The Innovation and Design Center (IDC) was a key piece in what attracted freshman Rita Tran to La Salle, despite considering other schools like St. Mary’s and Central Catholic. She is in the Introduction to Design Thinking and Tools class taught by Ms. Carie Coleman and likes how hands-on it is and all the different projects they create. 

Tran attended St. Mary’s Middle School before coming to La Salle, which was “very small,” she said, so La Salle was “really big” when she started. 

Doing online school during the end of her seventh-grade year and through eighth grade was a little frustrating to Tran because she couldn’t talk with her friends. But, she still communicated with friends in other ways, like calling.

That is why the community at La Salle has been a highlight of Tran’s time here. “Everyone’s super nice and you can just go off and talk to someone,” she said. 

She has especially grown these relationships in her extracurriculars, such as the swim team, the Asian American and Pacific Islander club, the Students Against Sexual Assault club, and the First Aid and CPR club. 

She joined the variety of clubs because they are things Tran is passionate about and because each club “spoke to me,” she said.

Morning Choir is something Tran has been involved with since fourth grade so she decided to keep pursuing choir at La Salle. Morning Choir is at 7:30 a.m., which makes it easier for her parents because of their commute to work. She doesn’t necessarily like waking up early, but Tran likes performing, she said. She finds it easier to perform with a lot of people “since there’s so many people in the choir you don’t have to be scared,” she said. 

Outside of school Tran enjoys listening to music and reading. Her favorite type of music to listen to is K-Pop. Tran likes bands such as Tomorrow X Together, the Bangtan Boys, and other similar groups. As for books, Tran enjoys “Harry Potter” as “it’s a classic,” she said. She also likes series such as “Legend” and “Collection.”

Another love of Tran’s is the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She enjoys both the shows and the movies, with her favorite movies being “Thor: Ragnarok” and “Endgame.” She has plans to watch the new Spider-Man movie, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” as well. 

If Tran could go anywhere in the world she would choose to go to Vietnam. It’s where her mom and dad grew up and she is interested in seeing what’s there. She also speaks some Vietnamese — “not too well, but enough that I can communicate with people,” she said. 

Looking into the next semester of her freshman year, Tran is excited to take World History. She is also interested in Chemistry her sophomore year “but then I also know it’s really hard and stressful,” Tran said. 

Though high school graduation and college are far into her future, Tran has already decided on a college she’d like to attend: Rice University in Houston Texas. Rice is where her mom attended college, and she finds the campus to be really nice. Tran is also interested in the science programs there.