This may be controversial, but I believe the most important personal finance lesson I've learned is that saving your money or savings can be your greatest enemy. I'm not saying that saving your money is necessarily a bad thing, but storing a lot of money in your savings can be detrimental. The interest you earn in your savings doesn't make up for the inflation that is devaluing money every year. Instead of letting your money devalue in a savings account, go out and make investments, smart investments. That doesn't mean dumping all your money into a cryptocurrency that you hope will make you millions, but investments that you believe will benefit from. Whether this is investing in the S&P 500 for financial gains, or even emotional investments like going out with your friends. I will say this though, invest money that you are willing to lose and invest wisely. Although it makes sense to save up money for a car or a house, in other situations there is no reason to have loads of money sitting in an account that actually loses you money. It's better to invest in something emotionally or financially, wisely, than to let inflation take your money instead.

"Slow down and enjoy life" It all relates back to childhood. As a child I would watch the reruns of the High School Musical trilogy on Disney Channel. Seeing these teenagers live their best lives, drive, date, do all these sort of these fun activities simply because they are teenagers. Of course High School Musical depicted a very unrealistic teenage lifestyle but that obviously didn't matter to me, I was so keen on growing up. Next thing you know, I have entered my freshmen year of high school and time just flew by because I was tunnel-visioned on the future instead of the present, and next thing you know that old magical, innocent spark that I had towards growing up was still there, but something wasn't right. I thought these were supposed to be my best years but it seems like a blur for some reason. Next thing you know I am in the middle of my sophomore year in high school and quarantine just started. I was feeling a nostalgic mood and I decided to watch one of my favorite Disney movie franchises, "Cars". Little did I know, this movie would teach me something that I wish I had known as a kid. You see, whenever you rewatch a Disney movie or movie in general, you always learn another detail about a movie that you may have missed as a kid. In this instance, I missed the whole premise. It was too "Slow down and enjoy life". That quote didn't explicitly come from the movie, but instead was the idea around Cars. McQueen was rookie who was so keen on being a champion that he revolved his whole life on becoming a champion. Until he accidentally ended up in a small town, he was forced to slow down for once and actually embrace his environment. This led to a huge character development from McQueen as it built his whole character and learned valuable lessons along the way. I feel as I could relate, after rewatching the franchise, I really took that off spark of me wanting to grow up so badly, and reinvented it to a kid that still wants to grow up but slow down and appreciate life as a whole. Throughout quarantine, I hung out with my friends (safely), played video games with them, found new passions and hobbies like juggling and podcasting. I appreciated what life had to offer me now instead of later, of course like I said earlier I reinvented inner little child in me that still wants to grow up while still enjoying life. I still got my drivers license that my little 6 year old self would be proud of, while also not being tunnel visioned on the calendar waiting for April 7th to be crossed off the board, instead I was "enjoying life". That is why that quote is special to me, I reinvented myself.

"I heard you die twice, once when they bury you in the grave. And the second time is the last time that somebody mentions your name" -Macklemore. Legacy to me is leaving a kind of influence to where people will talk about you, after your time clearly has passed and the new generation has taken over. To leave a legacy means you have spread an influence to where it is almost unforgettable. Like Martin Luther King for example, he left a legacy that has put a foundation on African-Americans in America, leaving his legacy on this world as one of the most influential social injustice protesters. There are definitely different types of "valuable legacies", but it is very subjective to the person on what they believe is valuable. Some people may categorize Jeff Bezos as a valuable legacy due to his influence of E-Commerce, others won't for very controversial reasons. Some may categorize of famous CS:GO player "Stewie2K" as a valuable legacy due to his influential play style of the popular game CS:GO, others won't because they don't value gaming. So yes, there are "valuable legacies" but the word 'valuable' is subjective. The legacy I want to leave behind is something that I haven't thought of too much. But I think that leads to what type of legacy I want to leave behind. I want to leave behind a legacy of living life with no regrets. Some people live life in fear, distress and regret. I don't want that, I want to leave a legacy of a life full of fulfillment. I think it has been a part of my philosophy to leave life with no regrets since my soccer injury. I lived life in fear and missed out on a lot cause I was living a scared mentality. Now, I don't want my friends, possibly my future kids to live like that, I want to influence them to live their best lives with no regrets.

I was introduced to the game of chess on the default MacBook game section. I didn't know how to exactly play I was only 4 but yet intrigued. Throughout Elementary I did study the pieces but very irregularly, meaning my passion for chess at this time of my life was very inconsistent compared to now. I played with a buddy of mine named Kenny Nguyen since he was the only other kid at my school who knew how to play chess. In 6th grade, we both joined the chess club and we were mentored by this old guy who I can't remember his name but he would always teach us and analyze our games, but not competitively or seriously, just when he saw a blunder or mistake that could have been prevented. And keep in mind at this time I wasn't an up and coming player or something I was just an 11-year-old boy playing casual chess very on and off. After 6th grade would be unfortunately the last time I saw the man and joined a chess club as it was discontinued, so I didn't play chess as often but maybe still played like 5 games a year with my friend Kenny. Fast forward to 2020, quarantine happened, and was looking for a new hobby that can replace my video game addiction. Around August I started getting back into Chess but this time it would be much more competitive but still having the fun aspect of the game. I started to watch GothamChess on Youtube and started to watch opening videos and end-game videos to further strengthen my game. I even started watching a few tournaments to see how Grand Masters played but I would be lying if I said I understood the decisions they were making half of the time. By the end of the year, I finished with 1000 Elo in Bullet and 900 in Blitz which surprised me. So although I have been an inconsistent chess player throughout my life until August where I've been playing more than a handful of games in a day, what I've learned in chess that I think is applicable to real life is that you should never move too quickly. When I play the Italian game I always want to fork the Queen and Rook as fast as I can to be up a piece but fail to realize that my positioning exposed without my realization. This can be the same with real life as currently, I am a junior looking forward to college as I've heard great and wonderful things about it, a time I won't forget. But if I am so tunnel-visioned on just working towards college, I will miss all the great memories and experiences I will make in high school without my realization. Two completely different situations can be applied when using the same analogy, realize what you have around you before moving forward quickly. When talking about my life/career goals would be to live off of passive income honestly, where I make money work for me and not the other way around, but at my age, there is a lot of age barriers that is not allowing me to start what I want to work towards. But chess has influenced my goals to actually start working on it now as a teen as chess has made me realize that it is an excuse. For example, when analyzing a chess game you can't just say "I am better than that guy I had a better strategy I just lost due to bad positioning", although it may be the case you are accountable for what happens to you therefore the excuse is invalid due to the fact you are able to fix your situation. So with that, although I am 16, I am still able to start passive income by opening a brokerage account under my parents and invest in dividend stocks. Back then I used my age as an excuse to not start working towards my goal but with chess, and an excuse is invalid if you are able to do something about it beforehand. I am planning on starting dividend stocks in 2021 but want to learn more about the market in order to set myself up for success just like earlier in my story when I started learning chess and paid off, reaching 900 and 1000 elo points. So at the end of the day, no I am not a prodigy, no I am not some master at the game, I am not even an intermediate player yet but, I am a player who has a story like everyone else. This game has been a valuable asset to my life despite the inconsistent relationship with the game.

I've learned is to not take everything for granted. It is generic but everything has changed due to COVID-19 and everything isn't the same as it was before. Unlike most people, I thought COVID-19 was the best thing ever when it popularized in America around February because school was canceled. Little did I know it would cancel school for the whole year and I wouldn't go back to school until September. But a lot has happened a changed me from February to September and even currently. From February to March that is when cases started to become more and more common and thus canceling my soccer season indefinitely which really made me upset as it was my last season playing competitive soccer. Since then I've decided that I wanted to start a new hobby. Ever since COVID, I've had so much free time due to no school, although I did have an online school, it was more relaxed and not taken as seriously as in-person. So I started a podcast with all my free time about something I was passionate about, Formula 1. It was successful to my standards, unfortunately, I decided to quit that project but am planning on releasing another podcast about Formula 1 in December. There was a period of time between February and June where I was isolated in the house and I learned that I am out-going. I really thought I was an indoor type of guy but since COVID, at first, I loved the idea of staying home and not going to school, but 3 months into isolation and it felt like hell, I just wanted to hang out with friends and go outside and go ice skating or something of that sort but A/C and a bunch of time on TikTok are all that happened. I even had to delay getting my driver's license until July due to COVID. I realized that around this July time period, some countries' cases started to die down, or at least there was the hope of getting better, but the realization that I concluded is how selfish American people are. We easily become the country with the most cases and growing and I saw people still partying without respecting COVID-19 precautions which really pissed me off. While I was striving to try to live a normal life, other people were putting each other in jeopardy for their own entertainment or benefit. As of November cases are at an all-time high and still increasing every day. By the time of July to August, my life has somewhat gone back to normal although we have to wear a mask and stay cautious but other than that it's like old times, except it's not. When I went back to school everything is like the same old except for the fact we have to sanitize and half of my friends is on zoom and a half in person. Life doesn't feel the same for some reason but it is literally almost back to normal. Sometimes I ponder to myself if this is the reality we actually live in. I just want this to be over with so I can hang out with my friends and family without worrying about them. I've learned the reality is that the world isn't ready for another pandemic like COVID, I've learned that people sacrifice others for their own will, I've learned that I may graduate on zoom. There is so much to gather and reflect upon but right now we need to look for a solution instead of adapting to a never-ending problem.

A distraction but also an opportunity, two very different connotations but both share a role in my life. Let me explain. Throughout my whole Elementary years of school, I was taught that school was a guaranteed opportunity of being successful in the 'real world'. So school education was my priority thinking that it was the only way to be successful. Middle school is more complicated, I could actually think for myself, unlike Elementary. I wouldn't say I couldn't think for myself but persuading me was a little more difficult than my little naive self. In middle school I still believed that School education was the only education that I could benefit from, of course, there was Google to search up anything but I didn't have anything that would be useful for me at the time. In high school, I found an interest in starting some sort of entrepreneurship or at least interested in business endorsement. I even implemented my 4-year schedule with at least 1 business class each year. Every day in 9th grade I would educate myself about the dropshipping business and discovering dropshipping, furthermore, that would lead to me educating myself about affiliate marketing and passive income. Along with that, my Principles of Business and Marketing class would furthermore teach me the foundation of Business and Marketing which I soaked up information like a sponge. This would unlock a new opportunity of possibly becoming an entrepreneur, starting e-commerce, and new ideas. But with me investing more time into the Business endorsement, I distracted myself away from school work and homework. Ironically when I was being educated in class about something like Geometry I would distract myself by educating myself about passive income and vice versa. They would clash with each other and both opportunities would be distractions for each other. Now of course I did make free time to learn about my Business endorsement, but I was just so invested in this new opportunity of potentially being successful some other way than a school & college diploma. In 10th grade, I was more invested in passive income and the stock market, and this really sparked my interest. Of course, this was another opportunity to become successful just from business endorsement. But I was distracting myself by spending time researching the stock market, instead of the opportunity of school education into guaranteed success if I graduated. Eventually, throughout 10th-11th grade, my passion and spark about the Business endorsement were buried into the ground as I was distracting myself constantly with School. And especially throughout 11th grade, it has I haven't really thought about it. But like I said earlier, I took the opportunity of what the school education gave me and still implemented Business into my schedule and throughout 10th and 11th grade I took Accounting 1 and 2. So education has been a distraction in situations, unfortunately, but when thinking about education most would think 'School' but Business and School gave me a new opportunity due to Education.

1. Amazon (Obviously) 2. Adidas 3. Vineyard Vines

This goofy guy right here I am standing next to in Galveston is my long time best friend Kenny Nguyen, which don't tell him but, someone who I am truly thankful for. We met a long time ago due to our Grandmas being great friends, so we would visit each other when we were around 1 - 4 years of age, but of course, we didn't have much recollection of those memories. We met again in 3rd grade and quickly became friends, and to this day, I enter 11th grade closer than ever. This is someone reliable for school help, advice, and someone you can mess around with. His loyalty was always by my side unless I was in the wrong because then he would be blindly supporting me and clearly wants the best for me. There were times where we disagree, but it was a good reason. I think my friendship with him has definitely built my character for the better. He even has supported my extracurriculars, for example, supporting my idea of a podcast about my favorite sport or asks about how my soccer life is going as well. It shows he really cares about what I am up to, and I could say the same about him. Unfortunately, I haven't opened up my emotional side to him but neither to my friends either, and by emotional side I mean the side to where I have deep sad thoughts. As of recently, 10th and 11th grade, I have slowly opened up myself emotionally to him and a few of my friends, and it feels good getting things off my chest, which I am thankful for. But I am not at that stage where I can express everything emotionally. I haven't even expressed myself emotionally towards him a lot, and it's actually very minor how much I have expressed. I still opened up slightly, and he is not quick to judge or form an opinion, which is my biggest fear opening up. And I'm not saying he judges people or anything like that but I can't pull myself together to express myself as much as I would. I am literally so thankful for this dude, and the worst part is he probably doesn't know this, because like I said, I fail to express myself which I struggle with, and not just emotionally. He is someone you can definitely always count on and he definitely fills my void of loneliness, like literally he is my closest friend by far and I couldn't imagine anyone else at our caliber of friendship. Every once in a while I always think about 'What if he wasn't here' and it makes me appreciate his existence more and more.

1. Graham Stephen (Youtuber) 2. Mark Tilbury (Tiktoker & Youtuber) 3. Nate O'Brien (Youtuber) These are, in my opinion, one of the best for learning about personal finance. They have tons of videos to learn and follow. Also, they are surprisingly entertaining. They are also very open to how they started their journey and ended up being successful and are wanting to pass down knowledge.

Well, I have volunteered for my club at school and there have been many interesting experiences. I haven't had really any bad experiences or challenges when I have volunteered for organizations, they were either usually nice and helpful but maybe there was the oddball here and there. And so I assumed my work was just fine as I was usually thanked afterward after every event. On October 31st, 2020, I decided to volunteer for a Pumpkin Patch thinking it was gonna be a fun time, but many challenges occurred to me there than any other places I've worked combined. We were told to arrive at 12 and so I decided to go early with my friends and we arrived at 11:40, immediately as we walked on the property we were introduced with attitude at the concession stand that we were late, keep in mind I am receiving no compensation. I shrugged it off thinking it wasn't a big deal, I was assigned to direct the parking lot, but for this organization, the parking lot was not big enough for 4 people to direct, in fact, there could only be 1 person there. I decided to head off back to the concession stand to ask for a more useful role for them to put me in. The same lady from earlier was there and I asked her for a switch of position as I was obsolete but she responded that it was not my call and to go back and ask if they needed help. So I walked back and asked and even they said they would only need 1 person. When walking back to the concession stand I was pondering in my mind "wow the lady at the concession stand woke up on the wrong side of the bed" at that point I just wanted it to end already. I walk back to the lady and said that they weren't needed and decided to catch me off guard to ask what color shirts and jackets they were wearing to prove I wasn't lying. I was stuttering and did not know what to say but kept it truthful by said "I didn't know" to my surprise she gave me a nasty look and assigned me to the horse riding area. This event lasted from 12-5 and we were giving food and water but breaks would be less than 5 minutes, water would be the miniature size and we only got 1, and the food was actually fine it is just that when working at the horse riding area, it was constantly filled with people. This by far has been the most difficult event I have worked at. During my break, I said to my friend who was actually there for fun and I said "Dang I need some water" implying that I was dehydrated because the day was about 85 degrees and 3 hours with only 1 water bottle that was miniature sized. Apparently, the owner overheard me and said "That was rude, you should learn some manners, you can get water yourself at the concession stand". My supervisor for my area heard this too and she was super nice and actually said "Yea can you get 8 for the others also thank you!". On my way to the concession stand I was furious I apologized and even said "Did I come off wrong" she said, "Yes, learn some manners" in a condescending tone. After that nothing happened until the end of the event. Everything came to an end but the owner was furious with other kids that were trying to leave at 5 and said "You don't leave until everything here is cleaned up and done, I don't have to sign anything!". I was in complete shock, there was more furious arguing going around but those details aren't relevant to me whatsoever, my supervisor was super nice to our group and said we could take some pumpkins home. That was my story of the greatest challenge I faced while volunteering, I know it was long but I needed a very deep contextualization of what happened or it did not make sense. I realized that not everywhere I volunteering is gonna be a good experience and this was a good lesson in disguise but at the moment I was furious and had to put up with these organizers for 5 hours without compensation and breaks. I use this experience to plan to speak my mind if I disagree with something but of course, respectfully, I was just submitting to these people in fear that they would do something but I realize that if I really believe some is wrong I should speak against it. And after the event, a bunch of my club members was complaining and as a club, we said we would never work with this group again.

The song that inspires me the most is "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina & The Waves. Some may let the small things in life bring them down but I chose to live my life with utmost optimism and try to see the best possible outcome in everything. Therefore I have composed a playlist that some or some may not be closely related to the song but execute the same "living my best life" or "I feel good" message similar to Walking on Sunshine. Overall everyone should have positivity in their life and this playlist is a good representation of it.

When I was in 3rd grade, I started to form an addiction to my iPad and would stay up until 11 or 12 at night and would wake up at 7 AM. This habit would continue until the present time, my 11th-grade year I would get even less sleep. I don't know if I am suffering from a type of sleep disorder but my mental health is constantly affected by my lack of sleep throughout my 8 years of experiencing it. I wouldn't say my lack of sleep is more severe than all the other mental disorders like depression and anxiety but I would say that it has unfortunately affected me for so long that it is worse than I would like. It would be so bad that I would take naps after school to catch up on sleep, just to sleep late then would be an endless cycle until the weekends. On the weekends I would oversleep and have hypersomnia, feeling tired despite getting 9-10 hours. It is so bad it doesn't matter whether I get 5 hours or 10. This is just a brief description of what I felt during my 3rd-11th grade years about my sleep but I will go more in-depth on how lack of sleep has affected my mental health which led to affecting other areas of my life. At nights I would have short-term nightmares about horrific things up until I was in 8th grade which caused me to be paranoid while sleeping creating a stronger fear of the dark that I still believe to this day. I would day-dream and I hate to say this but would constantly have intrusive thoughts until maybe 10th grade. My nightmare and intrusive thoughts phase has gotten better as I have been trying to improve my sleeping habits but every once in a while one of those would occur. I would even say that my lack of sleep has affected my mental health which affected my thoughts on religion, which I am not very religious at all but has made me wondered at night if whether I am agnostic or atheist. Other than religion I have done my best to keep my beliefs the same whether I am sleep deprived or not. With relationships, I would lash out to my parents, sisters, and friends without giving it a second thought due to my sleep deprivation, although I have lost friendships along the way I wouldn't say they were due to my sleeping habits. To be honest my relationships have been fine but there would be times I would be in situations that I myself normally wouldn't be in. Career aspirations weren't affected due to my mental health because I love what I am planning to be which is Accounting but if not Accounting it would be in the business endorsement. Although I would sometimes think at night at 1 in the morning whether Business is the best path for me to follow but the next day I would convince myself it is. So overall I wouldn't say my abnormal sleeping pattern has affected my mental health to the point where I am a different person, but I would say that it has chipped away slowly at those 3 topics, and would lay at night thinking about those and more. Also, I do advocate for mental health awareness, although I haven't worked with any organizations, it was until my 9th-grade health class I realized how important and how real it is due to the fact it can change a person like depression. And personally, due to personal experience, I think that abnormal sleeping habits should have more light shed when talked about mental health. I believe at least 50% of students in high school get lower than the recommended 8 hours of sleep and many fail to realize that it affects their mental health. Sleep deprivation hasn't impacted me negatively as much as other mental diseases but I think it is fair I should have a say in a conversation as serious as mental health awareness. Finally - back to me - I haven't been getting better as my junior year is my most stressful year with college, scholarships, intense classes, and more, but I strive to get better and some nights I would be proud to get 7 hours which would make me feel like I am on top of the world but sometimes I would feel the opposite but mental health is serious and believe everyone should be educated on this topic.

In 9th grade around late February, we had a scrimmage against the girl's varsity soccer team. I was coming off a serious injury but I was definitely showing that I bounced back and was ready to play. On the day of the scrimmage the line-up was announced and I was confused why I wasn't starting in the scrimmage. I expected my name to be called on the 4 or 5 positions (Center back) but oddly enough I realize that I was benched. I was genuinely shocked due to the fact I was easily the best defender on the team not to gloat or anything but I believe that the best players should start as anyone would expect. I was a little pissed off because it was about 15-20 minutes and the scrimmage was to only last for 40 minutes and I finally got subbed on and to only play half the time of the scrimmage wasn't the most pleasant feeling. Nonetheless, I played with 110% still even doing a little skill move that got the whole team hyped but ended up missing. After that practice, I wasn't satisfied coming off the bench but we still had 2 more scrimmages against the girl's team before our actual start of the season. I realized that maybe I am giving myself too much credit and didn't let myself not starting to define my game and so I started working so much harder in practice. The next week it was scrimmage week and for some reason, I asked the coach if I was starting and to my surprise, he said with a straight face "no". At that point I was flabbergasted but also furious, I just sat there in disbelief about what just happened. I came into the game much earlier than expected though and played my heart out hoping the coach noticed after he rejected me from starting and did pretty solid. The scrimmage was over with us winning 6-0 again like last time but we had 1 more next week before the season started. Best believe I was finishing our warm-ups 1st, practicing my butt off, and even getting onto the field 1st letting the coach know I was there for business. In the final scrimmage, I was chosen as a starter and I was filled with joy and did not disappoint as I finished with about 2 or 3 assists winning 7-1. The best part was I wasn't taken out of the scrimmage but instead shifted around to the 3 (Right back). I was ecstatic after the game that I was a certified starter and throughout the actual soccer season I started in about almost all of my games except 1. Now some people in my situation who were benched would maybe not take initiative to try harder in practice but even try lazier if they didn't think they weren't a starter but I believed that I was the best player on my team in my position but the fact I didn't start making me wake up but when my coach even said "no" to me that's when I started to open my eyes and worked even harder than I did before. I took my new work ethic and eventually applied it to my everyday life like school or running my own podcast. I guess before my whole wake up call was due to the fact I was a lazy person and I guess my coach could see that but not just soccer I was lazy but in general, I was a lazy person. But being told no by my coach was clearly the best thing to happen to me as I would just not be lazy and constantly put in the effort and work to whatever I would desire. I don't think many kids have the luxury of being rejected and getting the golden opportunity to embrace it. I think many pass the opportunity to embrace the lesson but instead look pass and avoid it but luckily for me, I was lucky enough to embrace it and now it has changed me for the better as I have been busting my butt off ever since and with school back in business I have not been slacking ever since.

I wouldn't describe it necessarily as traumatic but definitely, a lesson learned from this event. About 2013 or 2014 I wanted to become a Youtuber, and so I would create these really, really cringe videos about the most random things ever. I would always post my videos on the Roblox forums to get views and keep in mind I am about 9 to 10 at this time. So the videos would build up and eventually my videos got about 20-50 views each and I was ecstatic about it! But I would notice the like to dislike ratio wasn't the best and I would check out the comments and they weren't the nicest. In fact, someone commented "What is this kid doing" and I was really sad and was really demotivated to do my fun little Youtube videos. 1 video actually got 100 views and that comment section was filled with haters and the most negative things I've ever read as a child. And keep in mind I was 9 or 10 and reading those comments actually made me cry and wonder why there are so many rude people. I was just crying, sad and eventually stopped making videos for a short bit. But there was this 1 person named Claire who supported my videos and commented people to back off and that I was just a kid. That really made me happy and continued to do Youtube. Eventually, I stopped but I actually became friends with Claire and to this day we are still friends but I don't keep in contact as much as I did. I guess to put in simple terms she ultimately supported me through the hate comments, through the tough times and it was just only 1 positive comment that made me feel all giddy inside. She taught me that no matter what everyone is gonna hate you, demotivate you, try to bring you down because the world is evil. Now I didn't think of it like that but looking back at this memory that is what I learned, no matter what someone is gonna criticize you but you just have to focus on yourself and Claire taught me that when I needed it most. I continued Youtube and started getting more and more support until I quit with over 700+ subscribers because I was entering high school, but she motivated me to do better. Now whenever someone says any remarks at me that are intended to give back a reaction or something, I just do me because I know my value and my time is not worth to give them attention. I use this lesson when I experienced casual racism in my school or when someone is insulting me when I play sports, or even when I am playing video games online, I know that Claire wouldn't want me to focus on the negative but embrace the positives. To this day I remember what video I posted and what comments were said because as a child no one should go through that much hate ever. But now entering my Junior year, I am glad that because of that experience I am refined and can use this lesson in my daily life and hopefully teach anyone this same lesson.

I grew up as a First-generation Asian-American and it wasn't the easiest path I've had so far. My parents were both born in Vietnam and met at the University of Houston where they studied. On April 7th, 2004 they decided to have me, Ian Truong. I wasn't born into a rich status as most people believe Asian people are, but I lived with my Grandma for about 4 years before my parents saving enough money to move when I was 4. In elementary school, I noticed that my school lacked diversity which is ironic because I live in Houston but I was the few Asian kids at the school surrounded by many Caucasians and other minorities but very few amounts of them. I wouldn't say I had it hard in my Elementary days but I felt like an outcast experiencing casual racism at the time like for example being called 'Chinese Boy' that was a popular one, or being asked 'Are you Chinese or Asian and I can't blame my peers, we were like 7 and didn't even know what racism was. But indeed I felt like I was different than everyone else. One day I brought an Asian dish to school and everyone stared at me and I was confused but didn't think much of it. I wasn't popular and didn't have too many friends but I would say for a lot of young Asian kids that you definitely will experience casual racism like me. Also in during my Elementary days, funny enough I wasn't the smart typically Asian kid everyone thought I was so every day after school my grandma that I used to live with would actually teach me as like a tutor and it was the most miserable thing ever but Asians are usually oriented towards success and so it did pay off. Growing up I would say that my parents weren't as traditional if that makes sense. To put it in perspective they enjoyed American movies, cuisine, and their culture so they implemented into our lives instead of fullying pushing Vietnamese culture, they pushed both, and that's where another problem starts. I was balancing both cultures pretty well but emotionally and socially was a different story. Entering middle school, I learned about diversity and still about less than 5% of my school made up of Asians. But that didn't matter too much because I actually had friends and so I didn't feel like an outcast. But this is where racism started to become more personal and racism wasn't the only thing I struggled with in middle school. I was called 'Banana, the sun, yellow, Jeremy Lin, ching chong' you name it, but I am sure this has happened to other Asian-Americans but I've experienced so many name-calling incidents just for my race that I can't even remember all the names. Racism started to affect me more but not in a mean or sad way, but mentally I learned to ignore it and choose whether to care or not and most of the time I didn't care which was sad because I silenced myself. But the other conflict that would go on to high school was being 'White-Washed'. I guess you can call it name-calling but I would take it personally and say that was my identity, no I am not White-Washed I am just an Asian American, how can I be 'White-Washed'. Well apparently because I couldn't speak Vietnamese, dressed up with polos and khakis, had more white friends than Asians, and was acclimating to American culture. I had to go through that during middle school but instead of feeding in, I focused on me but the worst part is that my friends were calling me White-Washed the most and more specifically my Asian friends because I wasn't as 'cultured' as them, I even experienced casual racism towards people my own race. Middle school was a bad time but high school was better. I joined the high school soccer team and was making jokes that 'I was the best Asian player on the soccer program' which was true because I was the only Asian, I didn't experience as much racism but was still called 'White-Washed' for a little but it didn't matter, High school so far has been amazing and I still have 2 more years to go. So reflecting on this, I would say I lived a double life, culturally I blended both my American and Asian cultures but socially and emotionally at home I was some kid who was comfortable being around people who probably experienced the same thing but at school, I was always questioning whether what today was gonna be like. I don't want to sound like I was getting bullied every day but growing up Asian in a community that didn't have as many Asians it was definitely not as comfortable as I would like for it to be. I feel my perception on who I am now is that I should be proud that I have the privilege to endure 2 cultures and mix them in my daily life and shouldn't care whether someone is stating stereotypes at me because the world is meant for change so why to stick to the status quo. And with racism as an Asian-American, I feel like racism towards Asians are slowly normalizing in today's society and I realize that I am the reason why by not speaking out on it so my perception towards racism against Asians is to fight against it every chance I get. Although there are more conflicts as an Asian-American myself I have experienced, the blending of culture and racism are the most important ones that stick out to me and have shaped me and most likely every Asian-American today.

Juggling, a skill that is deemed as like a party trick. I don't know about you but juggling was on my bucket lists for a little while and decided to give it a try. I gave it a go and my parents and siblings were mocking me on how much I was failing. I didn't think much of it though and continued to get practing day by day. But this was just repetitive failure over and over everyday. I couldn't seem to complete one full rep of juggle 3 balls in a cycle and I just thought to myself over a week theres no point. But I in invested so much time that I couldn't give up. Over the duration of thanksgiving break in 2019 I kept on going at it slowly but surely getting better. Before, I juggled 3 balls for only 2 seconds, but after that trip I could do it for 30! I was successful and overtime I kept honing my skills eventually juggling off a wall and even 2 balls on one hand. That is one experience I am so thankful that failure didn't overcome me but instead I overcame failure despite being mocked and unsuccessful at first. I learned that patience is something I needed to practice and learning how to juggle defintely gave me the ability to become patient due to the fact that it was not a skill that would take 30 minutes to learn. Also it taught me perserverance despite being so unmotivated to see all the balls drop on the floor seeing unsuccessful results but I didn't give up and kept on going despite how many times I failed. It's the small things in life that gives a bigger picture. Today I am someone who sees failures as a new learning curve and just has to perserve through it with patience. But from all of that the most important thing is... I learned how to juggle.

Believe it or not, my role model is Formula 1 driver Pierre Gasly and he has had an interesting story that I look up to so far. Born in France in 1996 he grew up as a motorsport fanatic and wanted to drive for the most prestigious motorsport seat of all time, Formula 1. In 2014 he became runner up in the Formula Renault 3.5 series, 2016 GP2 Series Champion, 2017 the Super Formula champion, and in 2018 had a permanent spot in the Toro Rosso car in Formula 1 achieving his dreams as a kid by the age of 22. Sounds like he had it all right? Trained to become one of the best drivers in the world, only to join the best league in the world for motorsports. You would think that's why he is my role model but no, the story only begins from here. He finished his 2018 season with 29 points standing at 15th place out of 20. In 2019 he was called to join the Red Bull team expected to perform like a champion, but he did not deliver. His performance was atrocious eventually leading to the demotion of his team back to Toro Rosso and to make it even worse, his best friend Anthonie Hubert died of a racing accident. He was at an all-time low, he joins a top team just to get kicked out, gets hate from F1 fans around the world for his horrible performances, and to top it all of his best friends died right before his race all happening within the span of a month. 2 months later he would do the unthinkable, he would not only beat the driver who replaced him at Red Bull but would also defeat the reigning champion at Brazil. Taking home his first podium in 2nd place, he was ecstatic with joy, his confidence coming back to him at a place called home. He would finish the year 7th out of 20 displaying a year with highs and lows. In 2020 he performed out of his mind for the rebranded AlphaTauri, he scored consistent Top 10 finishes but... he house was robbed, all of his trophies, helmets and awards gone. His confidence was low and anger high. On September 6th around where his friend Anthonie Hubert died he would go on to win the Italian GP and would be the 1st french man to win a race since 1997. To top it all of he was voted driver of the day by all the Formula 1 fan around the world and to think the season is not over and still has much to accomplish. I know that was a long contextualization but it helps strengthen why this french man right here is my role model. He was destined for greatness and it showed in his early years of driving, training to be the best and admired that so much I would train every day just to get better because he showed me that hard work truly pays off. But what truly inspires me is him having the motivation to prevail through tough times and bounce back. He was kicked off his team, criticized around the sport and his best friend died all within a month. If I was in that situation I don't know how I would cope with that, but he showed me no matter how tough life gets, you can always bounce back. And indeed he did as we of course won a podium and a race within 18 months. I aspire to have his motivation and success because how can you prevail through something so tough to where you feel like you're in an endless void. I shaped myself that no matter how hard something is, I know I can get through it. Like with school, I was struggling on my AP tests and regular school year, stressed out but I was kept my head up and bounced back to being ranked #24. He really helps me out when it gets tough, knowing people have it harder than me. I hope I can implement myself as a role model to my siblings or future kids like how Pierre Gasly did to me. To perfectly describe what Pierre Gasly has taught me, Andy Grammar says it best himself "Gotta keep your head up".

Toledo Spain, 2017. What a trip that was, this photo depicts me riding on a crazy long zipline. I know this doesn't look too spectacular, but if you knew me, I was TERRIFIED of heights. This ride was about 100 feet up in the air over a river and I was scared for my life, but I didn't want to miss an opportunity of a memory I won't forget. Although I was screaming the whole time, I had a good laugh and most importanty, I made 1 more forever lasting memory.

SLAM! I am on the ground next thing you know my clavicle is broken. In 2018 I suffered a pretty bad injury on the sport I love, soccer. I was scared and paranoid that something similar to that will happen to me again. A few months later in December of 2018, I have fully recovered from my horrible injury and this is the lowest part of my life. I was contemplating quitting soccer and just live a very fragile lifestyle. But just 1 more season I thought, how bad could it be? Tackled, pushed, and fell numerous times in my club season games and school season games. I hated it and never realized how much life can hurt until my injury, but the sport that was causing me pain taught me I endured all of it so much that before I played because I loved the sport and how a few bruises here and there won't affect me forever. I started to realize that it was my mindset holding me back and really making things worse than it should be. I was just scared that something like my shoulder breaking again would ever occur. I finished the season feeling victorious as I finished the school season 5th and the club season 2nd which is not something to brag much about, but I was feeling overwhelmed with emotion that I haven't felt this good before my injury and all that risk was worth putting in the effort. But the story doesn't stop there, although I fully recovered I could still break my clavicle if I overextended my arm or something along the lines of that. Summer of 2019 I was playing a friendly basketball game and next thing you know I shoot the ball and overextend my arm and BOOM! I was sitting on the ground holding my shoulder convinced I broke it again but it was very close. I lived that whole summer like it was fall of 2018, scared and fragile. My mindset was holding me back, and I was letting that happen. I missed out on so many fun events with my friends because I was scared something life-threatening was going to occur but I was exaggerating making excuses, missing out on possible memories. But fall of 2019 I started the soccer season again full of anxiousness but determined to get over something so stupid but yet so impactful. I played with my heart out never giving a 2nd thought about my shoulder and I was feeling good that I was able to let myself get over a silly fear again and this time it would be permanent. Winter of 2019 I was going on a skiing trip to Utah and I was a beginner skier you could say but experienced enough to where I don't need lessons. I was going about 30mph down this steep slope and out of nowhere I lose control on my skis fall off and not one thought in my mind was "IS MY SHOULDER DONE FOR?" but instead "Now that was insane" fear didn't come into my mind but instead a long-lasting memory of me enjoying myself. And from that moment I go by the philosophy of making decisions that I know I won't regret, trying to live life to the best of my abilities, and also having some fun along the way. That gave me a new perspective in life, and now I live every moment with the most confidence I've had in years. No doubt, this has changed me for the better ever since.