As another school year comes to a close, our graduating seniors look ahead to their future.
For one student, that includes attending a prestigious university on an almost-full scholarship.
Viet Tran is graduating from Palo Duro High School tops in his class. His teachers describe him as a student who is wise beyond his years.
Pronews 7 is featuring him in this week's Region 16 Spotlight Education report.
Viet Tran and his parents came to the United States from Vietnam when he was 4-years old. It gave him the chance to enjoy and thrive in public education.
"Makes you really appreciate the freedom the amount of free education that we get here for just having the incentive to come to school. I think about that sometimes when I'm at school and I think, gosh, what would I know now if I'd been over in Vietnam," said Tran.
He says it's that appreciation that helps push him to succeed.
Succeed he did.
He's this year's valedictorian, he's dedicated to the band, and he's been granted a $60,000 scholarship to Harvard University.
"In all likeliness, I'll probably study neurobiology. I've always been interested in the brain and how people think".
If he gets bored with that, he says he'll probably get his residency to be a neurosurgeon.
"The whole process of figuring out how people think and what their motives are, lead me to be really interested in the mind and learning how does it work and how do people work," said Tran.
Tran will leave for Harvard August 15th, with classes starting shortly after that. His advice to his younger classmates, don't stress over the small stuff.
