leading leadership

By Minh-Anton D

Here at Yerba Buena High School, Viet Trinh is a teacher. He is no mere teacher, for he has been guiding people from freshmen to seniors in the Leadership elective for more than 10 years. This is the backstory on how he became Activities Director and subsequently, the Leadership teacher at Yerba Buena High School.

His journey began two decades ago after he finished college where he landed a job.

Mr. Trinh: “So I was teaching at Andrew Hill, fresh out of college, taught there for about 10 years.”

Mr. Trinh taught an ESL class there for a couple of years. The thought of teaching something else had not crossed his mind until an administrator approached him. From there, his view on teaching shifted.

Mr. Trinh: “It was my third year at Andrew Hill when he (administrator) approached me and asked me if I was interested in this position (activities director).”

After sometime being an activity director, the East Side Union High School District offered Mr. Trinh a job as something more than a teacher.

Mr. Trinh: “My last year at Andrew Hill, they offered me a job as an administrator.”

Mr. Trinh enjoyed seeing and interacting with students. He came everyday to Andrew Hill looking forward to teaching and seeing how his students grew with his lessons. Now, he was in an unfamiliar position which posed some obstacles that he eventually dealt with.

Mr. Trinh: “Because when you’re an administrator, the district office can place you wherever they feel there is a need for you. I was moved to a different location site.”

The obstacle finally presented itself: the passion for teaching students. Mr. Trinh was not able to interact and see his students. So at the first chance he could, Mr. Trinh overcame it.

Mr. Trinh: “After a few years of doing that, I missed being in a classroom and working directly with students. So the first opportunity to come back at the high school level or working with students, I sort of jumped at the opportunity and that opportunity was at YB.”

Once again, Mr. Trinh was able to be back in a classroom at Yerba Buena High School. Coming everyday to teach students who were eager to learn reignited his passion for being a teacher. From there, Mr. Trinh alongside the Leadership classroom blossomed.

Since then, the Leadership class has hosted many events that were a hit among students. Some events included Food Faire, Fantastics, and Warriors Got Talent. All of these events have gotten students to look forward to school other than the academics of it all.

Mr. Trinh: “I think the past couple of events we just had held are events that get students engaged. One is Food Truck Friday, Food Faire, so anything that kinda involves food for the students I think really gets them excited and engaged.”

Hosting these events is a lot of responsibility. Mr. Trinh has to supervise the Leadership students and ensure that they organize the event, get necessary supplies, make posters, reserve the space, spread awareness, and a lot more work to get an event rolling.

Mr. Trinh: “They have to reserve the facility. And they reserve the facility with the principal secretary because she handles the calendar. Once it’s cleared up on that end, then we let them know exactly what it is we need. So we get the supplies together.”

However, sometimes planning events doesn’t go as planned. From his experience, his mood can also go unplanned as well.

Mr. Trinh: “I always sort of regret not it’s not losing my temper but always sort of being abrupt with students. Whenever I kinda lose that calmness or whenever I come across something where a student frustrates me or whatnot.”

Beyond Mr. Trinh’s regrets, many of the events that are planned and hosted by the Leadership class are successful and quickly become a permanent event with the students.

On the other hand, some events aren't as successful. For comparison, Food Truck Friday is an event hosted yearly by the Leadership class. Social or not, new or not, there is a wide variety of students who attend these events.

Mr. Trinh notices that there are some events that only a certain group of students engage with. This results in some events such as Breast Cancer Awareness Week having less of a turnout with the students than other events like Food Truck Friday.

Mr. Trinh: “I think the events that are not as successful are events that are more geared towards outside community, sort of like awareness things. Like, we do Breast Cancer Awareness week. I don’t see it as successful because it’s usually the same group of kids who will do the bulk of the work and so you don’t have as many students as involved as other events. And so you’ll have a concentrated amount of students who will go out and do the majority of the work.”

Year after year, Leadership continues to develop and execute fun events, make good memories for everyone and have great class spirit. Here is what stands out for him year after year.

Mr. Trinh: “I think all the classes are memorable. I see people and I may not remember the name but I’ll recognize the face. And so it’s just like I connect the face with the year. And so the years, each year just stands out in that way where you remember the people in the year.“

Finally, here is what Mr. Trinh recommends to anyone who wants to join Leadership.

Mr. Trinh: “Make sure you know what you’re getting into. Because for some people, their idea of ASB is that it’s just an easy A+ class. Or that it’s a kickback class or even that it’s just a way to hang out and have fun and there’s not much work involved.”