Patch Whiz Kid Of The Week: Rebecca Tran

Each week, Sharon Patch will seek suggestions from readers for individual kids, youth groups, teens, and even sports teams that wow us with their accomplishments. We want to hear about these amazing children and teens and select one each week as the Patch Whiz Kid.  Submit your nomination in our comment box below or e-mail the information to Michael.Gelbwasser@patch.com.

Here's our story on this week's Whiz Kid:

Rebecca Tran, 21, a 2008 graduate of Sharon High School

Whiz Kid's Accomplishment:

Where most people see grass next to the , Rebecca Tran sees what she calls "a missed opportunity."

A park with memorial trees and stone dust paths on this town-owned acre "would keep people interested in the center of town and bring more people to the center" and "hopefully help businesses by having a place to stay when you're in town," the 2008 graduate says.

Tran has presented a plan for such a park to a few town boards this summer, seeking support.

The conservation commission and Beacon Communities Development LLC, one of the apartments' developers, have donated some funds, says Tran, who is interning with Town Engineer Peter O'Cain for the second straight summer. 

The planning board applauded the project last Wednesday night. And Tuesday, Tran presents to the board of selectmen for approval.

If approved, Tran plans to start seeking memorial tree donations. She hopes to get at least 19 trees for the site, at the corner of South Main and Station streets.

She hopes the site work can start this fall. However, the work "probably will not be all done at once," she says.

"So far, I've been very pleased with how people have been excited about it," says Tran, 21, a University of Massachusetts-Amherst senior majoring in landscape architecture.

Tran says Sharon officials had set the site aside from the Wilber School Apartments and "were thinking of putting a library there."

The site came up while "I was going for a walk with my parents," she says. Her father, Joel Tran, served on the Wilber School Redevelopment Committee, and formerly on the planning board.

Tran says she "wanted to do something for the town," and suggested the park to O'Cain this summer.

Sharon Garden Club member Adriana O'Sullivan and former planning board member Amanda Sloan have since offered guidance, Tran says.

"It's a really central location in town, and a lot of people do pass by it and don't notice it," she says.

"It is a missed opportunity, I think."