From East San José to UC San Diego: A KIPP Alum’s Journey of Growth, Community, and Self-Discovery
My name is Ryan Tran, and as a kid growing up in East San José, my parents wanted my older sister and I to be educated in an environment that prioritized academic rigor while celebrating diversity. KIPP ended up being the perfect place for that.
At KIPP Heritage, I was challenged by my classes, supported by my teachers, and I made a lot of friends I still have today. One of my proudest memories is speaking at our ribbon cutting ceremony in 2017, where we got to show off our new campus. It felt like a true milestone—not just for me, but for all of us in East San José, as we saw our school grow alongside us.
A transformative moment in my KIPP journey was starting high school at KIPP San José Collegiate in 2020. It was a year filled with lots of unknowns, and my freshman year was fully on Zoom. Even though I didn’t get the traditional in-person high school experience at first, 9th grade was still pivotal for me, and I’ll always remember when my homeroom teacher Mr. Garcia asked me a simple question that would shape my future forever: “What do you want to do after you graduate?”
At that point, college and my future after KIPP weren’t things I had really considered seriously. I had no clear plan or direction for what I might be interested in, but Mr. Garcia’s question struck me for a few reasons. In high school, I had started to feel that the future was approaching fast, so the question hit home. But also, Mr. Garcia asked it so curiously, like he really cared what I as an individual wanted for myself.
There was no pressure to give a “right” answer, but it got me thinking. What do I actually want to do? At 14, I started to reflect on my interests and hobbies, which would eventually help me answer this question. I started paying more attention to what made me happy in my classes, and I realized I had a passion for how things worked and engineering and computing.
KIPP exposed me to opportunities to explore these interests and gain valuable experiences. I joined the robotics club and took AP Computer Science. These experiences deepened my interest in computer science and helped shape the direction for my journey post-high school.
Currently, I am a freshman at UC San Diego (Go Tritons!), majoring in cognitive science with a specialization in machine learning and neural computation and minoring in computer science. I hope to continue in the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning to become an artificial intelligence engineer. What I love about this specific field is that it allows me to be creative in many different settings and I can have my own problem-solving processes. I can bring ideas to life with this skill, and that’s just fascinating to me. This year, I also joined the Cognitive Science Student Association. It’s awesome to be in a community with people who share similar career interests as me.
Even though I’m in college now, I’m still vocal about how proud I am to be a KIPP alum. In addition to helping me find my career path, KIPP also helped me build a very strong community and the confidence to find resources on my own. These roots have helped me tremendously. I’m proud to say that I’m not nervous to advocate for myself on such a large campus.
College has been a lot of fun so far, but I would be lying if I said there haven’t been any obstacles. For me, adjusting to the fast-paced quarter system and intense grading system has been a little jarring. It’s hard, but trust me when I say the adjustment gets easier. Just like many changes in our lives, we need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. College offers plenty of resources and support groups to help with the transition, and the KIPP Forward team does a great job of setting up checkpoints to ensure you know what to look out for.
When I graduate from UC San Diego, I want to be proud of what I’ve achieved. I eventually want to go to graduate school and continue my studies. More than anything, I want to remember that I chose my path for myself. I know there’s more ahead of me, with a lot more challenges and unknowns, but I feel confident that I’m prepared for those challenges—and that’s all I really need.
I know many KIPPsters will soon be embarking on their post-high school journeys, and the advice I would share with them is to appreciate your community while also trusting your own judgement to make authentic choices that reflect who you truly are.
