1. I'm broke and I need to fund my shopping and coffee addiction. I can't, won't, and will not do anything to help my addiction. 2. I want to make enough money to fund my shopping and coffee addiction. With cute clothes, I can succeed at anything. 3. One time I was able to break my temptation of driving to Starbucks. I was still late to class.

Because I had the pleasure of growing up first-generation, firstborn, and impoverished, that allowed me to mature at a young age. I'm grateful because I don't think that opportunity is given very often. Of course, there were moments that no child should ever experience, but I've grown to realize that even though life isn't fair, everything happens for a reason. My parents immigrated from Vietnam and unfortunately, they knew little to no English. This led me to be extremely behind in the English language, despite their efforts to purchase several educational VHS tapes. I even remember walking into kindergarten accidentally greeting my teacher in Vietnamese. For 2 years straight, I attended speech therapy. Fast forward to 5th grade and I was reading books that were high school level. I quickly fell in love with books and interestingly enough, won 4 medals in grade school alone for my English performance. I still remember the moment when tears welled up in my eyes when I saw that number 4 on my CollegeBoard screen for my AP Lit exam results. However, the downside to this capability was having to translate medical and legal documents for my parents, with no background knowledge. I remember being as young as 10 when I took on this responsibility. Thankfully, Google was a thing of the time. Another issue I didn't realize I had until I attended my AP Psychology course, was that I had emotional disconnections from my parents. My parents are very ambitious hard workers and I always will look up to them for it. But, a small part of me will also loathe them for always putting work first. I often would have to remind them several times, weeks before any awards assembly or tennis match, to support me. And oftentimes, they would say they can't make it. As I grew older, I realized I slowly was emotionally disconnecting and I constantly was jealous of other kids. I unfortunately would try to find compensation by overachieving to get support elsewhere. Don't get me wrong. I love them with all my heart, but sometimes, all I wanted was for them to be there for me. As aforementioned, I matured very young. Because my parents were constantly at work, I was responsible for being a parental figure for my little brother. I had to always make sure his needs were met. And though I love him to death, I was jealous. I was jealous he had someone to get help, advice, and support from whenever he wanted. However, I am very grateful I could be there for him because I would've loved the same for myself. My biggest dream is to finish college. I am currently minoring in Spanish and Business Finance alongside my Molecular Biology major. I minored in Spanish in the hopes to reach the majority population. I want to be able to connect with my future patients and alleviate the stress of a language barrier. With my business minor, I hope to learn how to manage an organization and manage wholesale real estate properties. I want to start an organization to help those in third-world countries pay for education because education is the most powerful weapon. Lastly, I would like to use large properties to house the underserved, especially the homeless and those who are affected by domestic violence. I want to make a change in the world by being there to support others, help them flourish, and most importantly, help them not feel alone.

Wave After Wave, Album by LucieTheGoosey An album for all the "surfers" who ride the waves of stress, ambition, exhaustion, happiness, uncertainty, homesickness, excitement, and romance, even if it looks rough out there. 1. Motiv8 by J. Cole 2. Time of Our Lives by Pitbull 3. Get Lucky by Daft Punk 4. God's Plan by Drake 5. After Hours by The Weeknd 6. Fair Trade by Drake 7. Miss Independent by Ne-Yo https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2jyGeOXLwKl34SxQOVVFbh?si=0c52a621b5354fdc

Thankfully, my undergraduate tuition is currently free. But in about 2 years, that won't be the case. Hopefully, by 2024, I will have committed to a PA school in California, and that price tag will not look pretty. I'm trying to save up for that, but since being in college, I've been humbled greatly by other costs, such as paying for gas, textbooks, and housing costs. If I had $1,000 right now, I would: 1. Go to Costco, spend exactly $20 on a water case and some snacks to refill my "Feed the Homeless Box". Every time I see a homeless person while I'm driving, I offer snacks and a water. 2. Buy the 2 textbooks I need for the upcoming school quarter: Genetics and Physics. 3. Buy a bag of coffee beans. I live off coffee and need it to stay up because I sleep at inconsistent times at night. I've learned to make my own coffee at home because I can't afford $5 coffees everyday. 4. Invest the last $800 in a brokerage account for a "less risk, high reward" scenario. Because my parents were immigrants, they were not granted with knowledge about working with investments. I'm thankful I have the resources to learn how to make money work for me to help pay for school.

Generosity means to put others before yourself, unselfishly, with full kindness from your heart and soul, with no intention to receive anything in return. Generosity does not necessarily always mean you have to give money or something to someone. I say this because generosity is very much a vague noun. You can give someone your time, devotion, and kindness. You can even give someone a smile or hug and it would count. As long as you do something pure of heart for someone else, you're being generous. During my most recent round of finals, my mom would often check up on me and text encouraging words daily. She would call and remind me to eat enough, drink water, and get enough sleep. Generosity is not just a quality you do one of and that's it. It is permanent. It is a quality that is learned, given, and should be expressed often. It is a quality useful for most, if not all, aspects of life. You can teach generosity to your friends, family, coworkers, even strangers. You can show generosity so your children learn the value of it. You can show generosity to your employees so they reciprocate maximum productiveness. You can be generous at school and help your friends study and grow together. You can be generous in a relationship. The unwritten rule is to put in 50/50. But what do you do when your partner feels down one day? You put in more than that 50%. You compromise. Generosity is important because it improves our quality of life and happiness. Studies from the National Academy of Science even show lifespan longevity from being generous. It is a way we can spread a little love, sunshine, and happiness. So why not do it?

"Gần mực thì đen, gần đèn thì sáng" My mother said this phrase to 12 year old me as I was dramatically crying over a broken friendship. It translates to "near ink is dark, near light is bright". She was explaining to me why I shouldn't be crying over a friendship that involved bullying. The next day, I somehow gathered courage to cut off all ties with the bully in my trio friendship and me and my best friend, Cierra, walked off into the playground happily ever after. I live by this rule and apply it to almost all aspects of my life. I learned how and why I should take care in finding good friends. I learned why I should not be discouraged after a small inconvenience. I learned to not dwell in the past. I learned that it's important to stay away from bad or unhealthy habits or people. I learned that I need to learn from my mistakes. The phrase helps guide me and it separates good and bad things. If I don't want to be "infected" with dark friends, dark thoughts, and a dark lifestyle in general, I should be closer to the light and "be the light". In order to have good friends, good thoughts, and a good way of life, I should start with myself. I need to be that good friend, generate positive thoughts, and try to avoid things that lead me to the dark to reciprocate the same energy to people I meet or things I encounter in life.

Because I had the pleasure of growing up first-generation, firstborn, and impoverished, that allowed me to mature at a young age. I'm grateful because I don't think that opportunity is given very often. Of course, there were moments that no child should ever experience, but I've grown to realize that even though life isn't fair, everything happens for a reason. My parents immigrated from Vietnam and unfortunately, they knew little to no English. This led me to be extremely behind in the English language, despite their efforts to purchase several educational VHS tapes. I even remember walking into kindergarten greeting my teacher in Vietnamese. For 2 years straight, I attended speech therapy. Fast forward to 5th grade and I was reading books that were high school level. I quickly fell in love with books and interestingly enough, won 4 medals in grade school alone for my English performance. I still remember the moment when tears welled up in my eyes when I saw that number 4 on my CollegeBoard screen for my AP Lit exam results. However, the downside to this capability was having to translate medical and legal documents for my parents, with no background knowledge. I remember being as young as 10 when I took on this responsibility. Thankfully, Google was a thing of the time. Another issue I didn't realize I had until I attended my AP Psychology course, was that I had emotional disconnections from my parents. My parents are very ambitious hard workers and I always will look up to them for it. But, a small part of me will also loathe them for always putting work first. I often would have to remind them several times, weeks before any awards assembly or tennis match, to support me. And oftentimes, they would say they can't make it. As I grew older, I realized I slowly was emotionally disconnecting and I constantly was jealous of other kids. I unfortunately would try to find compensation by overachieving to get support elsewhere. Don't get me wrong. I love them with all my heart, but sometimes, all I wanted was for them to be there for me. As aforementioned, I matured very young. Because my parents were constantly at work, I was responsible for being a parental figure for my little brother. I had to always make sure his needs were met. And though I love him to death, I was jealous. I was jealous he had someone to get help, advice, and support from 24/7. However, I am very grateful I could be there for him because I would've loved the same for myself. My biggest dream is to finish college. I am currently minoring in Spanish and Business Finance alongside my Molecular Biology major. I minored in Spanish in the hopes to reach the majority population. I want to be able to connect with my future patients and alleviate the stress of a language barrier. With my business minor, I hope to learn how to manage an organization and manage wholesale real estate properties. I want to start an organization to help those in third-world countries pay for education because education is the most powerful weapon. Lastly, I would like to use large properties to house the underserved, especially the homeless and those who are affected by domestic violence. I want to make a change in the world by being there to support others, help them flourish, and most importantly, help them not feel alone.

My understanding of the world is very little, of course there is much to learn, but I think the most important thing I learned from school is that you have to accept challenges. You have to allow yourself to be pushed for the better good. Without being challenged, we may be left socially, emotionally, and academically underdeveloped. I have seen people who lack the challenge factor first hand, and I don't mean to call out my housemates, but the ability to keep a cleaning schedule would've been preferred. I came to that conclusion only 2 months into the lease, and I would just like to say, purchasing a whiteboard, having an infestation of moths in the pantry, and participating in an absurd amount of adult conversations, would not have been necessary if they were taught the social skills deemed necessary to be a functioning member of society. It goes without saying that we as a society need to create boundaries for babying our children. And that's where school comes in. School helps academically challenge us, which in turn, helps us in the real world. Growing up the oldest child in a first generation household, I became aware very early on that I was going to grow up accepting challenges constantly and being premature to my peers. I became aware that life is not fair. My mother did not speak very much English and my father was away at work most of the time, so I was left in charge. I made it my biggest goal to finish school, no matter what it takes. Because of that, I also grew to love school and loved to dig deep into a world of knowledge. And though my love for school only strengthens, I also realized school was not a place of fairness either. Now, I'm in college and I can say that college does a better job preparing you than my K-12 education experience did. I learned that extra credit is not given like candy is. I learned that making friends are crucial, not only for your social well being, but for your academic growth as well. I learned that skipping one class might be the worst idea possible. But all of these experiences taught me one thing. I have to accept challenges and let those mistakes happen. The real world is very much like that. My parents were right, my elementary school teachers were right. Nothing just comes to you in life, nothing is easy. Education has taught me that, yes things will get hard and you will be discouraged sometimes. But in a world where not all is made sense of, nothing is above thinking critically and "outside the box", being constantly curious, persistent, ambitious, and most importantly, being challenged. That's the only way to navigate the world. Challenging ourselves will give us the confidence and desire to navigate the real world.

Thanks to Covid-19, I've only officially moved out of my parent's house for college and picked up my very first job, about 7 months ago... as a college sophomore. But those weren't the only things that left me taken aback. I very soon realized that there was no way I was still the same "gifted" student my dear old elementary teachers loved to label me as. Back then, I loved the praise. I loved being part of the group who excelled in STAR tests and I most definitely enjoyed hauling around the "gifted" title. But now, as a college student who took her fair share of time in psychology courses, I pieced the puzzle and realized being "gifted" is not that great of a gift after all. To answer the question? No. I don't feel my schooling experience in California prepared me enough, or much at all. I feel the California K-12 education system has failed me. From a social standpoint, it must have been damaging for my peers to watch the successful students being praised for their memory. It must have been so discouraging for those students because it's been drilled into their brains that they're not smart enough, not good enough because they lack a good memory. Looking back at my wonderful, "gifted" years, I see that I peaked way before entering college and now I am paying the price. I am speaking for myself and for those who experience test anxiety as well, these memorizing tactics are not useful and it becomes a never ending cycle. I'm burnt out and it's because all I've ever learned was to memorize everything, make flashcards, keep my binder tidy, and follow directions. But understand, this doesn't cut it in college. I didn't learn concrete study habits or why I should read beyond what was given. All I ever was told was to read the directions and read what was given. Academically, this damaged me and I've failed countless exams because I thought that I was in the clear just because I memorized the content slides the night before. But no, that's not how college works. Sadly, college exams are much more meticulous. They don't just ask about the red table. They want to know what's in the book on page 78, in the drawer of the red table. It's disturbing to me that I let myself fail countless exams because I thought I was "gifted" enough to ace the exam without studying. This mentality was consuming and it didn't affect me until I finally failed a class. Today, I'm almost at junior standing and still am desperately researching "what's the best way for me to study?" And as if this situation wasn't unpleasant enough, tax season is coming up and I never learned how to file taxes.