College Bound: Russel Tran Leaves for USC a Year Early

Sam Newman, Opinion Editor

Russell Tran, depicted here, is demonstrating the solar powered phone charging prototype acquired by the EAT club in partnership with Schneider Electric. Tran will be attending USC in the fall on a full-ride scholarship instead of completing his senior year at SJHHS. He started the application process in December 2016, and heard back about his acceptance in January, then interviewed for a scholarship in February and was granted a full-ride at the end of March. As a part of the Resident Honors Program, he will integrate into the regular school body at USC. He will technically be considered a high school dropout, but he is appealing to receive a high diploma in spite of not finishing his course requirements. Tran plans to major in Environmental Science and Health and minor in Entrepreneurship, and in the future he hopes to apply that to either pre-med or to get an MBA. Tran said, “I’m very lucky to have had such a nice time here at San Juan Hills, it’s such a nice school. I feel ready for college already, but at the same time, yeah, I am leaving [high school] behind.” The Tran household will now be a “house-divided” because his older sister Jacqueline Tran is currently enrolled at UCLA; however, there is no real rivalry between the siblings.