Tran “Trina” Nguyen

As a first generation Vietnamese American, Trina Nguyen grew up in a family that saw education as a privilege. When Trina receives her three, hard-earned degrees from FIU Honors College, she will have lived up to her family’s expectations - and then some.

Trina never viewed health care as a career path when she was in high school. She wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps, a photojournalist during the Vietnam War. That changed the summer before her first year at FIU when she volunteered for a local doctor. The experience spurred Trina’s interest in health professions and broadened her outlook into different academic fields.

Trina overcame personal obstacles while maintaining Dean’s List every semester at FIU, the toughest being in 2019 when her father suffered a debilitating stroke. She changed her volunteering, tutoring, and class schedules to care for her father at home and take him to physical therapy. Using her time management skills, Trina was able to balance the stress and pressure put on her, and she used the lessons from this experience to pursue her bachelor’s in Health Services Administration.

Trina is extremely appreciative of the sacrifices her parents made to give her the “American Dream” when they moved to Miami from Vietnam. To thank them, Trina is graduating with three degrees: one for her mother, one for her father, and one for herself.

After graduation, Trina plans to get a job in hospital management while she studies for the MCAT and applies to medical schools. Her ultimate goal is to pull all her degrees together and become a dermatologist running her own practice.

By Emily Winston
Writer Nicole
Wertheim College of Nursing & Health Sciences