One small step into one giant TRIP by Brandon Ngo

Hey everyone! My name is Brandon Ngo, and I am a junior at School Lane Charter School in Bensalem, my hometown. While I like to keep myself busy, when I do have free time, I love to do a lot of things, from biking to visiting Chinatown or skiing during the winter months. Nevertheless, cooking is my probably most useful hobby, and 1 of my top 3 favorite pastimes. Since I like to eat steaks, it’s only fair that I learn to cook them, and I have learned how to make many other dishes for my family along the way to perfecting my technique. Besides ribeye steaks, I have cooked herb-crusted racks of lamb, pan-seared salmon filets, and other such dishes with simple steps that take time and trial to get down right.

Alongside cooking, I love practicing the martial arts. As a 9 year student of Tang Soo Do, I have learned so much about myself and grown as a person. I am now a black belt, but having been both the student and mentor, I know the value of education well and see how much I have left to learn. I even hope to dabble in other arts like Kūdō and Muay Thai to continue improving because the best martial artists see the values and limitations in every style. We have a saying that goes: “Black belt isn’t the end of your journey, just the beginning of a new one.” This holds true far beyond martial arts.

Furthermore, I enjoy folding origami because it is an amazing stress reliever. I first started after reading the story of Sadako Sasaki, a girl with leukemia who attempted the fulfill the legend of folding 1000 paper cranes for a wish for her health. Though she passed from the disease, her story of hope and willpower inspired me to begin folding origami myself 8 years ago. Nowadays, I always try to make time for folding them, whether that be folding a paper crane from a sticky note during study hall to making my friend who dreams of being a pilot a paper Airbus A380.

As of the day that I write this (January 18, 2026), I have only been in the TRIP Lab for 4 hours and 4 minutes total, but for every single second of my first day, I could not help but think about all of the possibilities. I am involved in TRIP to explore what I am fully capable of in a challenging environment among like-minded and ambitious yet diverse people, and my first day has only raised the bar. The technicality and math behind the lab work were interesting challenges to overcome, but beyond the micropipetting and making fly food, I have met so many interesting, kind, and funny people who I hope to get to know better. All I hope is that I make the most of the next 10 weeks, because time flies (pun intended) when you’re having fun!