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Conversation with Steven Zheng about participating in the Boys Dance for our Senior Homecoming

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Conversation with Steven Zheng about participating in the Boys Dance for our Senior Homecoming

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Me: Hey Steven! Remember all those days we spent practicing

for the Boy's Dance for Homecoming this year?

Steven: Yeah bro that was dope

Me: Yeah, you used to make us all do 10 push-ups for each

minute we were late...AND you made me wear a brotank

against my will.

Steven: I warned you guys beforehand that we'd be wearing

brotanks. I even offered you guys the option of

practicing shirtless.

Me: WAIT YOU NEVER SAID THAT...although I would have

emphatically declined even if you HAD said that.

Steven: I DID

Me: NOT

Steven: You probably didn't hear because you missed a

practice

OOH YA THAT'S RIGHT

Me: I NEVER missed a practice.

Steven: COME AT ME

I SAID THAT.

Me: Except for the first one.

Steven: No I definitely said that.

Obviously you weren't paying attention enough

I probably made you do push-ups after that

Remember when you did push-ups on the grass

And everyone had to do like 10 extra

Me: HAHA I remember that

I was just helping them

become more muscular...

Steven: Yeah that was the point of the push-ups

cuz we were gonna wear brotanks.

gotta look the part.

Me: NO ONE WANTED TO WEAR THEM

Steven: uh no only you

and like

aaron

thats it

please

Me: NO

me

aaron

edward

jason

michael

to name a few

Steven: THAT'S 5 GUYS OUT OF 20

and anyways we had to look tough for the audience.

Me: Yeah I guess...

you were like

a dictator/choreographer

LOL

but I'd still go through it all over again...

Steven: OH

YOU MEAN GO THROUGH ALL THOSE PUSH-UPS

AITE BRO

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Well, precisely one year from this very day, spring semester would have ended so most likely I would be back home for summer break; however, I understand that this question is asking what I would be doing one year from now while I am still in college, so that is how I will answer it! I see college as a more laid back form of high school, so I would probably envision myself waking up at around 7:30am to get to my classes, because I would have scheduled them at sometime in the late morning or early afternoon. After I get all my work and other necessary items together, I would go down to eat breakfast and then walk to my first lecture or class. I’d probably get to my first class about 15-20 minutes early so that I can go through the necessary material students should read before class, and during class I intend to take as extensive notes as possible. Once I’ve gone to all of my classes, I would go to any necessary TA discussion sessions so that I can clarify any doubts I have. Once I’ve done all of this, I will either go to the library or my dorm to finish off my homework, and then, if time permits, do some extra studying for tomorrow. The reason I have such a routine day already planned out is because I need to ensure that I can learn the most out of my time at college. The more knowledge I gain, the more ready I’ll be for the future. All of these skills that I learn now will help me when I leave college and pursue my master’s degree in my desired major. I do not know much about the life of graduate students, so I cannot be one hundred percent sure about how my life will be five years from now; however I am sure that I will be using the skills I obtained during my undergraduate years to take an active role in some company or some research opportunity. During my graduate studies, I will be able to implement the skills that I have learned over the past eight years, in both college and my undergrad, to create solutions to problems that will directly affect our society!

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One very big problem at Lynbrook is procrastination. Almost all of the students at Lynbrook always wait till the last week to complete their projects and assignments or study for their tests. I myself am a victim of procrastination, I always end up studying last minute for my AP US Government tests, and of course, my grades are never what I wish they could be. The past four years have taught me that procrastination is possibly a high school students biggest enemy. Students that procrastinate are always fighting against the clock, and as a result, the quality of their work goes down, because it is literally impossible to pay attention to detail when you are simply fighting to get your work submitted on time. When a student chooses to start early on his or her project, not only do they give themselves enough time to complete the project under no stress, but they also get ample amount of time to go through their work and drastically improve the quality of their final product. A perfect example would be my journey through my AP Statistics class this year; on my very first test, I had chosen to procrastinate and studied for the test the night before, and I naturally scored very low. The day I received my test grades, I vowed to myself to never put myself in a situation in which I am literally learning how to do the coursework the night before. In the very next unit, I began pushing myself hard from the beginning; instead of doing a great deal of work at the very end of the unit, I decided to put in a concentrated amount of effort across the duration of the entire unit. The night before the test, I found myself more prepared for this test than I had ever been for any other test, and it showed when I got my grade back for the Unit Two test.

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My biggest insecurity, and how I overcame it...

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My biggest insecurity, and how I overcame it...

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Since a young age, I have always had a deep fear and dislike towards losing. I only took part in an activity if I was pretty certain I could win; failure was never an option for me. Now some might see this as the mentality of a competitive winner and would not see this as a problem; however this thinking process of mine became an impediment from enjoying the activity on its own. Even in the smallest of competitions, such as racing to a trash can and back, I could not accept defeat, and if I did lose, I took the loss very poorly. Every loss of mine was followed by a tantrum or some degree of hatred towards my opponent. I don’t really think that there is any sort of technique a person can develop to combat such an insecurity, because the only way one can overcome a fear of losing is by losing over and over again. After facing countless failures, and reacting to each one in a snobbish manner, I eventually realized that I will never be able to accomplish anything with this kind of mentality. By focusing more on not losing rather than winning, I was always playing defensive, and as a result, becoming my own impediment from success. I gradually learned that if I want to win then I would have to stop worrying so much about losing, and instead focus on winning. Once, these both used to mean the same thing to me, but I’ve grown to learn that there actually is a huge difference between both these statements. When one continuously worries about losing, they become obsessed about the smallest of details, and they tend to miss the big picture in the process, the grand scheme of things. By doing so, a person may win an occasional battle, but they will end up losing the overall war. By focusing only on winning, one learns to prioritize and to see the overall picture of a certain debate or predicament. A person that focuses on winning knows when, where, and how much attention and energy to give to the small battles that are necessary to win the overall war. They also learn that sometimes in order to become the overall winner, you have to be willing to lose a few small battles along the way. Even to this day, I continue to meet many failures and losses, but I am able to overlook these because I know that although I may have lost this particular battle, I am still fighting to win the war.

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The Pink BowTies at SCU for the GYP Concert!

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The Pink BowTies at SCU for the GYP Concert!

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Euro Lit isn't the ONLY place I fall asleep...

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Random weird picture of me...

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The only year I took part in Homecoming...still doesn't change the fact that it was super fun!

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The La Madeleine in Paris, one of our performance venues.

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The Piper Archer III, the airplane that I got to fly!!

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One of our recordings from the AllState convention at Fresno

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One of our recordings from the AllState convention at Fresno

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The song is called "Besame Mucho"

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Performing Holiday music at Santana Row!!

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The End...

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The Beginning...

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The Last 4 Years through pictures and more...

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The Last 4 Years through pictures and more...

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"And the Mountains Echoed..." - My favorite novel

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"And the Mountains Echoed..." - My favorite novel

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I have been an avid reader since my early childhood, and I still am one to this day. Over the past eight years, I have read a myriad of novels, and each one has taken me on its own adventure; however, none of these novels ever left a lasting mark on me because the depth and emotion in all of these novels was rather shallow. This all changed when I chose to read And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini. The novel, rather than following the traditional chronological order storyline, is actually a collection of short, intertwined stories in which each of the characters is in someway related to, or plays an integral role in all of the other stories. The foundation of the book is built upon the relationship between an Afghan boy, Abdullah, and his three-year-old sister Pari, who is sold off by their poor father, and the events that led to that moment and that followed as a result. Hosseini used the familial themes of memory, loss, and love to show his readers that memories can either be a gift, with which we can remember our most treasured moments, or a curse, which allows us to relive the most terrible of times. I really enjoyed reading this novel because Hosseini's style of writing kept me enthralled in the book; his specificity of detail in describing his characters emotions made me go through the same pain that Abdullah felt when he was separated from his sister, or the loss that Pari felt when she met Abdullah after a lifetime, only to find out that he had forgotten her due to Alzheimer's. The events that take place in this novel may be fictional, but are still so commonplace in Afghanistan, that one may assume that this story is actually nonfiction. Hosseini took the dark side of Afghani society, and fused it with a bit of fate to create a web of stories so rich and powerful that it managed to bring me to tears multiple times.

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What is your biggest fear with regard to life after high school?

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What is your biggest fear with regard to life after high school?

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The big difference between college and high school is the range of independence college provides young adults with. In high school, we have our parents to guide us and help us correct ourselves whenever we make a mistake, but in college, we are literally on our own. College is a time when us young adults are allowed to experiment with their freedom and learn how to handle their responsibilities. To some students, this is a reward, for they can now control their own future, but to other kids, like me, this sudden independence is our greatest fear for the future. I’m afraid that I may end up abusing this new independence of mine. I’m afraid that I may not possess the willpower to remain on task, and ultimately put myself in a situation where I am left with no possible future. I understand that the magnitude of the repercussions that I think of might be a bit exaggerated, but I also realize that if I do dismiss my academics, then they are the consequences that I will end up facing. As I leave the comforts of home, I am well aware of the new dynamic I am about to enter, and am completely ready to ensure that I do whatever it takes to make sure that I remain dedicated to my studies and set myself up for a highly successful future.