Top Lodi High scholar to study biology at Berkeley

By Julie Zuber Giese
News-Sentinel staff writer

Wearing a T-shirt and shorts, Jiun Do appears to be like any other teen-ager.

But Do’s more than 4.4 grade point average set him above the rest of the Lodi High School’s Class of 2000.

The quiet 17-year-old earned the school’s highest recognition — valedictorian.

It wasn’t a goal he set out to accomplish, Do said modestly.

“I basically didn’t think about it.”

Do, a self-directed learner, received only words of encouragement from his parents, father Nam Yen Do and mother Kat Duong, to get good grades.

“I said I have to do this for myself because I want to,” he said.

Lodi High had many deserving students working hard for the top spot, Do added.

During part of Do’s senior year, he worked as a volunteer for a Alzheimer’s Aid Society pilot program. The program’s aim was to introduce students to careers in geriatrics while increasing the number of workers caring for Alzheimer’s patients.

He volunteered 50 hours at Lodi Memorial Hospital’s Adult Day Services Center, working with seniors with Alzheimer’s related dementia.

He recalled one elderly client who acted like he was one of the center’s employees.

“I didn’t find out until several days later that he wasn’t an employee,” Do said.

As part of his senior project, Do also studied possible causes of Alzheimer’s disease. Through his research, he found studies which linked the disease to traces of aluminum in the body, he said.

Though the Lodi native said working with Alzheimer’s patients was interesting, he isn’t planning to pursue geriatrics as a career.

Instead, he will attend UC Berkeley to study biology. He wants to become a cardiologist or other medical specialist, he said.

In addition to his schoolwork, Do also tutored high school students in science and math and was involved in school activities including cross country, wrestling, track, California Scholarship Federation, math club, Block L club and science club.

Do said he plans to work part-time at a retail shop during the summer before heading off to college.