Whiz Kid: Phung Tran

Whiz Kid: Phung Tran

Year/School:  12th grade/Wheaton High School.

Accomplishment: As one 1,000 Gates Millenium Scholars nationwide, Tran, who as a National Cancer Institute intern works on isolating DNA from biopsies in order to examine disease-causing mutations, will receive a full college scholarship.  He will attend the University of Maryland at College Park beginning this fall and plans to continue onto medical school.

Key to Awesomeness: Born in Vietnam, Tran has maintained a stellar academic record in high school while working at his NCI internship and also working at a movie theatre to help support his family. Heather Carias, the teacher who oversees Wheaton High's bioscience academy, said Tran, who is also a member of the National Honor Society and the Drama Club, is not only a very hard-working student but one who extends himself to others.

"He really cares about the school as a whole," Carias said. "If he sees a student who looks a little bit lost in the hall, he's the kind of person who would come up alongside that student and make sure they knew where they were going."

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