Can you share some details on your plans for after graduation? For example, the name of college you will be attending or where you will be working. What are you most looking forward to with these plans?
My plans would be to work a summer job, save up money for a car and college, and then pack stuff to move to Lowell to undertake maybe 6 years of school to become a dietician.
Do you have any memorable moments from your time at South High?
I made many memorable moments for myself, but my favorite two has to be the feasts I held with my friends in class and the first day I dressed up like a Ronin, to which I dressed up on certain occasions after that. I will still dress up, but im not sure if the food will hit the same without friends.
What is something that you have learned or experienced at South High that you will take with you after graduation?
The lessons I will take would have to be ask questions always, when no one else will do it.
Communicate with your team and hold people accountable.
Be more confident within your ideas and your leadership, especially when leaders don't have any or don't know what to do.
Be patient and find the right moment to strike when it comes to socializing, instead of rapid conversations and pressure.
To achieve progress is to be able to accept both your doubts and achievements as one and know that it may take 1,000 tries before finding an answer.
To find a balance between ambition and pleasure. To never be rigid with one subject or school, and learn from other schools and disciplines.
Do you have any advice you would share with rising seniors or with underclassmen?
In terms of life advice: "what you see in people, is a reflection of what you see in yourself"- while you may be introspective, you need others to be "outrospective" (not a word) for you. Meaning you need people to be there to check on you as a person. If your friends say that you are being a bad friend, that just simply means you haven't been taking care of yourself as well as you should be. So take a break from whatever you are doing, reflect and consider the outcome of your actions, and just take care of yourself. Also if you simply focus on the surface- you will be unable to see the other qualities of yourself that are great. So you cannot find all the angles without a broken mirror.
For all the young men out there, there is a dark side to resilience. Being tough and aggressive will only get you so far, so don't pretend to be tough and try to piss off others for no reason. To be a man is to make sacrifices, whether it is to put down your pride or your life to protect others and become humble. Or to give up comfort to perfect your craft. To use that strength to build up others, rather than to destroy their characters. True strength that must be used to grow a better future rather than to continuously avenge the past.
In terms of practical stuff, everyone's routines and study styles will vary due to brain type and other schedules like work, or after-school sports/programs, etc. Figure out what your brain type is and create a productive routine and study style based on that. Exercise, and nutrition is also important for successful study habits, and that the human mind will lose focus after two to three hours of studying, so don't forget to take a break and never pull off an all nighter or study past two hours. It is about how you study that is effective, not the amount of time you spend on the material.
It is never about motivation that gets things done, its about being consistent- It's not about how hard you strike hot iron, its how accurately consistent those strikes land on the iron in order to mold the shape. Motivation will be the thing that starts a project, but it will always be consistency that completes it- if you need a reason to keep doing it, reward yourself with something small and then remind yourself of the long term goal you started in the beginning.
There is so much to give and tell, but I will let you discover that for yourself.
