By Sophia Bui
How do you write like you’re running out of time? He’s not Alexander Hamilton, but he does work like he’s running out of time…..on his own time. And he still has plenty of time.
16-year-old Leroy Tran serves as the Baron Banner sports program manager. He pursues the arts in his favor while balancing several responsibilities. He swims through these curricula with one goal in mind: engineering.
Tran’s hobbies include photography, guitar and skateboarding. He pursues music from the inspiration that is his father, writing from his brother and engineering in honor of his mother. Each skill learned is a life badge earned. However, in every hobby comes hardship and discouragement.
“If you have a passion, you should definitely explore it to its fullest. I don’t think you should let anybody tell you what you can and cannot do if you are passionate about something,” Tran said.
Tran enjoys capturing portraits, especially within sports, because they capture passion and effort.
“I love sports because it just captures passion in that way. For athletes, they love what they’re doing, want to excel and want to be the very best at what they’re at. Every sports photo kind of captures that” Tran said.
Tran is also a member of the Fountain Valley High School choir class. Tran enjoys jazz. Learning guitar, singing in choir, and finding an interest in music overall, Leroy pulls valuable lessons regarding consistency
“I mean, jazz–very funky.” Tran said. “I think music has taught me a lot about consistency and trying your best and just finding yourself,” Tran said.
With all his curricula and only one main goal, Tran aims to apply the lessons from each into his dream of engineering, making it the ultimate experience.
“I personally want to be an engineer in the future. But of course, I still love writing and art and music and if I could, I would love to apply that in my engineering pursuits,” Tran said.
To handle so many responsibilities at once, Tran advises others like him to use every opportunity they have to learn more about things.
“I try to learn every day. If I’m not taking photos, I’m reading about photography. I’m watching videos about photography. If I don’t, if I have a day where I don’t get to practice guitar, I’m listening to music.” Tran said.
With an adequate method of using the same 24 hours we all get in a day, Tran strives to keep up his productivity and perseverance.