incident<\/a> while fishing with friends in the San Joaquin River.<\/p>\nChang\u2019s community came together for a vigil last Friday to share memories and stories about him and the impact he had on their lives. The vigil took place in the Clovis High School band room, a space where Chang thrived. Esmeralda Lozano, his music teacher at Clovis High, described him as a \u201cnaturally gifted musician.\u201c<\/p>\n
Chang was a self-taught pianist, according to his uncle John Moua. In the seventh grade, Chang, who was a big fan of anime, \u201cfell in love\u201d with the song \u201cBluebird\u201d from the show \u201cNaruto.\u201d<\/p>\n
His musical talent eventually led him to serve as \u201csynth one,\u201d the band\u2019s main pianist, for all four years of high school, according to Tim Her, one of Chang\u2019s closest friends.<\/p>\n
Chang\u2019s musical gift played a role in the Clovis High School Golden Cougar Marching Band and Color Guard winning the Western Band Association Regional Award, according to a GoFundMe created by Chang\u2019s family.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was part of our marching band, our symphony orchestra, our winter ensemble, and our winter percussion ensemble, so he was just always here,\u201d Lozano said about the Clovis High band room. \u201cHe was just always here. This was his home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lozano recalled an Elton John show the Clovis High band put on in which Chang was a piano soloist, describing him as a \u201cstar.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe actually didn\u2019t even know who Elton John was,\u201d Lozano laughed. \u201cI said, \u2018OK, and I\u2019m trying to explain to him who Elton John is,\u2019 and then I go, \u2018But you\u2019re Vincent John, you are better.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Chang, who graduated from Clovis High in 2024, went on to attend California State University, Fresno, where he just finished his second year. His genuine passion to help people inspired him to want to become a physical therapist, according to his uncle.<\/p>\n
Chang had a natural ability to care for others, and a talent to \u201csee the perfect and positive in every single living being,\u201d Moua said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish that he was able to continue to spread and let the world see that,\u201d Moua said of Chang\u2019s compassionate personality.<\/p>\n
Chang\u2019s care for others was especially evident in his relationship with his family, according to some of Chang\u2019s close friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe took it with pride, he never saw it as a burden,\u201d said Elijah Lee on Chang\u2019s role as a big brother. \u201cHe loved his family, he was very family-oriented.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paofue Moua, also one of Chang\u2019s friends, recalled a time when Chang randomly called him at 6 a.m. and asked if he wanted to volunteer for an event at a local middle school for the day. The request came out of nowhere, but to Paofue, this exemplified something innate about Chang, his desire to help others.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was even asking us, \u2018Hey, should we do it again this year?\u2019\u201d said Paofue. \u201c\u2018Sure, we\u2019ll do it again this year.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Chang\u2019s friends recall his happy personality, and his ability to make those around him smile and feel cared for.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s very self-sacrificing, selfless,\u201d Lee said. He\u2019s very honorable, in my opinion\u2026 He was just great, all in all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lozano, Chang\u2019s music teacher, said the loss of Chang was a shock. Some part of her, she said, still expects him to walk through the band room door to visit.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you lose such a beautiful soul with a big personality\u2026you ask yourself, why, why you,\u201d Lozano said. \u201cHe made the most of every minute he was on this earth. Most people won\u2019t even live the kind of life he lived their entire life, and he shared joy and love and appreciation for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Selfless, compassionate, creative, big-hearted, happy. These are a few of the words friends and family used to describe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[124676,17365,154204,112,114,113,154205,152898],"class_list":["post-381632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-clovis-high","tag-elton-john","tag-esmeralda-lozano","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news","tag-john-moua","tag-vincent-chang"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}