“Funnily enough, I was a C student in math during seventh grade.” 

Anne Pham is passionate about mathematics. To Anne, the most fascinating aspect of math is how mathematicians like Newton can recognize patterns all throughout math. She realized how much she liked math in eighth grade. Anne recounts spending hours and hours working on math problems with her tutor in the morning. “It never got boring,” she said. To further her passion for mathematics, Anne plans on pursuing a major in math.

However, Anne also plans to major in bioengineering. As a child, her older brother had a liver malfunction which caused his entire liver to fail. Thankfully, he was able to receive surgery from a brand new, first of the line pediatric robot named DaVinci Robot which saved his life. “My family was so uncertain if the procedure would work out,” Anne said hesitantly. It was painful for Anne to witness her family worry and stress over her brother’s procedure. Therefore, Anne is pursuing bioengineering. “I want to make products like the DaVinci Robot so that more families don’t go through what my family did.”

Anne’s biggest inspiration is her mom. “Although it sounds stereotypical, she is so philosophical.” she said. The best advice her mom has given her was to do what makes her happy. Anne confesses that she has really struggled with her own definition of success; that she always believed it to be getting a job that pays well, like one located in the STEM field. Anne will follow her mom’s advice on doing what makes her happy. 

“I realized that if you aren’t happy doing whatever you’re doing, there’s no point in doing it,” she said.