Go with the flow, but choose the right current
/My time in high school
Attended high school in the
2010s
Overall high school experience
8/10. My high school experience at [high school name omitted] was incredibly unique. I took advantage of many of the amazing resources during my time in high school. I saw my friends win a state championship against a top tier college recruiting high school in the pouring rain in Corona, California. I worked on a "point of view" video project with [high school] alum, James Franco. I got blow glass at [high school's] glass blowing studio after school. I flew to Australia with my AP photography class and presented to schools about photography. I featured presentation about sports photography at the national journalism convention in San Francisco. I flew to New York City with my sports magazine staff and went to Sports Illustrated and The New York Times. I got to interview [high school] alum Jeremy Lin after a New York Knicks basketball game. I would not have been able to do all these amazing activities if I did not go to [high school name omitted].
Grades in high school
A's and B's. School was tough for me at [high school name omitted]. The classes were hard and the students were very competitive. I struggled with math and science specifically.
Favorite subjects
Computer Science / Engineering / Technical, English, History / Social Studies, Visual Arts
Struggled with...
I struggled the most with math. Math a subject where you really need to practice in order to learn. I hated the repetitiveness of the homework and exam. I was placed in a low math lane early but still did not do well.
Favorite extracurricular
Media
Life since high school
“My greatest accomplishment thus far is being selected to cover the Summer Olympics in Rio, Brazil this Summer. I learned that if stick with focusing all your efforts on one goal, you will achieve it. ”
Attended college / university at
I currently attend The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Community at Arizona State University in Phoenix, Arizona.
Majored in
My major is Journalism with a focus in digital media.
Places lived in US
Arizona, California
Current occupations / past occupations
I am a freelance photographer. I take photos of open mic events and music events. I also am a sports photographer for The Walter Cronkite Sports Network. I photograph games of Arizona State athletic teams. Last summer, I worked at Adobe in San Francisco. I plan to return to Adobe when I come home for summer. I have also worked at other small start up companies in the Bay Area including UserTesting.
Industries I've worked in
- Construction
- Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (e.g. Law, Accounting, Interior Design, Graphic Design, R&D, PR, Advertising, etc.)
- Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation
A little introspection...
To me, being successful means...
I believe that success is defined as being happy with all aspects of your life. In order to do that, one must work hard to achieve that success. For me to be happy, I want to work at a job that I look forward to going to everyday and that pays well. That means I will need to get a college degree and make myself marketable. Success and happiness are intrinsically linked. I do not believe that you can be truly successful without being happy.
My definition of success has changed over time.
I always thought growing up that success was all about having a lot of money and living in a big house but that perception changed once I moved out of Palo Alto and went off to college. I also was grown up thinking in high school that if you don't go to an Ivy League school, you will be a failure in life. That perception really changed when I graduated from [high school name omitted].
My greatest accomplishment to date and what I’ve learned from it
My greatest accomplishment thus far is being selected to cover the Summer Olympics in Rio, Brazil this Summer. I learned that if stick with focusing all your efforts on one goal, you will achieve it. Persistance is key. Being selected took years of practice, a large sum of money spent on equipment and hundreds of thousands of hours of editing and uploading work.
My biggest mistake or regret so far and what I’ve learned from it
My biggest regret was cheating on an assignment my junior year of college and almost getting kicked out of college. I had interviewed friends for a story and created plagiarized quotes for them to read. The assignment was for my radio journalism class and my teacher said that the quotes sounded like someone was reading them off of paper instead of me interviewing them in person and asking them actual questions. Plagiarism and fabrication are two of the biggest crimes in journalism. Typically, it ends the career of a journalist because they are no longer deemed "credible". At my school, all students sign an agreement about not cheating, or else they will be kicked out. The academic integrity pledge states that if you fabricate a source then you will be kicked out. It also has an extremely strict plagiarism policy. The deans kicked me out of the school for a semester. I had to really work hard to be readmitted at the school. The penalty of this mistake was a 25 page paper about journalism ethic case studies and I had to retake two classes attended the school under special circumstances. I also had to fly back from California after driving home for summer to meet with the deans in person to tell me that I was kicked out for a semester. This was the worst mistake of my life and my journalism career but it has forever changed me. I learned a lot of lessons from this terrible decision. The first lesson is not to take shortcuts. I had gotten A's on every assignment and decided to blow off the last one because I would still have had an A in the class if I failed the final assignment. The second lesson is always do your best. I could have turned in the story without the quotes and still received an A. I really enjoyed the class and was producing my best work as a radio broadcast journalist. The last lesson is to not procrastinate. I made the decision to cheat because I did not interview the actually people in time. I never got organized enough to schedule an interview. It was the end of the school year and I was really busy. These lessons have changed my work ethic and have enhanced my college experience since. I think the dean's saw potential in me and wanted to give me a second chance, that is why I did not kicked out when I should have. Now I am off to Rio with the journalism school in August and just finished my junior year.
My favorite spot in or around Palo Alto
My favorite spot in Palo Alto is the avatar tree near Palo Alto creek. [map pointing to El Palo Alto]
