Student by day | writer by night
In mid-March, my junior year of high school came to a screeching halt. We were out of school for two days due to “cleaning” that had to be done as a safeguard against COVID-19 (just a few days ago, it had been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization). Two days became two weeks, …
In one of my final assignments in middle school, I wrote that “armed with determination, optimism, and focus, I’m prepared to take on anything. As a high schooler, I’ll push myself as much as it takes to reach my goals. I believe that if we work hard enough, we can accomplish anything.” I’ve clung stubbornly to this …
Study hard, get good grades, get into college. In an increasingly competitive society where acceptance rates of top colleges dip into the single digits, this is the formulaic path with which my generation is perceived to be obsessed. Many of us are seen as “grade-grubbers,” vessels of human beings who study robotically with the sole …
I entered freshman year in September determined to tackle high school and conquer test after test, assignment after assignment. Despite my intentions, this year did not go exactly as planned; by second quarter I was struggling to stop making “stupid mistakes” in math (I once wrote that 3 + 2 = 6, hard at work …