School
High School
I attended Southlake Carroll for my entire K-12 education and met some of my closest friends. I have broken down my reflections each year, starting with COVID-19 and ending with graduation. I believe I was a successful student, and my time in high school was well spent.
Freshman Year
Covid-19 hit pretty hard and caused me to stay in my room for the majority of the time. I got really into anime with my favorite shows being Your Lie in April, Code Geass, and Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. I look back at this year positively, as I had lots of free time and often spent it watching anime or playing video games with my friends.
Created a "Nanoleaf" knockoff using an Arduino, WS2812B LEDs, and a 3D-printed light panel.
Sophomore Year
This year was very hectic, with lots of changes in friendships. I can only recall the time I went to BPA nationals and helped my friends with computer science in AP Computer Science A. This year is a blur, but I remember getting into the gym and trying to bulk up starting in December 2022.
Picked this off the side of the road and have kept it since.
Also went to Disney World while I was in the band program playing alto sax.
Junior Year
This year was extremely hectic, and I got into buying "shoes" for my friends and me.
I also moved a few friend groups and ultimately stuck with this one for a long time. My physique got better, and I continued working out while maintaining a good diet. The SAT was not the biggest priority to me, and I was ultimately happy with my final score around the 1500 range. I was hoping to go to Brown, Georgia Tech, or Purdue... I was very hopeful.
Toured the University of Washington with my family, and though I disliked the cold and I would drag on about how much I wanted to stay in the southern warmth... the campus kept up on me, and I could see myself at that school. I enjoyed the nature, the quiet but bustling campus, and the massive campus.
Senior Year
Once again, I found another group of friends whom I latched onto, where I found myself playing lots of poker and Valorant as well as playing Hypixel Skyblock once again... I had done robotics in junior year but this year I had a very good team and we traveled to many places and ultimately made it to the world championship. I also participated in HackUTD as well as AIFAHacks.
When dropping my sister off at the UW campus, I felt as if I could see myself on the campus, and I was excited to apply for computer science, which ultimately was the reason why I did not get in due to the abysmally low 2% acceptance rate :').
That was not the only school I was rejected from, but I got rejected from a multitude of schools and have summarized them in a Reddit post. I ultimately got into Northeastern University, which I toured, and although it is not as big as the University of Washington campus, I am glad to have the opportunity to study here.
I graduated high school and worked at a Malaysian restaurant for the rest of the summer while preparing for the move to... LONDON??!?!. I did not go directly to the Boston campus but rather went to London for my first semester and Oakland for my second semester.
College
London
I started college in London, and I experienced a very different change of pace from high school. In high school, I was quiet and reserved, and I felt that I should make a change in college so I decided to put myself out there and I met some of my best friends. During my second week in London, I went to the club and did not end up back at my residence hall. 😅.
The next few weeks were hectic as I would explore London with friends, go to clubs on the weekends, and travel on the breaks. I visited Paris during my midterm week.
I visited Barcelona, Portugal, and Morocco during my Thanksgiving break.
I enjoyed my first semester, and that is when I migrated my portfolio from ReactJS to NextJS. London was a great opportunity and extremely fun, and I am glad to have had the opportunity to study there. If anyone has questions about the program, feel free to email me; I would love to talk about my time in London.