Blog Post #1

Summer of 2022 was far from relaxing. I spent most of my days dealing with scheduling crises, writing drafts of college essays, and on top of all that working nearly thirty-five hours a week. I work for the City of Santa Monica Aquatics Department as a Lifeguard/Swim Instructor, and due to COVID-19 there has been a national lifeguard shortage which meant more hours for me and less time to enjoy summer break. I enjoyed teaching lessons, quite a lot actually. Theres something about passing on the knowledge I was taught when I was young to a new generation. I felt nostalgic thinking about all the swim lessons I took, to end up being the instructor was purely rewarding for me. I made a lot of connections with some really sweet kids, and for that I'm truly thankful. Writing college essay's however I am not so thankful. If theres one thing I hate in this world it is writing about myself. I spent nearly every hour of every day for a whole week cranking out drafts of my UC PIQs (Personal Insight Questions). Despite all the time it took and the mental tax it had on me for the following week it was worth it. I have entered school having started my applications and writing questions for half of the schools I am applying to, how great is that! Let me move to a more serious note, this year is going to be hard. Without question. My schedule was absolutely mutilated, well thats how I like to phrase it but in actuality I only had to remove three classes I wanted to take. No big deal. Who am I kidding it sucked, soccer gone, french gone, physics gone. Well physics is back, I found an online institution through the UC system so I can fulfill my requirements. However, I know have AP Calc, AP Bio, Engineering Academy, and now also AP Physics C + AP Physics E&M. Did I forget to mention I also have college applications to do, guess I missed that part. Anyhow, this year of engineering is full of fun yet difficult projects. If theres one thing I am looking forward to it has to be the JPL Invention Challenge. A competition like this is one very few high school students can say they participated in, and I am extreme thankful to have this opportunity. This year in total I'm most excited for my band tour. I forgot to mention but over the summer I went on an orchestra tour to New York City where I preformed in the historic Carnegie Hall. Such an amazing experience, and absolutely terrifying. Moreover, this spring my band is planing to go on tour to Ireland! That to me sounds incredible, meaning as of now thats what I am looking forward to most this year. Things may change, I will keep y'all updated.