What's in a Name?

Stephanie Tran

Stephanie Tran- English/German (mother); Vietnamese (father); The younger sister of Emma and Connor Tran, Stephanie is often perceived as being patient, soft-spoken, serene, kind, and gracious. Well-mannered and gentle, she tends to be considerate and always put other people's feelings before her own, caring significantly about other people's safety. Similarly to her brother Connor, she is not a very belligerent person, which can cause her to be seen as humble and somewhat modest to her peers, since her overwhelming kindness prevents her from responding or acting in fear of offending someone. She works hard to satisfy others and cares deeply for her loved ones, wanting to maintain a sense of harmony and happiness in her environment. Stephanie has a habit of addressing others, particularly her elders, appropriately and has demonstrated a maturity beyond her years in her demeanor. She is polite and not spoiled despite being sheltered, showing a mature, motherly side around younger children, as well as her friends. She has great moral values that she tries to live up to at all costs and will feel extremely guilty if she ignores them and breaks the law, as she gives a lot of importance to honor and self-value. She is a quiet and sometimes taciturn girl who tends to bottle up her emotions and restrain herself from expressing what she truly feels. Stephanie was often seen as an impressionable, "go-with-the-flow" type of person, with a habit of appearing somewhat wishy-washy, indecisive, and unconfident in social situations when she was young. She cried easily as a child and was not self-assured, making her appear timid and easily imposed on with her quiet and benign nature. If she is close to a group of people, she can become protective over these relationships, which can make her nervous to include others. 

She can also make rash decisions and become stubborn, but gives them a lot of thought before and rarely regrets her actions, in addition to being a good mediator. Stephanie can become a bit obsessive when she finds people who share her interests, as she wants to find a way to nourish and maintain these relationships. She is helpful but comes across as demure and extremely shy and tends to work better "behind the scenes" in a supporting role, letting others take charge instead. She is also multitalented and has a busy lifestyle, not only being in the history club and doing gymnastics, but whatever her mother wishes to get her involved in. She is very close to her grandmother, who she visits frequently at the local nursing home and devotes significant time to trying to make feel loved since her stroke. Although lacking in confidence, Stephanie is an avid domestic engineer and skilled cook but consistently downplays her abilities. She is also very self-sacrificing and nurturing, being very responsible and having a strong intuition with her siblings and being protective of Connor, who sometimes claims she treats him more like a son than a brother despite their age difference. As a relatively sheltered young woman, she quickly became fascinated by her father's humble roots, learning that Albert's parents were refugees from Vietnam who emigrated to America sometime back in 1975, during which the Vietnam War came to its dramatic climax. At the conclusive battle of the war, the United States sent helicopters to evacuate South Vietnamese citizens, causing the citizens to abandon their old lives and attempt to board the surrounding helicopters and boats. In a desperate attempt to flee from communism in their motherland, her father's parents fled to California with their three young children seeking economic opportunities and a higher standard of living. 

After relocating to Southern California's Orange County, they managed to find some prosperity as Albert's mother attempted to learn English and earned an associate's degree to become a pharmacy technician. His father attended night school in the meantime with a resolve to become a Mechanical Engineer, initially working more modest jobs as a store stocker and cashier at a local gas station to make ends meet. He came from a household of hard workers who placed a great emphasis on education and self-improvement, with each of his parents instilling these values within their son and daughters as they guided them towards a better future. Neither Stephanie grandmother nor grandfather ever forgot their cultural roots either, continuously aiming to expose him and his sisters to their rich ethnic background and prevent them from forgetting where they came from after becoming too "Americanized". Her exposure to Shephard's complex backstory, as well as his ambitious desires to achieve a revolutionary career in technology to find better job opportunities, allowed her to reconsider several aspects of her life and develop a quiet drive to succeed herself. Samantha, her mother admired Albert silently from afar for several years, never quite knowing how to overcome her awkwardness to make any further advances on him. She came to see him not only as a muse in terms of moving forward in life, but a continuous source of inspiration who instilled a newfound strength of will and determination in her. Stephanie was pleasantly surprised to learn with time that the attraction between her parents was mutual once Albert willingly invited Samantha to a renaissance festival in Pasadena, to which she happily agreed.