A dozen years ago, Xisen Tian’s parents wanted more opportunities for their son.
He found them here. He also found mentors who helped Xisen (pronounced “season”) take advantage of those opportunities.
The grade-schooler who didn’t speak English became one of 15 honor graduates in Columbia River High School’s Class of 2011.
And when he was a high-schooler, his science projects — done through an internship at Portland State University — were presented in national showcases.
Now Tian is a junior at the U.S. Naval Academy, where he can pursue still more opportunities.
It’s among the best science-technology-engineering-math (STEM) schools in the country, Tian said. And the academy offers something else.
“It’s a chance to serve the country that has given me so much,” Tian said. When he graduates in 2014, he will be commissioned as a U.S. Navy officer.
“I’m a computer science major,” Tian told five local high school students during a recent session in the Skyview career center.
He’s interested in the cyber realm, “where future wars will be fought.”
His classes have included two semesters of cyber security, presented along the lines of a team competition: “The team that shuts down the other team wins.”
Tian is minoring in Chinese.
The two academic paths might converge in a career in Navy intelligence, Tian said, although the submarine service sounds interesting.
In the summer of 2012, he spent four weeks in China during a language immersion program. It gave him a chance to catch up with relatives he hadn’t seen in 12 years.
“We had a big family reunion. It was very emotional,” Tian said. “They last saw me as a 7-year-old.”
It’s interesting that the place of his birth represents one of America’s biggest global challengers.
“That’s crossed my mind,” Tian said.
The Navy midshipman explained the family transition.
“My parents wanted more opportunities for me,” Tian said. “Unless your family is wealthy and can afford extra schooling, your life is limited” in China.
His father, Lun Tian, and mother, Ping Ren, settled in Hazel Dell. Their son started school at Hazel Dell Elementary, and he was a third-grader when Don Beatty became his lunch buddy.
“I had him as a lunch buddy through the fifth grade. I don’t know why they assigned him to me. Maybe it was the Americanization aspect,” said Beatty, a former Navy officer.
He’s remained close with Tian and his family, Beatty said.
“They were young folks new to this country. They work and work and work,” Beatty said. “They are the American dream.”
They set a good example for their son.
“His dad talks about seeing him at 2 or 3 a.m. on the couch with a book,” Beatty said.
Chemistry professor Carl Wamser became a mentor when the Columbia River student entered a summer science program at Portland State University. The project involved making new compounds for solar cells.
“We needed to know how they absorb light, and he did a very careful study on derivatives he made,” Wamser, now an adjunct professor, said.
Tian turned his research into a high school science project. He made presentations in 2009 and 2010 at national meetings of the American Chemical Society. In 2011, Tian was one of Washington’s 10 finalists in the Intel International Science Fair.
Tian’s project will continue to pay off, Wamser added. The research is still coming together, and Wamser expects it to be published in the next year or so.
Based on his work as a Columbia River student, Tian will be credited as one of the authors, “which is incredibly unusual for a high school student,” Wamser said.
When it came time to think about college, Tian’s lunch buddy suggested the Naval Academy. Don Beatty graduated from Annapolis in 1957 and became a Navy aviator.
“I was looking for some place that would use his talents and develop his talents,” Beatty said. “And there are the financial aspects.”
An appointment to a service academy represents pretty close to a $300,000 scholarship — and midshipmen also receive a monthly salary of $929. Getting in requires a congressional (or presidential/vice-presidential) appointment.
“Our office has had nine Clark County appointments” to service academies, said Drew Griffin, spokesman for U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas.
“The competition is fierce for a slot at the Naval Academy,” Jon Haugen said. “Last year, 17,819 applied but only 1,200 were accepted.”
Haugen is a Blue and Gold officer — a Naval Academy graduate who interviews local students during the admissions process.
Haugen said that five of the 4,500 midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy are from Clark County.
As he meets applicants and their families, Haugen stresses the difference between a service academy and other colleges.
“There is an honor code,” the 1981 Annapolis grad said. And, “If you’re not in class, there better be a reason.”
