The Student News Site of Neshaminy High School

The Playwickian

The Student News Site of Neshaminy High School

The Playwickian

The Student News Site of Neshaminy High School

The Playwickian

Junior class president makes VMA appearance

By Gillian McGoldrick
Entertainment Editor

Neshaminy, there is one thing all students have in common: the love of Ton Do-Nguyen. The junior class president, excelling student, Gym Night captain, and member of various clubs had his first taste of fame this past July after posting a video of himself, freshman Marlena Colsher and junior Veronica Colsher on YouTube.

Do-Nguyen posted a video of his almost-replica of the video of “Countdown” by Beyonce on YouTube on July 9. However, the video has a catch- he dances to most of it in a Snuggie. “It started as a present for my friend’s birthday in November, and then in January I just started to work on it again. Then once I had worked so hard, I decided just to post it to YouTube,” Do-Nguyen said.

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Almost immediately, the video blew up. The video was featured by many blogs, including Perez Hilton’s website saying, “We can’t even BEGIN to talk about what we just witnessed! You all just NEED to see it for yourselves! We’re not kidding! We are OBSESSED!”

“Ton was extremely precise, I feel like we did the same shot over 100 times from different angles to make it EXACT,” V. Colsher said.

“I wasn’t even aware he was going to post it, and then suddenly I saw my best friend and myself snapping on all sorts of different websites.”

Do-Nguyen’s popularity doesn’t stop there: a clip of his video was featured on Good Morning America on the ABC Network.

The best part of the whole thing, according to Do-Nguyen, was finding himself on Beyonce’s official website. “I didn’t know what to do with myself,” Do-Nguyen said. “That was THE moment when I realized that I had not only been noticed by the Queen Bey, but I had achieved website-worthy status.”

Beyonce posted the video with the word “BRILLIANT” displayed on the page title. She posted the link to the video, and she had a side note saying, “I THINK HE DID THIS BETTER THAN I DID 🙂 LOVE, B.”

Ton’s life (and Facebook timeline) would never be the same. The views on the video quickly rang up to over a million within a few days, and his friend requests and messages went through the roof. Almost all of the feedback was positive. “It really made me feel good that my effort was recognized by so many people and that no one really had anything mean to say about me,” Do-Nguyen said.

Beyonce’s “people” contacted Do-Nguyen to invite him to the UN Humanitarian Day on August 19, where Beyonce would be performing. The exclusive invite-only convention may have been short in length, but for sure left each attendee with more than they had ever expected. The main goal was to have one billion people do a good deed for someone on August 19 through social media, and this is exactly what an internet sensation such as Do-Nguyen could do.

Do-Nguyen, Chloe Jonas, and V. Colsher went to Parkwood Entertainment, Beyonce’s company and studio. “It was a dream come true, without a doubt,” Do-Nguyen said. “I got to see where she filmed many of her videos and her costumes. Don’t even get me started on the costumes!”

“Every picture we passed by, Ton knew exactly where the concert was and what she was singing. Beyonce’s representatives were astounded!” V. Colsher said.

His taste of fame, of course, did not stop there. MTV contacted Do-Nguyen asking him to announce the nominees for the Video Music Awards in September. He filmedan announcement of the nominees, then he got a call the night before the VMA’s that MTV wanted to fly him to Los Angeles to attend the award show. Do-Nguyen eagerly jumped on a plane to get to the show.

He was surprised to find that when he arrived, he would not only be attending the show, but he would be on the red carpet in his signature Snuggie. Do-Nguyen saw many celebrities on the red carpet, including: Ke$ha, Katy Perry, Wiz Khalifa, 2 Chainz, and he even brushed shoulders with Brett Davern (Jake from Awkward). Then, he got to announce the winner of the Most Share-Worthy video (winner being boy band One Direction!) thirty seconds before the show started.

He is not only popular among students, he is a favorite of many of his past and current teachers. “Watching his video take off was really thrilling; I read every comment written about him and was proud to share his success with people who never met him,” English teacher Kim May said.

Do-Nguyen is contemplating creating another video, but has decided to stay focused on school and maybe start once he begins to have some free time. “I just am so ecstatic I have all of these great opportunities,” said Do-Nguyen. “And I also just want to thank everyone for supporting me through all of my hardwork.”

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Junior class president makes VMA appearance