what he needs to do to reach his goals and he doesn't make excuses for anything ever."

Dunham thinks Vanlianuk could honestly do anything he wants with his future.

"I can only think of a couple of kids who would have come close to having the ability to set a goal and constantly push and drive for it and really let little to nothing get in his way," Dunham said. "When he decides what he's going to do, that's what he's going to do."

Vanlianuk's decision: become a brain surgeon and brain researcher. 

"It’s the perfect job," he said. "Neurosurgeons save people’s lives…that’s good already."

Then there's studying the brain. 

Vanlianuk is fascinated by the idea of people being able to learn while they are in the rapid eye movement stage of sleep.

"I think through intelligence we can change a lot of things," he said. "We might just think it’s a fantasy but it could be achieved for real if the intelligence was discovered."

His plan is to one day help his native country. He wants to build a factory there, give people jobs and use the profits to give out scholarships.

"I feel like I talk like I’m 40," he said. "I plan so much ahead into the future sometimes I have to realize I am still in high school."

Contact Kalea Hall at (269) 966-0697 or khall@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow her on Twitter at @bykaleahall.