Haiyen (Yen) Truong '11

One of the factors that attracted Yen to Cate School was the fact that there was no commute! The thought of living at a boarding school with ample time to participate in extracurricular activities was compelling. However, as enticing as Cate was initially, her first year on the Mesa was challenging. Yen missed her daily meals and weekend time with her large, tight-knit Vietnamese family. She recalls, “Although I wanted to transfer back home, I ended up sticking through my first year at Cate, and am so glad that I did because it opened up lots of opportunities that I wouldn't have had otherwise.”

Yen was involved in almost every extracurricular activity at Cate. In mock trial, she was selected to be the pretrial motion attorney and recalls going to the Santa Barbara Courthouse – after being coached on appropriate professional attire and how to communicate with the judge. Yen believes that it was this practical experience, along with reasoning and critical thinking skills developed at Cate, that ignited her passion in history and politics.

As an underrepresented student at Cate, Yen was inspired by Ms. Salcedo, as she had never had a teacher who looked like her before. Ms. Salcedo went to Yale, and when Yen was accepted to the same university, she was thrilled to reach out to her to ask about her alma mater. In addition to Ms. Salcedo, Mrs. Holmes and Mr. Weis were supportive figures for her. Yen strives to be that type of teacher and role model for her students, who are mostly from marginalized communities. “The more I have delved into the humanities and understanding race and the history of our nation, the more aware I have become that many communities of color have not had the same opportunities that I did.” Yen attests that Cate provided her with privileges that many students of color do not have and therefore she has an unwavering commitment to give back.

Yen is currently an 11th grade AP U.S. History teacher and Department Lead at the Noble Network of Charter Schools in Chicago, Illinois. Prior to that, she was a special education teacher and also taught for Teach for America. According to Yen, one of the challenges that students at the Noble Network of Charter Schools faced was related to access. Before she arrived, only 36 students were enrolled in AP U.S. History. Now, the course has 115 students. Yen is proud to have helped restructure the department to open its doors to many African American and Latino students who have been historically excluded from AP courses. Yen’s commitment to bring equity and access to students and to share the gifts she was given reflects the true spirit of Servons.