School’s out for summer, and for newly graduated seniors of the class of 2022 it marks the beginning of a new chapter in their lives.
Graduation day is a culmination of a student’s hard work and dedication, and considering how difficult the last two years have been it’s quite the accomplishment.
Two Jenkins graduates, Frank George and Dan Ha, discussed their high school experience and plans for the future.
Frank George graduated as salutatorian from Jenkins High School, and was part of its engineering program. Along with his stellar academic performance George was also a varsity athlete, playing baseball his first three years of school all while juggling leadership positions in various clubs.
George served as the president of the Student Ambassadors club, secretary of the national honors society and a member of the high school’s math team.
During his senior year he decided to take a break from baseball and pick up an operations engineering apprenticeship at Gulfstream. For his internship George said that he learned how to work in a team and gained hand-on experience with real world projects.
After the summer George will start school at Georgia Tech majoring in aerospace engineering.
“Gulfstream influenced me because my dad works there, and I also got an apprenticeship, my senior year,” explained George on his motivation for choosing his major. Aerospace engineering would allow George to shoot for the stars, as he expressed his interest in developing and designing spacecraft.
George also pointed out that a change in environment is something he is looking forward to.
“I’m super excited to be going to college. Especially because this last year I noticed my motivation level was just going down,” said George. “I need a new environment to spark some passion and continue to work hard.”
Prior to starting college in Atlanta, George is looking forward to hanging out with his friends over the summer and taking time to relax.
Dan Ha is another recent Jenkins graduate. Since his middle school days at STEM Academy, Ha has gravitated toward the field of robotics.
“All I did in school was just get good grades. That’s all my parents asked. I didn’t really know anything about the clubs. ...One of my teachers asked me if I wanted to join robotics since I was good at math and creative,” explained Ha.
Ha chose to go to Jenkins because of the school’s engineering program, and joined the robotics club to continue pursuing his passion.
“I want to be an engineer. I did robotics in middle school, and I saw that Jenkins also offered the program so I thought it was just a no brainer,” said Ha
Ha also participated in Model United Nations as part of the Vietnamese delegation. He also was part of the SCCPSS Student Senate and National Honor Society.
For college, Ha plans on attending Georgia Southern University for a year before transferring to Georgia Tech.
He also has plans to visit Vietnam this summer to attend his cousin’s wedding.