By Bethany Nguyen
“I don’t want to have any regrets.”
This mindset, which junior Pham Tran lives by, continuously pushes her to dive headfirst into every opportunity she encounters. Beyond her rigorous academics, she can often be found volunteering at hospitals, tutoring young children and helping out at the OC Food Bank. This year, Tran is also stepping into a new role as Baron Banner’s social media manager, eager to bring her creativity and passion to life.
An active member of her community, Tran has discovered a passion for helping others and sharing her love with those around her. With dreams of working in the medical field, she has become involved in numerous activities that all reflect her drive to improve her community.
Tran finds motivation and inspiration in those within her circle. From peers to mentors to family members, she always notices something to admire in everyone she meets.
“Every great person I meet, I find myself having something to learn from them and also the aspects of them that I love,” Tran said.
In the same way that she looks to others to better herself, Tran also loves branching out by trying new things and immersing herself in new experiences. In fact, this curiosity is what motivated her to join Baron Banner in her sophomore year–to leap into an unknown world of newswriting and photography.
Expanding her horizons through new experiences has helped shape Tran in countless ways.
“Baron Banner will definitely have a positive impact on me in the future, just as it does right now, because it has been teaching me so many skills, like communicating skills, soft skills and even technological skills of how to use different [software programs],” Tran said.
Student journalism is not the only passion she has discovered that has made its way into her routine. With all of her community service, volunteering and extracurricular activities, Tran has found focus and encouragement in keeping her eye on the prize.
“I find it hard to balance [activities] all the time,” Tran said. “I think the thing that keeps me going is definitely motivation and discipline…keeping myself reminded of what my goal is.”
While Tran may have laser focus on the future that she wants to create for herself, she is not always locked in on productivity.
When she is not dedicating hours of her day to her classwork or community service, you can find Tran strolling through malls with her friends or café-hopping before watching a picturesque beach sunset.
Venturing outside of her comfort zone, meeting new people and setting herself up for success, Tran is always mindful of living in the moment and showing up for herself–and for the people around her.