I am 6’5” with a fairly athletic build, and I have played several years of recreational tennis, so when I walked into the tryouts for my high school tennis team I was fairly confident that I would qualify. However, my high hopes plummeted when I played a poor first round and was eliminated in the early cuts. The loss was beyond imagination, but the blow to my ego was even more painful. My steps and heart heavy, I began the long...

Series of musings on various life events

It’s a perfect amalgamation of geometric shapes: triangles making up a circle within a square box. Around the world this masterful creation goes by many nicknames, and is beloved by people with almost every heritage. Yet, that which we call pizza can so easily be ruined by a glistening encasement of oil. Often, as an American my only choices for this food leave me asking for more pizza with my grease, and despite Michelle Obama’s valiant efforts, this...

As part of the core curriculum, all students are required to take a lab of their choosing, selected from a list of options. I had the good fortune to get into Robotics Lab this semester, and it is quickly becoming my favorite class. Though I am only halfway through Robotics Lab, I have had the chance to work with...

Chemistry in high school is an experience everyone lives through; few obtain pleasure from the experience most to never want to go through it again. I truly enjoyed it, and still I continued to make some mistakes. On the second test of the first semester all of my friends crammed and worried for about a week before the test. I thought the test would not be a big deal and decided to shirk studying or preparing at all. The day before the test my teacher lectured and I finally realized the challenge of balancing chemical equations. I went home that...

I sincerely congratulate you on your admission to start high school. As you begin, I invite you to ask yourself the following questions: What is my overall goal in this school? What friends will I have? Will I participate in extracurricular activities? How will I respond to my teachers and relate to my colleagues? Think deeply about these. Pause for a moment to give answers to some or all of them. And...

One of the lessons that I have learned through my extracurricular activities is that it is important to go out of your comfort zone and try new things, and I would like to share this idea with the world. Even though I plan to be an engineer or a scientist, I have also tried out art classes and enjoyed myself in the freedom and liberation of creating my own art projects. As Thomas Merton once said, “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” Following my art classes in school, I lost myself in art...

As Thomas Merton once said, “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” Following my art classes in school, I lost myself...