Judy Tran - A Journey to Talent 傑出青年的路程

y d u J ACROSS THE LENS

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A Journe There’s a Chinese saying that begins like this: “Dragons breed dragons and phoenixes breed phoenixes”, which can be interpreted as whoever the parents are, their offspring will become like them. By extension, the family origin of someone plays a role in the growth of that person.

With this saying in mind, a certain expectation can be imposed on young children who grew up in nonprivileged families, making them believe that a bright future is not possible at all for themselves.

When a certain expectation is imposed on young children, what results can arise? The most obvious results are to either fit into that expectation or to oppose.

In Judy’s case, she chose the latter.

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Despite having grown up in community housing and having attended school characterized by frequent police presence, Judy worked industriously as she believed that education was the route to fight against poverty. With that belief, she graduated from her high school’s International Baccalaureate (IB) program to embark on a scientific adventure at the University of Toronto (U of T) specializing in immunology. After getting her U of T degree, she studied at Michener Institute of Education to become a medical laboratory technologist (MLT).

With already a degree and a diploma under her belt, Judy pursued a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at Laurier University to increase her knowledge in finances as she felt that this knowledge could be applied to any management position, no matter which industry.

Talent

Now working at a large teaching hospital in downtown Toronto, Judy, as a MLT, examines various features of a blood cell to see if she needs to notify other health care professionals about certain findings, which in turn, help patients determine the best approach to improving their health.

Judy explains that there are 5 streams under the MLT field: (1) microbiology, (2) hematology, (3) histology, (4) blood transfusion, and (5) chemistry. While she is trained to perform in any of the 5 streams, she enjoys the mix of automated and manual work that her current work presents.

As if Judy doesn’t have a lot on her plate already, she wears another hat by being a Project Manager for one of the U of T research projects where her team of upper-year students in civil engineering and building sciences study the impact of building design on people’s well-being. This project covers areas such as lighting, humidity, temperature, and air quality etc.

Although Judy is responsible for managing the finances and thus uses her MBA knowledge, she ends up learning about the study itself. For example, because concrete does not trap heat well, developers avoid adding balconies to new condominiums. Another example is that some thermostats are locked between a temperature range and this characteristic begs the question if people should have control over their own environment.

Besides her MLT and Project Manager roles, Judy gives back to her community by volunteering at one of the U of T’s summer camps focused on STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics education, which is one of the camps that she had attended as a high school student. She has taught students how to extract DNA from strawberries as well as how to input a jellyfish’s gene into E.coli to grow under UV light given the right environment.

opportu Diving into her beliefs, Judy gradually nurtured her self-confidence and turned her passion towards the medical field, where she was determined to apply what she learned to practical use by helping the public to achieve a more desirable living environment, thus promoting societal progress.

Because of all these experiences, Judy was nominated for the Across U-Can Youth Awards and was one of the recipients of the Across U-Can Grow Awards during its inaugural year. For someone who now has received a lot of higher education and wears multiple hats, Judy wants to tell her younger self to give herself a chance to explore something first prior to saying no instantly.

What’s important is to try something and then stop if she happens to not enjoy that something and to take advantage of the opportunities.

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傑出⻘年 俗語有云「⿓⽣⿓，鳳⽣鳳」，意思是⽗⺟的出⾝就是孩⼦的出 ⾝，即⼀個⼈的家世對其成⻑發展有重要的影響。

雖然這句話也有其道理，但將這觀念灌輸給⼩孩⼦，尤其對於出 ⽣在普通家庭的孩⼦，恐怕並⾮⼀件好事，逐漸他們相信⾃⼰無 法擁有美好的未來 。

當某種觀念被灌輸給孩⼦時，可能會產⽣兩種後果：要麼默默順 從，相信命運的安排；要麼選擇改變，主動掌握⾃⼰的命運。 Judy選擇了後者。 Judy的童年在公營房屋度過，⽽她的學校也經常被警⽅巡邏和到 訪。由於成⻑環境不理想，她堅信教育是擺脫貧困的途徑，抱著 這個信念督促⾃⼰勤奮⽤功學習。她成功從⾼中的國際⽂憑⼤學 預科課程(IB)畢業，接著在多倫多⼤學專修免疫學科學。獲取學 ⼠ 學 位 後 ， 她 進 ⼊ ⽶ 切 納 教 育 研 究 所 (Michener Institute of Education) 攻 讀 ， ⽴ 志 成 為 醫 務 化 驗 師 (Medical Laboratory Technologist，簡稱MLT)。

年的路程... 擁有學位和⽂憑資格的她，並未停⽌學習，Judy隨後到勞⾥埃⼤ 學 (Laurier University) 攻 讀 ⼯ 商 管 理 碩 ⼠ ， 提 升 ⾃ ⼰ 對 財 務 領 域的理解，Judy認為財政知識在任何⾏業和職位都能派上⽤場。

如Judy所願，她現在於多倫多市中⼼⼀所⼤型教學醫院擔任醫務 化驗師，每天分析不同病⼈的⾎細胞特徵，並就分析結果與其他 醫療專業⼈員跟進，從⽽協助找出改善治療的最佳⽅案。

Judy 解 釋 ， MLT 領 域 涵 蓋 微 ⽣ 物 學 (microbiology) 、 ⾎ 液 學 (hematology) 、 組 織 學 ( 或 稱 顯 微 解 剖 學 ， histology) 、 輸 ⾎ (blood transfusion) ， 以 及 化 學 (chemistry) 五 個 範 疇 。 在 學 時，她接受過全部範疇的訓練，⽽她⽬前的⼯作亦涉及多個範 疇，並需要將各範疇之間的互動結合，她亦樂於在⼯作中展現⾃ 由度。

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儘管Judy每天要應付的事情已經很多，但為了將所學貢獻社會， 她同時在多倫多⼤學擔任項⽬經理，負責⼀個由主修⼟⽊⼯程和 建築科學的⾼年級學⽣組成的研究項⽬。這個項⽬研究建築設計 如何影響⼈們的⼼理健康，包括照明、濕度、溫度和空氣質素等 因素。

Judy 從 ⼯ 商 管 理 課 程 中 學 會 財 務 管 理 的 知 識 ， 並 應 ⽤ 在 ⼯ 作 之 中，⽽且她還從研究中獲取其他知識。譬如，她了解到由於混凝 ⼟儲熱能⼒不佳，建築商會因⽽避免在新式公寓建造陽台。另⼀ 個例⼦是有些溫度調節器會把溫度鎖定於某個範圍內，使她思考 ⼈們是否應該控制⾃⼰的環境等問題。 除 了 醫 務 化 驗 師 和 項 ⽬ 經 理 的 職 位 外 ， Judy 還 積 極 擔任多倫多⼤學的⼀個夏令營的義⼯，這是⼀個有 關 STEM 教 育 (Science 科 學 、 Technology 技 術 、 Engineering ⼯ 程 、 Mathematics 數 學 ) 的 活 動 ， 她在⾼中時也曾參加過。她在營會裏教導學⽣如何 從 草 莓 抽 取 核 酸 ， 以 及 如 何 把 ⽔ ⺟ 的 基 因注 ⼊ ⼤ 腸 桿菌，讓其可以在紫外線加上適當的環境下⽣⻑。

學⽽致⽤ Judy 從 ⾃ ⼰ 所 相 信 的 出 發 ， 不 僅 培 育 了 她 的 ⾃ 信 ⼼ ， 還 激 發 了 她對醫學科學的熱情，⽴志要將所學到的知識幫助社會，建⽴更 理想的⽣活環境，期望每個⼈都能⽣活得更美好。

去年，Judy獲提名Across U-Can青年獎，並獲得⾸屆⽣命蛻變 奬，以表揚她對社會的貢獻。經過多年⾼等教育及擔當不同崗位 後，Judy想跟年輕時的⾃⼰說，在拒絕任何事情之前，應該給⾃ ⼰機會嘗試。她認為最重要的是好好把握和利⽤⾝邊的機遇，嘗 試各種事物，直⾄⾃⼰感到不再享受時才停下來。

Contrib Publisher

Writer (English

Across U-hub

Stephanie Mak

Translators

Designer

Ivy Lam, Moses Mui

Tiffany Ore

The views, information and opinions e involved and do not represent the office v

本刊物所登載之個⼈表達的觀點、資料及意⾒，並

butors

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k

Editorial Team

Celeste Cheung

Kelly Liang

Nancy Fok

Nicole Wong

Sonia Lui

Stephanie Mak

Tiffany Ore

expressed are those of the individuals views or opinions of Across U-hub.

並不代表燃動⻘年的機構意⾒或⽴場。