PANTHER FAMILY MOURNS THE PASSING OF DANIEL SU

The Peninsula community mourns the loss of rising junior Daniel Su who passed away on July 19. A memorial service was held at the Chinese Community Church of South Bay on July 28. Although his passing was sudden, Su’s deep-rooted impact on and off campus will continue to be commemorated.

As a student, Su was involved in many activities at school. He was part of the National Chinese Honor Society and was elected to be the vice president of Mu Alpha Theta for this school year. In addition, he was the captain of a Technology Student Association team, and an active member of the Principal’s Advisory Council and Peninsula’s swim team and Math Team.

Math Team adviser and Advanced Placement (AP) Statistics and Precalculus with Limits teacher Vararat Chaiyont has known Su since his freshman year due to his participation in Math Team. Su’s relationship with Chaiyont grew when Su took Chaiyont’s AP Psychology class his sophomore year. In her two years of knowing Su, Chaiyont remembers Su’s best qualities as being humble and understanding of others, including herself.

“You know that everything [Su] did was to help others be better and to raise everyone else up,” Chaiyont said. “He knew the bigger picture. He was not focused on being the best and getting the best grades, but making the biggest difference in others’ lives.”

Junior Chrislyn Tseng met Su on her first day of school in freshman year. The pair had three classes together, and started to converse when Su asked Tseng for help with homework. They spent the remainder of their time at Peninsula as close friends. Tseng believes that some of Su’s best traits were his perseverance and diligence.  

“[Su was] an incredibly determined person, so no matter what he set his mind to, if he [wanted] to accomplish it, he [would] no matter how hard of a challenge it was, [and] attack it with everything he had,” Tseng said.

Off campus, Su continued to showcase his compassion for others. As a member of Press Friends, an organization committed to helping underprivileged youth improve their writing and communication skills, he worked with many children and impacted their lives greatly. Furthermore, he was part of the Children’s Ministries program at his church where he taught children about the Bible. Due to his love for helping others, Su planned to pursue a career as either a doctor or superintendent to continue to positively impact other people’s lives.

“God gave him a lot of talents and he wanted to use his talents to help other people,” Su’s mother Nancy Wei said.

Su was very close to his family and Wei remembers him as a loving brother to his younger twin brothers. He will continue to inspire others through his long-lasting influence on the Panther community and we offer our heartfelt condolences to his family.