A dedicated student and athlete, Ian was on the Mission Bay High School indoor and beach volleyball, baseball and track teams before graduating as the class valedictorian in 2020. He was accepted to Stanford and started his freshman year in the cycle of covid, training in the javelin with the track team in Palo Alto. While home on winter break in early December, he suffered a severe traumatic brain injury in a snowboarding accident (with helmet) at Big Bear California. In a coma for six weeks, it was five months after the injury before he spoke any words. Ian has spent the last three years focused on physical and occupational therapy and after taking classes at San Diego-area colleges, is returning to Stanford this fall.

Ever curious, he is learning Mandarin and enjoys listening to podcasts on all subjects. He started singing lessons to help with speech and continued them for fun. He also picked up a harmonica because it was an instrument he could play with one hand. The ukulele was next, as it was a challenge to strum with his right hand, thus providing therapy at the same time. He’s shared his recovery journey on social media and is grateful his hard work has provided inspiration to many. Ian is majoring in Symbolic Systems and minoring in Chinese at Stanford.