Biking is something that I oddly made a strong connection to starting from middle school. Back when I had exorbitant amount of free time, me, and my friend would always bike through the neighborhood to catch up. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I’ve valued these moments that we could spend together through this past time. Nowadays, I hardly get to hang out for fun like this. However, I have examined the many instances where biking has been a facilitator of connection. During quarantine, I biked easily over 1000 miles throughout my hometown. however, I became very aware of the safety precautions that I needed to take due to the lack of bike lanes and lack of public biker awareness. At first, I undervalued the importance of a helmet at first, but then I saw the results of disregarding this equipment from a close family friend, who gained many severe injuries from a roadside incident on her bike. She was unable to compete for months, and ultimately set aside competitive biking as a whole. Although I realize this should not be how I am introduced to road safety—especially when there are external reasons for the distraction of drivers—I made certain to always moving forward that I inform my friends about how to protect themselves when biking, so they would not have to witness an accident like I did. Following quarantine, I thought more about my fondness of biking. In times of isolation and solitude, biking, was my way of reconnecting with the outside world. I had the ability to reflect on who I was and maintain mental health in an unconventional way. I want other people to be able to enjoy this pastime in the same way that I could that’s why in order to improve our roadways I believe that more cities should implement bike lanes, making them more accessible to larger proportions of the town. In addition, I think that drivers should become more aware of bikers starting from when they begin drivers Ed. They need to learn to give bikers more room and obey the speed limits especially in biker-dense areas. My personal goals regarding the improvement of public roadways is to again encourage other bikers to value their safety and take as many measures as they can to protect it. Additionally, encourage my peers to map their route before hand, or have a hands-free device holder on their bike, so they are not distracted during their ride. All of these safety measures would lead to a much better biking experience, and hopefully decrease the alarming rate of motor vehicle traffic collision fatalities.

In my sophomore year of high school, I transferred to a rival high school called CSHS. I had felt many emotions. For one, I was overwhelmed with anxiety that I had never previously felt. Although I felt relief to escape from the suffocating relationships of my original high school, Consol, it still seemed as though I regressed backward. The reason for my transfer was: for one, I was no longer involved in swimming (which was only offered at Consol) and two, the environment was so competitive it was as if no one valued friendship or sought support from one another. Escaping from Consol felt like a dream come true. I could restart my high school career and patch the voided opportunities I created at this school. Yet even knowing this, I still suffered from an overwhelming emptiness moving forward. When at Consol I was once considered academically confident, at the new school, I faced an undercurrent of insecurity. I was too anxious to share any of my ideas or assignments with people. I was fearful of not obtaining the same depth of thought as my peers. The shift had a larger impact on my character than I thought possible. In addition, On the first day, it seemed as though all the goals I had made for myself were completely shattered by my expectations. The architecture class I signed up for was not at all what I expected. When I walked in, everyone was so unenthused. The classroom was plain and shoved into the corners of the campus. Intimidated, I dropped the class and replaced it with art. The shift in setting was a world of difference. Windows adorned the entire side wall, open space was abundant, and the tables were polished so clean, you’d be shocked it was an art room. What stunned me the most, however, was the passion I felt within the room. The class was a hive of creativity–a safe space to escape from the mechanical core classes. Before CSHS, I had never seen art as anything but a hobby. Art was simply something to fill time or something to lean back on for family presents. Yet, now, I was touched by the class’s ability to shift my perspective. I felt a special motivation–one I had not felt for art since I was very young. I finally broke free from the constructed walls of uninspired spirits. Thanks to the transfer, I found myself applying my creativity to national competitions such as Youngarts and Scholastic Art and Writing. I didn’t see the potential for my art until CSHS. I didn’t see the practical applications for creativity. Creativity is not a career, rather it's a method of thinking. I felt reassured that, after my “New Kid” experience, my creativity would never be lost to a sterile environment again.

I always found identity important. In high school, a main goal of mine is to explore who I am and where I fit in socially. Since high school is a hive of discovery, it felt like the perfect opportunity for this. A mode of exploration for me is art. I love art and always have been passionate about it. It felt like an outlet for exploring my goals, so I actively pursued it. Adoption into a different culture inflicts an inescapable restriction on how I view and interact with my identity. In high school, I worked towards embracing Vietnamese culture, exhausting every connecting vessel available in my small town. However, when I talked to Viets who were raised in traditional households, the conversations maintained an undercurrent of aggression–accusing me of impersonating an “authentic Asian.” After years of running in circles, chasing the validation of those I thought I belonged with, I found out I wasn’t even full Viet. My efforts felt like a complete and futile waste. Kids are incredibly impressionable. When I was younger, adults would convince me I didn't qualify to be Asian. So now, as a reflective teenager, I find passion in the children who do not have a means of learning about their culture. Whether it’s intentional or not, authoritative figures use children’s innocence to take control of their worldview. I realize this is something many adopted children face. Therefore, I was compelled to devote my attention to pieces that explored the relationship between my impressionable childhood and the abandonment of its ideals. Acknowledging that you were misled is hard. I felt disheartened by my “adolescent foolishness,” but it was just a reflection of the minimal resources I had access to. As I reevaluate how I interact with my identity and the way it shaped me in my childhood, I can't help but notice its influence on my artwork. To reopen the question of where I fit in socially, I delved into my experiences as an Asian-American adoptee–notably one in an all-white household. Through this lens, I am compelled to bring awareness to identity issues adoptees face. I want people to see the effects of cultural isolation and why it's important to provide proper resources to children. This call to action pushed me to understand why I couldn’t affiliate myself with certain social cliques–why my identity was a priority. But most importantly, it posed questions on how I could make this experience tangible to others. Overall, my art is explorational of the path I took toward self-knowledge. One that I had not even realized I took until high school. Overall, my art was greatly an assistant to my journey to acceptance. I found that through my artwork I was more comfortable with my identity and I could navigate adversity.

In my life, I strive for my community to be more sustainable. I have always been a person to be environmentally aware through small actions of recycling, making sure to walk when possible (even in a town with limited means of walking), carpooling, turning off lights in the house, etc. Reducing my footprint became increasingly important for me when looking forward to my future. I intend to study architecture in college, so during high school, I did a research project alongside two college professors on how In-situ biosurfactants can rid hazardous chemicals from essential public soils. Soil remediation is a technique of pollution removal that rids hazardous chemicals from soil essential to more public spaces. It is vitally important the public and environment are protected from these chemicals because poor soil quality can hinder architects from being able to design buildings in the area of interest. The methods in which this can be applied are numerous, but restricted by efficiency. Soil remediation is essential as, economically, contaminated soil can be a liability to future ecosystems, building sites, and industry in general. My experiment explored the use of biosurfactants as a potentially more efficient technique of soil remediation. Biosurfactants pose striking advantages over whole cells or exopolymers because their size is comparably smaller. They also serve as a cost-effective way of harmlessly extracting pollutants without harming autochthonous microbial communities. The main outcome of applying this method is the quicker recovery of ecosystems and advancement toward lowering toxicity levels. Through this experiment, I could explore my interests through practical application. In addition to this, I strive to be sustainable because as an architect, I want to change the future of architecture and its environmental impacts. I need to ensure that my designs align with the ever-changing policies while also minimizing costs. These are all things I investigate when I delve into my interests. I am interested in how art and architecture affect society and encourage change. If I can see the way people react to my designs, I can determine the best steps to take toward making others more aware of the state of our environment and their carbon footprint. I can transfer over my sustainable practices such as reduced water usage, and energy efficiency to my career--something I'm passionate about. I've always considered myself an eco-conscious person, so to think that my passion for reducing carbon footprint and architecture go hand in hand gives me direction for my career. All of these reasons are why I find it vitally important to reduce carbon footprint in my daily life. The habits I make now are ones that I will implement in my future career.