A Small Autobiography

The name’s Judy, but most of my friends call me “Judy Tran”-- they all feel that saying my full name flows much better than just calling me by my first name.  I have two sisters, two brothers, and divorced parents.  My family came to America from Vietnam in 1982, thus, I do speak both English and Vietnamese.  Most people forget that I am bilingual because I miraculously have no accent.  In fact, although I was born in San Fransisco, California, I did not speak English until I was 6 years old because I began attending public school.  


I was raised in the harsh streets of Philly until my mom (she’s my superhero) decided to make a better living by moving to Nashville, TN.  I am very thankful for this move because I would not be who I am today if the ‘Tran Clan’ remained in Philly-- I went from witnessing shootings between gang rivalries to being spoiled by Southern Hospitality, and I do not take it for granted one bit.  Like “The Jeffersons,” we moved on up (or technically down) to the south side to Franklin, TN where I graduated in the top 5% of my class in 2004 at Centennial High School.  I will admit that I was a nerd and always cared about making straight A’s... and I’m proud to say that I’m still a nerd, but I’ve become more relaxed about making perfect grades.  I guess that just comes with age.  


It was during my junior year at Centennial when I decided that I wanted to be a teacher.  I was fortunate enough to have a Calculus Honors and Physics Honors teacher that inspired me to want to teach Mathematics.  Doing homework, taking quizzes and exams, etc. will never be fun, but I will admit that I looked forward to going to these classes every day because my teachers actually made class enjoyable.  This is why I want to teach.  I want to make learning more entertaining and engaging rather than the usual monotonous lectures.  I have had no experience as of yet in the teaching field, but I hope to be some sort of math assistant this summer at a Knoxville High School.  I absolutely love arts-n-krafts, so I hope to not only be a role model, but to also bring in a lot of creativity and smiles to my future students!