CAN-DO ATTITUDE PAID OFF.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY 

The new principal at Portola Middle School was making the rounds of the Tarzana campus with the school's plant manager eight years ago when they came upon a Vietnamese man, picking aluminum cans out of all the trash cans.

``Who is that guy, and why is he going through our trash?'' Steve Lawler asked Abe Menashe.

``That's Duong Hua, one of our custodians. He gets here every day, an hour before his shift starts at 2 p.m., to collect the aluminum cans on his own time. Makes an extra $10 a day. He's got three kids he's trying to get through college.''

On aluminum cans, Lawler asked? Yeah, that and picking up all the overtime he can get, which means you'll see him around here most weekends too, Menashe told his new boss.

``I hope it's OK with you,'' the plant manager said.

``Yeah, it's OK with me,'' Lawler said.

More than OK, it turns out.

In 17 years as a custodian at Portola, Hua's missed only two days of work - one to attend his mother's funeral, the other to watch his youngest son, Nicholas, graduate from law school last year.

All those aluminum cans - more than $35,000 worth over 17 years - helped get three kids through college. Daughter Phuong and son Dieu became accountants, and Nick learned last week he had passed the bar exam.

``This is the total American dream,'' Nick said in an interview at Los Angeles Superior Court, where he is serving a two-year clerkship before entering the field of civil litigation.

``None of this would have been possible if not for the constant support of my mother and father, and the financial help dad provided us working seven days a week all those years.

``All my friends know what he's done to get us an education. They think I've got the coolest dad around, and they're right.''

Over at Portola, the administrators, teachers and students think they've got the coolest custodian around, too.

``Every teacher on staff wants Duong working in their area,'' Lawler said. ``He's that special.''

The 58-year-old Vietnamese immigrant who comes to work an hour early to make an extra $10 picking aluminum cans out of trash cans - then spends eight hours sweeping out and mopping classrooms and restrooms - has earned their respect and friendship.

``We all know there are not many people who would do what he's done for their own kids,'' plant manager Menashe says.

In Vietnam, the children of rich people get an education, Hua says. He was not a rich man. He was the only son of a grocer and had five older sisters.

Being the youngest child and only son kept him from having to serve in the Vietnamese army during the Vietnam War, but the wrong side won, he says.

``There were too many communists around after the war, so we escaped,'' he said Monday through an interpreter, Lily Duong, a teacher's aide.

He and his wife, Ai, could see there was no real future for their children without the money to buy them an education.

``We came in 1982 when Nick was 5, and I went to school to become a custodian,'' Hua said. ``The wonderful people here gave me a job, and I want to thank them and the government for accepting me.''

It is this humility and honesty that makes Hua one of the most popular employees at his school, Lawler says.

``Everyone knows about those aluminum cans, and how he worked seven days a week all those years - knows he and his wife scrimped and saved for their kids' education, never spending anything on themselves,'' he said.

``How can you not respect and honor people like that?''

Hua doesn't see it that way. He honors his children - giving them all the credit and praise for their success.

``I wanted them to concentrate on getting an education, and they did,'' he says, proudly. ``I was just there to support them.''

Seven days a week. One aluminum can at a time.

Dennis McCarthy, [phone]

dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

Duong Hua, a custodian at Portola Middle School, has worked seven days a week to put three kids through college.

Phil McCarten/Daily News