a tough past

By Jonathan M

Johnny Tran, a 17-year-old high school student, has been through many difficulties such as moving a lot throughout his life but managed to get past it all.

Tran was born in Vietnam when he was an infant and he lived there for 2 years. His parents decided to come to the U.S and he moved to San Jose, California and he went to a school named Kennedy Middle School

And in 5th grade he discovered basketball. “I got into basketball because of my friends. They got me into playing it and playing in the school's teams,” Tran said.

After Tran moved to San Jose he stayed for 10 years. He then moved to Arizona to visit his cousins when he was in the 7th grade and while he was living in Arizona he started attending school there.

Tran said, “My parents got me into a school in Arizona” and the school he attended “didn't feel right” since there were few other kids that looked like him. Tran felt like he didn't fit in with others.

A year has passed while living in Arizona and after all the time living over there Tran moved back to San Jose. He attended a school called “Bridges Academy” and stayed there for 2 years and made some new friends throughout the years and started playing basketball in school teams and later he graduated and went to Yerba Buena High School where Tran met new people. He started doing school activities and events, and he had a lot of fun playing sports with his friends “All of them has given me a lot of memorable moments that I will never forget.” Tran said.

Tran loved playing basketball with his friends and playing on the teams he was in, but COVID started and he had to stay indoors. He could no longer play basketball with his friends or his team and he stayed home babysitting his two year old little sister and helping his mom at her milk tea business.

After all this has passed Tran got back to what he loved doing most and that was playing basketball with his friends and he quit playing his favorite games due to school.