The 2021 recipient of the Jimmy Nhat Nguyen scholarship is Brian Tran. He's the oldest of the 5 candidates this year, and also the only male students. But what truly set Mr. Tran's application apart are his hard work, strong motivation, and big dreams. Not often that we hear about a student who wants to earn advanced degrees in anthropology and contributes to space exploration. Despite being a single father of a two year old girl and a care-taker of an elderly mother, Brian maintains a 4.0 GPA. His credibility and potential are supported by two long, detailed letters of recommendation by his professors; the best reference letters that we've seen thus far from any of the scholarship application. His anthropology professor wrote: "I am very impressed with Mr. Tran’s energetic approach to his studies as he consistently writes meticulously researched and critically perceptive papers." We wish him the best in school and life.
I was born in Oklahoma raised in Texas to middle class parents who owned a small business. Tumultuous rifts in the relationship ended up with me being placed into state protective custody at the tender age of 12. Constantly met with hardships and marginalization against kids in the system I overcame the odds graduating high school a full year and a half early. As a child I dreamed of stars in the night sky and wanted so badly to reach them. Living in the age of space exploration and fixing to enter the age of space colonization I have the unique opportunity to possibly become a pioneer or colonist to another world.
In short some of my core traits would be physically active, vegetarian (working on vegan), direct democracy advocate, between gnostic and ancient alien theories on religion, full-time college student, full-time father to an amazing two year old girl, full-time provider for my loving mother, and finally someone who tirelessly dreams and aspires of going to Mars as a part of the “Mars Migration” (Musk).
When we decide to colonize a planet such as Mars perhaps, we will need to construct an entire new society to organize the activities, social behaviors, or code of conduct people will live by. This will be an incredible chance to take what we have learned about cultural relativism and ethnographic approaches to build such a rich culture promoting equality that it will be regarded as a Utopia. I believe it is my calling to take part in making our species multi-planetary by being a scientist who will dedicate my entire life to helping construct better societies on other heavenly bodies.
To reach this ambitious goal the first step is to have a solid educational foundation. I plan to continue to finish my time here at LBCC with perfect attendance, straight As, superb quality work always turned in on time and eventually transfer to UC Berkeley to finish my Bachelors applying the same rigor. For my post-graduate studies, I will more than likely continue at UC Berkeley as the Anthropology graduate program is rated in the top 3 in the world. Finally, my next steps would be gaining employment at either a public space agency such as NASA or a private one such as SpaceX.
Receiving a scholarship will help in so many ways to alleviate the mounting financial hardships I encounter dedicating myself full-time to school. Simultaneously maintaining roles as the only caregiver to my two year old daughter and elderly mother while still being able to deliver exemplary results in school has tested every part of my work ethic and commitment to success. I do not choose this profession for money or self interests but to be a part of an extraordinary league of scholars and scientists who will shape the direction of our species evolution into the stars. Scholarships will help me one day realize my dream since i was a boy stuck in group homes to be a Space Anthropologist making a positive difference in the future of our human species.