Finding his voice
Eric Trac’s senior year at MIT has been a busy one. He’s finishing his coursework in chemical engineering, applying to medical school, and researching a gel that can help heal scarred vocal cords. He’s also mentoring youth debaters in Boston, planning a community service trip to his hometown of San Francisco, and setting up a mentoring program for premedical students. And when he gets the chance, he calls home to talk to his mother.A rough startTen years ago, Trac didn’t speak much in school. He didn’t understand much, either: The son of Vietnamese refugees, Trac didn’t speak English at home and struggled through elementary school, bringing home standardized test marks that were far below average. Neither of Trac’s parents had attended college; his mother had abandoned her dreams of becoming a pharmacist to flee Vietnam’s Communist regime in 1979. “My mother was forced to work countless hours at a series...