I want to study evolutionary biology in college because the concept of adaptation has intrigued my mind ever since I was a kid. It is absolutely amazing to see how animals can get lucky with genetic mutation, resulting in a better chance at survival. I dove into this topic during my freshman year in high school and I loved every part of it. I got to learn about Charles Darwin and his Darwinian Theory of Evolution. I am still amazed to this day at how humans are capable of spotting such obscure changes within animals and link them to adaptation. During my junior year in my AP Environmental Science class, we went over that topic again. I thoroughly enjoyed that subject and was deeply saddened when we finished covering it. This is why I want learn more about this concept in college. I want to research the more in the hopes that it will solidify my understanding. Why do some of the same species of animals end up in different continents? Is it possible to genetically make the best "version" of that particular species and release them into the wild? Those are some of the questions that I hope to answer as I research more about the topic. I can't wait to go into a good university with the major that intrigues me most. I know that it will make my college experience very enjoyable if I major in something that I truly love. I know that I will get there so I have to continue working hard to reach my dreams!

Meet Donald the Sulcata Tortoise! I took him out of his enclosure so he has a bigger space to roam and managed to get this crisp photo of him when he was just chilling and basking in the sun! This photo was taken a couple months ago and right now, he is about two years old. He is super adorable and it is super fun to just watch him relax and eat. He loves to eat lettuce and is nervous when I'm around but I'm hoping to establish a stronger relationship with him!

As a Vietnamese-American, I had it rather rough as a kid. Whenever I tried to make friends, others would always mistaken my ethnicity as Chinese. Everyday, I would face brutal racist remarks about my heritage and eyes. Why? Why would anyone want to bully me? I thought parents were supposed to teach their kids to not bully others, so we did those kids make fun of me? It felt like a perpetual struggle that I had to put up with for the rest of my life. Elementary school was an absolute nightmare. Majority of the school's population were White and Latino. Asians like me were easy prey to pick on. On a regular basis, I had to endure harsh insults at my race. Even my closest friends would join in on the insults if some of their other friends started picking on me. Other students often targeted my last name. As a result of the constant bullying, I grew to despise my last name and my culture. Bullying in middle school was not as prominent as it was in elementary but it was still there. The traumatic experiences I faced hardened my heart. I felt no emotions. Closing off all my emotions was a defense mechanism against the racism. I didn't make many friends because I was scared of reliving the traumatic experiences of racism. All of the anger and sadness I felt were repressed deep within my heart. As a result, I grew cold and distant to others. In High School, the racist remarks were thankfully gone but the experiences I felt lingered my mind. It was not until I started to participate more in my youth organization that I finally understood racism. It turns out that it wasn't just Asians that were being bullied, African-Americans and Latinos were also bullied for their skin color. I soon to realize that the kids who bullied me weren't at fault, it was their parents. Their parents passed down the hatred onto their children. Racism is not a result of kids wanting to make fun of me, but rather the teachings of the parents. Nowadays, whenever I see a racist person, I try to see them from a different perspective. I don't view them as a bad human, but rather as an innocent person that has been molded to imitate the hatred of their parents. I always try and lecture them about racism and the negative effects it has on its victims. My hopes is that they can change for the better. If everyone can learn to love rather than fight, the world would be so much better. I aim to put a halt to racism. I want to play my part in this world and fight for peace, not hate.

Being a part of the Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Movement (VEYM) has provided many opportunities for me to give back to my community. It allowed me to aid those in need and improve the overall state of my community in small increments. One of the most touching events in my life was when I headed to Downtown L.A. and helped out the homeless. The streets were littered with tents and trash. To think that people can live in these conditions blew my mind. We gave out food to them early in the morning. They all flocked towards us, desperately in need of sustenance. When we gave them supplies, their smiles were so vibrant. I had a few conversations with some of the residents and learned about the perpetual struggles of poverty. I was so touched by it. For the first time in my life, I was able to help those in need. This made me realize that I had the power to change my community for the better. A few months later, my organization and I planned a fundraising event for Thanksgiving. The plan was to gather canned goods and send them off to a charity/food bank where they will give them to the homeless. A lot of time and research went into this. Everyone chipped in some food and we found the right charity. By the end of the fundraising event, we were able to allocate over 150 canned foods and 200 water bottles to the homeless! It was an amazing feeling to know that they will be able to have dinner on Thanksgiving! It puts me at ease to know that they won’t go hungry. Thanks to VEYM, I was finally able to help out my community. My contributions provided significant aid for the homeless for a few days. These aren’t enormous steps, but I hope to give back little by little. My efforts won’t stop here. I want to continue my endeavor in aiding those in need. My plans in the future are to continue my efforts to help out not only those in need but to give back to those who have helped me throughout my high school career. I am currently setting up a website called "Laconic" which is a project that a friend and I created in order to teach other people fun skills to keep them entertained during this rough quarantine. I feel like the mini-tutorials on the website will ignite joy so that others can share talents of their own. Since everyone is at home, I want to start streaming videogames to make extra money. I intend to donate that money to charity. I want to follow in my father's footsteps because he is an avid donator to charity and it warms my heart seeing the thank you letters from the charities. I know that every bit helps them so I want to do my part in aiding them. I want to give back to my school as well. In the near future, I hope to organize a project that aims to clean up the school. The school janitors work extremely hard so and want to alleviate them from their work and clean for them. Fundraisers are something that loomed my mind for a while. I could set up fundraisers and use the money raised to improve not only the state of my high school, but for my community as well. Since the Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Movement have been such an integral part of my life, I also want to give back to them. I am really close to becoming the highest rank in the organization. This high rank gives me the ability to teach other people. I hope that I can pass down the values that were taught to me to the newer generation. Donating to the organization will keep it running for many years to come which will bring me much joy. Giving back to my community is an experience like no other. It feels so good to show others your appreciation. My plans to give back are extensive and long. It will be hard to bring those ideas into fruition but I will persevere and turn those plans into reality!