I started to play the violin at the age of 4. There were many times I had no motivation to practice and I just wanted to have a break. Brooklyn Conservatory of Music Suzuki director, created a goal that if you practice everyday for 100 days, you would get a Certificate then if you practice for 1 year, you’ll get a trophy. If you practice for 3 years, you will get the plaque on the wall. This has motivated me to practice everyday for 100 days. During my 1st summer break, I stopped practicing. After the break, I noticed that my friend, who played the guitar, practiced for over 100 days on the 100 days practice challenge board. So I started to practice everyday where I have gotten my name on a plaque stating I have practiced for 1,000 days. It has become a habit where I practice everyday. But I started to lose the purpose of practicing. My private teacher has told me countless times that I should reward myself but I didn’t have any idea until my freshman year at my college. During my freshman year at my college, I was very stressed and my mental state was haywire. On my birthday, my friends and I decided to treat me to a noodle restaurant and then we went to Barnes and Nobles to get my favorite book, which has been officially released. Whenever I feel tired of studying or practicing, I would read my book. Another reward for my progress, is in March, 2022, my friend discovered a new bubble tea place where we got the drink to have a relaxing time. Since then, we went there to relieve our stress. Rewarding myself actually made me feel happy and was able to destress.

The study strategies I used to achieve academic success was rewriting my notes, studying with my friends, and having refreshments and snacks. I would take notes from the textbook and paraphrase section by section in my own words to understand the text better. Then, I would look at my notes 2 weeks before any upcoming test and rewrite my notes again into an even simpler way to understand the text more easily. While I am rewriting my notes, I will put practice examples along the way to see if I have fully understood what I have learned. Another way I study is studying with my friends. I have a study group for a class called Music theory where we would study in the library mostly. But we also study at Starbucks to change our scenery. By studying with my friends, I am able to ask questions and also be able to help them when they are stuck. In addition to this, by studying together we make ourselves productive in doing our work and seeing other students around us studying makes us productive. I count having refreshments and a snack as study strategies because I sometimes study for a few hours to the point where I don't notice time passing by so quickly. I usually forget to eat and drink anything when I am studying for a long time. However, during college I started to pour tea for myself and left a few snacks. So whenever I stretch my back I remember to at least drink my tea and eat a little something.

I plan to make a positive impact on the world through my music by making people happy. During the lockdown, I felt happy at first because the break got longer and school became remote. However, as days passed by I have gotten bored. I have 2 younger siblings and we have gotten closer but I just couldn’t wait for quarantine to be over. One day my mom found an artist named Gen Hoshino where he made a song called “Dancing on the Inside”. The artist’s friends started to sing his song on Instagram which influenced other people to sing or play his song. My favorite voice actor also joined in this so-called challenge and he made me laugh so hard. The next day I found that my favorite Japanese band played one of their songs remotely. Seeing everyone wanting to interact with each other while we were locked down, made me feel like I can also be creative. These videos sort of gave me hope and joy that we will be okay and we’ll live through this. I forgot that music brings people together and it makes people cheerful. There are days that I forget that music makes me happy. As a violinist, I have to practice a lot and be able to memorize the pieces and still have to perfect it. But, after all that hard work, I feel very satisfied right after a concert. As the audience claps, I feel relieved that they enjoyed it and gave it a standing ovation. I remember from one of my Symphony Orchestra Concerts at SUNY Purchase where my dad was so excited to tell me that he really loved the music we played. He isn’t really a classical music fan but he was just gushing about how he felt the timpani's when he was sitting in his chair and how the piece sounded amazing towards the end. That was the first time I actually saw him be excited for music. This made me want to practice harder to provide people joy with my music. Through these performing experiences, I want to travel to places and play my music even if there is a language barrier and or differences in culture. I feel that music will heal people’s minds and give them positive energies. That's why I want to be a professional musician and spread my music.