As each piano key prompts a felt-covered hammer to strike a finely tuned string at a piano recital, a high school pianist completes a complex piece, inspiring a young Michael Tran (12) to master the same proficiency as the pianists performing. Now, Michael, a jazz pianist and a swimming coach, hopes to see that same glimpse of awe in those who listen to his jazz pieces or the younger kids he coaches at a local swimming cabana club.

From the age of 5, Michael started training in classical piano. While practicing the instrument, Michael would often become upset after struggling with a section of music on the piano, but with consistent practice, Michael learned about the importance of commitment and diligence even at times of self-doubt or frustration.

“I realized that what I had been doing anyways was better than not doing anything at all,” Michael said. “That was reassuring in a way like, ‘Hey, at the end of the day, I still like this, and I still want to do this.’”

During his sophomore year, Michael was asked by his adviser, Dr. David Hart, to try out to be the jazz pianist for the upper school jazz band, to which he agreed. Yet, despite his experience in classical piano, it wasn’t easy for him at the beginning.

“The biggest challenge was being able to keep up [with jazz],” Michael said. “In jazz, there are very frequent chord changes, and you’re not necessarily focusing on that in classical piano because as a jazz pianist, you always have a sense of accompaniment. Jazz is also extremely improvisational.”

Through dedicating time to improve himself, Michael was able to polish his skills to become the jazz band’s pianist, learning the importance of hard work and persistence.

“A lot of progress that you make with piano isn’t very linear,” Michael said. “You’ll have spurts where you’re practicing for a week or something and you feel you’re making no progress. And then, a couple of weeks later, you have one day where all of a sudden, this stuff clicks. And then, you make a whole bunch of progress.”

Being in the jazz band for Michael isn’t only about playing pieces assigned to him, but is also about the freedom to play what he wants.

“[Playing the piano] is something that I enjoy,” Michael said. “A lot of the pieces I play are not just because my teacher says, ‘Oh, play this.’ It’s more of something that I really want to play and that I enjoy doing.”

As Michael’s jazz band teacher, Dr. Hart has grown to know Michael as a person, pianist and leader.

“He’s quiet, and yet his leadership comes in how he interacts with others,” Dr. Hart said. “I’m always impressed with his ability to support everyone around him. I love that he cares. His heart is in the right place with so many of these things.”

In addition to his leadership, Dr. Hart noticed his attentive nature in class to his comments that allowed Michael to flourish into a successful jazz pianist.

“I’ll say, ‘Hey, have you checked out this person or this person’s album?’ and then he will say, ‘Oh, no,’” Dr. Hart said. “And then he shows up to all our masterclasses, sits super close to these amazing piano players I brought in partially because of him and some other kids, and he’ll sit very close and listen.”

With his leadership, Michael also loves to collaborate with teammates in Harker Robotics. Receiving a Lego robotics set sparked Michael’s interest in learning about basic programming and assembly. With high school offering the opportunity to join a robotics team, Michael enrolled during his sophomore year, and his participation in robotics taught him the significance of teamwork.

“My friends said, ‘Alright, you’ve got to join [robotics] this year,’” Michael said. “It was really nice to be a part of a team where we were working towards this goal of creating this robot and going through that process of spending time with teammates.”

Friend since sixth grade and fellow robotics team member Alex Liou (12) remembers spending time with Michael on robotics and getting to know him better. During their time together, Alex grew to understand Michael’s unique kindness around others.

“He always puts others ahead of himself,” Alex said. ”He’s very relatable and passionate about what he does. I’ve never, ever had a conflict with him or anything. He’s always been a good friend.”

Close friend since kindergarten Rohan Thakur (12) remembers times where Michael showed him extreme kindness and how it helped him during tricky situations.

“The biggest thing I would say about Michael is as soon as you meet him, you’ll notice that he is the nicest person ever,” Rohan said. “He’s always willing to go out of his way to accommodate someone and to help someone out. For example, my parents both had to go to India at the same time when I was in seventh or eighth grade, [and] Michael said I can stay over, so Michael and his family accommodated me and it was great.”

When taking a break from robotics and academics, Michael can be found unwinding with his other passion for helping others by coaching swimming at a local cabana club, a smaller club that is not as competitive compared to a normal swim team. Having joined the club almost seven years ago, he now teaches 7-year-olds to high schoolers over the summer. The transition from being in the water to coaching swimmers from the deck changed his perspective on coaching.

“It hit me that I’m now the person who’s going to be giving that [advice] and I’m serving the same role that the coaches that I’ve got to know really well before me had given me,” Michael said. “There was this chain of mentors where I had to step into that role.”

With coaching, Michael sees the importance of improving others, and in the process, himself. Working with individuals to help them progress, he slowly refined his own coaching, learning new things about the kids he teaches.

“In coaching, it’s the improvement of others [that is important],” Michael said. “When I started [coaching] you’re on a whole other level and you’re on the flip side of things. You want to be working very closely with the kids to make sure that you’re giving them attention and you’re being constructive.”

For Michael, coaching allows for a special connection with a mentor and mentee, and forming these bonds gives him delight.

“The joy that I get out of coaching is seeing someone that you’re connected to and and putting them in situations where you know that they maybe aren’t the most comfortable at first,” Michael said. “But then seeing that payoff [and] seeing that tangible improvement across everyone is really gratifying.”

From playing piano for jazz band to helping others in both swimming and robotics, Michael values the roles of dedication, kindness and leadership.

“It’s important to do something that you like to do, something that makes you feel good,” Michael said. “It doesn’t have to be something you’re good at. But if you’re doing something you’re good at, maybe [what you’re doing] has some positive impact, whether it’s on something broader that you can’t see, or if it’s on someone you know very well.”