Born Ready

July 11, 2007
Marco Fernandez-Moratilla

LeVincent Truong is currently attending what seems to be his thousandth college course, yet he is only 17 years old. Nevertheless, he doesn’t mind spending his summers on campus as long as he is prepared for college and subsequently for life.

I first met this remarkable young man yesterday when I was designated to be his interviewer. It was then that he began telling me about his history and his constant dedication to his craft as well as his future. I learned that after having endured the separation of his parents at the tender age of five, LeVincent decided that nothing would get between him and his final goal: following his older sister’s example and becoming the second person ever within his family to complete four years of college and ultimately achieve success in the business world. Since the very beginning it was obvious that LeVincent would not conform to other people’s standards and would always strive for greatness. An early sign of this would be when LeVincent was five and told his parents to remove him from private school and to move him to a public institution of education. At the private school he claimed to not enjoy the uniforms or the mandatory religious classes. In retrospect, he explained that he “was losing his own sense of identity.”

Today, LeVincent has a 3.7 G.P.A. at Hercules High School, Calif. which demonstrates his impressive drive. Moreover, his extensive work in summer college programs such as the Pre-Engineering Program Summer Academy (PEPSA) at U.C. Berkeley or the Academic Connections course he is taking in journalism at the moment at U.C.S.D. are clear examples of his attempts to prepare himself for life in the “ real” world. Other extracurricular activities that LeVincent has taken upon would be joining the Young Entrepreneurs at U.C. Berkeley, the last three years he has served as advertising manager for his school newspaper and the twenty-six hours a week he commits to training for badminton at a gym found an hour away from his house. When I asked him about the extraordinary effort he put into the sport, he casually replied by saying “my coach saw my potential during my first year and I worked as hard as possible to not disappoint him.” Right now, LeVincent is number one in the ACCAL league.

Unlike his parents, who are both Vietnamese and arrived to the United States during the early 1970’s, LeVincent was born in the country where he resides, as San Diego was his place of birth. Thus, he feels much more in touch with the culture that surrounds him rather than with his heritage and consequently, his ideal location to retire would be that of Southern California. However, he also feels that in order to accomplish said goal, he must work without rest. Prosperity is essential to LeVincent and that is why he is choosing to double-major in managerial business and mass communications, since he believes that this specific career will provide such prosperity. Evidently, one can assume that great things await LeVincent as long as he perseveres and maintains his work ethic. Slacking off is out of the question for this young go-getter.