Coming to Kent from the Ukraine in the first grade, Sergey Russu spoke only his native Romanian language.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“The first year, there was the language barrier,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
In time he not only picked up English, but due to the diversity of the church his family attended, he also learned Ukrainian, Russian and Modolvan.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
While his mind soaked up the various tongues like a sponge, there was one universal language Russu was fascinated by, one that would help him connect with anyone on earth and propel him into his dream career.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“I was strong in math (as a child),” Russu said,” (and) I still enjoy it now.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Russu’s dedication to excel in math and science earned him a Pacific Northwest Regional Council of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials scholarship worth $2000. And because Russu’s family participates in the King County Housing Authority’s Section 8 housing voucher program, the KCHA has also promised to contribute an additional $250 grant to be put toward continuing his education.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“This scholarship is a blessing,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Russu’s interest in mathematics and science began at Kent-Meridian High School where an instructor of his shared his love of civil engineering. From that point on, Russu made up his mind to work hard to achieve a similar goal.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“I’m thinking about electrical engineering,” said Russu, who graduates Saturday. “(And) I’ve been pretty early setting myself up.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Doing Running Start at Highline Community College, Russu took advanced courses, and it was there in those challenging classes that his love of the sciences flourished.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“First of all, you can really go into the whole process of physics and chemistry, and you start realizing the nature behind the whole thing,” Russu said. “The second thing I really like is it’s very conceptual and deep in thought.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
But Russu wanted more. To apply the concepts he learned in the classroom to real-world situations, he joined the robotics club at Highline where he could marry mechanics and mathematics.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“It’s an interaction of multiple subjects,” Russu said. “It’s something I enjoy doing.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
And it’s something he hopes to continue in his last year at Highline before he transfers to a four-year university like his older brother who studies civil engineering at Seattle University. With the scholarship from the PNRC-NAHRO, he’ll be able to transfer as a junior, setting himself up for a great career in the field on engineering.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“One day I will look back upon my life and say, ‘I realized the value of education, and I took advantage of it,” Russu said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
=====<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Graduation schedule, Saturday,<\/strong>ShoWare Center, 625 W. James St.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u2022 Kentridge High School, 9 a.m.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u2022 Kent-Meridian High School, 12:30 p.m.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u2022 Kentwood High School, 3:30 p.m.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u2022 Kentlake High School, 7 p.m.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Coming to Kent from the Ukraine in the first grade, Sergey Russu spoke only his native Romanian language.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":218,"featured_media":19822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-19821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19821"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/218"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19821"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=19821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}