ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT

Bryan received his M.S in Cellular and Molecular Biology at SJSU and worked at Stanford University conducting stem cell research. After working in Seattle at a private Biotech company for three years, he is now working on his PhD in Nanoengineering at UCSD. He has published his research findings at Stanford in several respected medical journals.

Konstantin graduated from UCSD with a degree in software engineering. He is now working as a Software Engineer for Qualcomm. His family emigrated to San Diego from Moscow when he was a junior in high school. He was HBA’s first international student.

Vron Vance earned a degree in Computer Science at UC Berkeley and is currently a Data Analyst at Google.

Brandon Nakashima was the #1 tennis high school recruit in the United States.  Brandon graduated a semester early to play for University of Virginia his senior year (after turning down offers from Stanford and UCLA). After one semester of college, Brandon turned pro and is now competing in the men’s open events of the USTA. He came in second place in the Hawaii Open in 2019 and won his first ATP Challenger title in 2020. Today his ranking is in the top 100 in the world. Brandon had a flexible schedule at HBA which allowed him to compete internationally while maintaining a 4.3 GPA. 

Henry Reif placed in the top three of the 2017 Reserve World Championship in Louisville, Kentucky. The two events were the five-gaited pleasure horse and the Roadster Pony event. He is pictured here with his horse Brady.

Sayaka earned her B.A. in International Studies: Economics at UCSD and her MS in Business Analytics at Rady School of Management at UCSD   Sayaka was an international student from Japan at HBA.  

Andrew Heiati won an individual sparring title at the Pan Am Taekwondo Championship in Peru. In addition to his individual title, Andrew also was an ATA PanAm Champion in Junior TEAM Sparring. Andrew is now attending the Webb Honors College at SDSU and majoring in Mechanical Engineering. 

Krando is a competitive golfer who recently accomplished his dream of being recruited by USC. 

Tomohiro Kawada is a competitive gymnast specializing in rings. He is currently attending The Ohio State University. Throughout high school, Tomo attended a gymnastics program in Irvine after school each day, returning home close to midnight. HBA created a schedule to accommodate his training and competition schedule.

Aimal graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology with a degree in Computer Science. He is currently working in New York City at the D.E. Shaw Group as a System Administrator.

Jessica Van earned straight A’s her first semester at U.C. Berkeley. She was President of the Associated Student Government at Miramar College and a Student Trustee on the board of the San Diego Community College District Board of Trustees. She is currently active in student government at U.C.B. and One Fair Wage, an organization dedicated to tipped workers gaining minimum wage.

Anna Brown is a San Diego based dancer who performs and competes in a variety of styles. Anna began her dance journey with ballet at the age of five and now dances in most genres of dance including jazz, lyrical ballet, tap, contemporary, hip hop, musical theater and Latin ballroom. She is a National and World Pro/Am Latin Ballroom champion. Her performance credits include shows with the San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus to which San Diego Theater Review’s art critic, Jerry Strayve wrote, “Dance soloist Anna Claire Brown was mesmerizing…”

In 2017 she worked with Cedric Gardner (SYTYCD) on a project sponsored by Old Navy Clothing, performing on KTLA Morning Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live. 

Anna has had the opportunity to assist Lacey Schwimmer (SYTYCD and DWTS) on Latin ballroom videos and for many years has had the privilege of working with New York based Emmy award winning choreographer, Al Blackstone.