Linh Tran Tsang: Lynchpin of College Prep

If you could measure affection by how many emails you received from a person, all of us would be most loved in life by Linh Tran Tsang. The beauty of this erroneous comparison, however, is that few of us will ever meet anyone as kind, engaging, and enthusiastic about her relationships and professionalism than our College Prep office manager and secretary to the Head of School. She is an extraordinary person who cares for parents, students, administrators, and teachers with a zealous generosity of spirit.

The story of her life harbors the genesis of her character. At 3-½ years old, Linh and her family escaped from Saigon, Vietnam, in a cargo ship designed to hold 1,000 passengers, but bearing 3,000 on that fateful day in 1978. The four-day journey to Hong Kong took 28-days, as the ship was harbored and unable to pull into port. As her mother cried one morning, her wise toddler saddled up next to her and presaged, "In three days we will be able to get in" - or so the family narrative reports. Within that time, the family did land, and it got set up in a refugee camp with a pre-school, private sleeping quarters, and even jobs for the able-bodied.

Undoubtedly resonating throughout Linh's life is the testimony and example of her parents. Her maternal grandfather was a traveling salesman from mainland China, who settled in Vietnam and became a butcher. Her paternal grandfather died young and his son (Linh's father, Ky Tran) came to Saigon to work as a coffee distributor and support his mother and sisters in the village. Ky's stall selling coffee was directly opposite Linh's mother's butcher shop. They soon married and had five children; Linh is the youngest.

After being sponsored to come from Hong Kong to California, Linh's father became a janitor in a restaurant - a job he faithfully and diligently thrived in for 15 years, until his early death when Linh was in college. Not surprisingly, both Linh's parents were amazing cooks - noodles from scratch, porridge, and elaborate chicken dishes for Sunday brunch. Her mother was and still is a caterer and a baker in Bakersfield.

After majoring in Business Administration and Management Information Systems at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, Linh consulted as a technical educator for a few IT companies. She traveled across America and became an expert at Excel spreadsheets. She muses that her worst nightmare ever was "being stuck inside a [spreadsheet] cell, waiting for someone to click on me and let me out!" After a jaunt of catering in her own right, she took a job in 2003 at College Prep. From there, life expanded rapidly, as she married Garson Tsang and had two beautiful sons, Miles (6) and Morgan (almost 3).

It won't surprise any of you that Linh's wedding was a College Prep community event. Art teacher Christine Williams made her veil and wedding decorations. Music master Tina Harrington sewed her wedding dress! History teacher Katherine Gumbert's husband created special "coffee bean" earrings to honor Linh's father. A College Prep parent did her make-up, and students provided the music. Alumni created floral arrangements and her bouquet. Faculty and staff served food. Linh and Garson, with help from family and friends, made all the food to serve the 250 guests.

Linh's creative outlets at College Prep include much more than simply running everything - she serves as a student co-advisor, manages the all-school calendar, shines as a liaison with the Parents' Association and Board of Trustees, has led Intraterm offerings, and she also bakes, knits, and caters parties for the auction. In her own words, she describes her work ethic: "It would be easy to just come in and do my job, but it is finding other little nuggets of joy in special moments when I dig deeper that makes this the most exciting place to work."

The Parents' Association, in particular, is honored to work with and beside Linh. When you see her, her explosive smile and laugh will remind you that we belong to a unique and remarkable community. In many respects, she is the lynchpin of that reality.