Every morning, I start my day with the same, simple, memo: “Stepping outside, taking in the fresh air, and seeing the faces of those I share my life with are the true reasons I value life.” Incorporating this mindset formed the way I perceive school, my friendships, and every opportunity I have been given. It has allowed me to meet the right people, see the true meanings behind my passions, and let me have a reason why I want to do things.
To begin, I come from a family that has faced adversity in all of its forms. My parents are immigrants who came from Vietnam, leaving their homeland to bring a prosperous, promising prospect to their children, to give us the happy and successful life they were never able to finish back at home. However, I believe that just because they had moved away from their homeland doesn’t mean that they aren’t able to share a happy life with us. By finishing college and acquiring a passionate and well-paying career, I will give them the life that they had pondered.
Inspired by the sacrifices my parents made, I started looking for opportunities that would help me become someone they were proud of. This mindset influences how I approach school. I aspire to it today by engaging in in-school curriculars and extracurriculars that I believe will help me become a better person and get into college, while also keeping me passionate about pursuing these goals without relying solely on determination and discipline. My school follows the 4-block schedule, opening and giving me 8 diverse paths I can learn more about each year, helping me figure out the
true aspect I want to pursue. Some of these classes I find really interesting, mostly being the electives, like the Jazz ensemble that I auditioned to join. In this group, I get the opportunity to play the drum kit, which I have been playing since my 7th-grade year. Playing the drums, or any type of instrument, has been a great experience. It has allowed me to meet many people who have the same beliefs as me, and I find they will be in my life for a long time, being the people I want to share my time with. For school itself, it has been going great, being able to make many new friends, but also impart much new knowledge to me, allowing me to keep track of what I know. I have been doing well inside of school, being able to manage a 4.0 GPA, but also being able to get accepted into an extracurricular program called Aaron Price Fellows.
Although I had just joined Aaron Price Fellows, the recent orientation already showed me how much I valued that short time with people like me. I look forward to attending more programs, learning from my peers, cooperating with each other at the summer camp, and continuing to grow through the opportunities this program is giving us.
Outside of school, I love doing work with my temple. As a non-profit organization, my temple, Như Lai Thiền Tự, allows me to learn Vietnamese, learn how to become a Buddhist, and understand the morals, and also gives me opportunities to help people by doing volunteer work, such as helping monks. It also has a fun lion dance program that helps fundraise for the temple, and its goals are to teach people about Buddhism as a philosophy, with its inner morals, and the history of Buddhism.
These current curricula are something that I want to bring into my future by staying in the programs or by joining other programs that follow the same idea and message. However, as I continue to grow, I will come up with new ideas and aspire to join new or different programs that align with the path I want to follow. Since I still have a long path ahead of me, I have set many goals that I am going to pursue for my high school years and college years, and the time ahead. For high school, I have many different goals that all correlate towards my growth, some being for my passion and hobbies, while others are working on my personal growth, extracurriculars, and planning for college.
The first goal I made for myself was becoming a much better drummer for both jazz and lion dancing. I can work on this by listening to many different recordings of these drumming styles and learning different beats and time signatures. An ABFK sponsorship would help with breaking down financial barriers that limit growth. It would allow me to purchase music equipment and materials that educate me on music.
The next goal I made for myself was being able to control my knowledge. To clarify, I wanted to be ahead or prepared for the upcoming year. Since my summer breaks are usually around 2 and a half months, I could spend it learning what I was going to go over in my next school year, so I don’t go into school being afraid or empty-handed. Also, by doing this, I can go through school less stressed, but also have the knowledge to help those around me. I can work on this by researching the curriculum for what I was supposed to learn that year, figuring out the subjects that I would need the most help on, and asking my brothers for help in preparing. However, with an ABFK sponsorship, I could buy next-grade workbooks that would help me master all of the subjects I was going to go over, but also purchase school supplies like pencils that would keep me from worrying about being unprepared. To prepare for college, I made a list of the environments that I would work best in, so I would know what to decorate my room with, or know what to remove from my room to be more focused on my studies. In my previous year as a freshman, I had a teacher who had dim lighting and snacks lying around, had quiet or soothing music on, sensory-comfortable objects, stress-relieving fidgets, quiet fans on, and it was just the perfect space for comfort and focus. This classroom had given me ideas to rearrange my room to make it the perfect study-appropriate space, but also comfortable to just relax occasionally. With a sponsorship, I would be able to purchase things like lamps, lightbulbs, LEDs, quiet fans, and some necessities that would help me with my studying environment.
Growing from the past, taking control of my present, and looking ahead, I know that my journey is just beginning. I know that there will be obstacles, responsibilities, and moments where I have to choose between one thing and another, but I am ready to embrace them with the mindset that guides me every single morning. I want to keep moving forward, bringing along my learning, serving my community, and developing the abilities that will help me build a successful future- not just for me, but for the people who started it, my family. A sponsorship would not just help me buy the things that I need; it would let me continue pushing towards my goals with confidence, purpose, and the fact that people believe in me and what I will become. I hope to make the most out of everything given to me, and one day, be able to give it back to my community and the people who invested in me.