I am currently writing this from the Orange County Airport on a Sunday, waiting for my flight back to Dallas to conclude my trip, and in sunny southern California that had started on Wednesday. DECA ICDC in Anaheim has been an unforgettable experience filled with friends, competition, and Disney! My partner, Shivani, and I went through competition briefing and testing before entering into our competitive event on Friday. We put together our brainpower and completed the roleplay to the best of our ability. This year in DECA has taught me invaluable information within my competitive cluster, hospitality and tourism, and has made me a more professional individual. I could not be more grateful for the connections, knowledge, and memories that my three years in DECA have provided me with. In other news, AP exam weeks are right around the corner, and I will have to kick my studying into gear when I get back home. Following AP week will be Final Presentation Night, the culmination of my year in ISM. With all these big events coming and going, one of the most exciting has been my recent commitment to attend the University of California, Berkeley for the next four years!!! I am beyond excited to become a golden bear and live and learn in California. Before we know it, we will be heading off to college and paving the paths for our futures. I can't think of a better place for me to embark on this journey than Cal, and I am so honored to be able to call myself a member of the Berkeley Class of 2021!
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Last Thursday, I packed my suitcase and boarded a flight with my mom from Dallas to San Francisco. The excitement of getting to explore the city and tour the campus of UC Berkeley kept building until we finally landed late Thursday night at SFO and bought BART tickets to Union Square, where our hotel was located. On Friday morning, we woke up to a curiously quiet city. It just so happened that on our first day in the city, parts of the city of San Francisco experienced a power outage for the first time in years that resulted in almost all the shops and restaurants to close for the day. It was such a weird experience walking down the streets of the financial district and seeing businessmen and women making small talk outside the closed office buildings. Thankfully, other parts of the city near the bay still had power. I was able to meet with my friend Alyssa, who I had met this past June at an economics conference in Austin. She made the drive down from Sonoma to San Francisco after I told her I would be in town, and we spent the afternoon walking from the Ferry Building up to Pier 39 and Fisherman’s Wharf. I absolutely loved getting to see her after almost a year, and it made me reflect on how amazing it is that such a brief three-day conference over the summer can create such a strong bond of friendship. The next morning, the power was finally back on, and my mom and I took the BART up to Downtown Berkeley for the annual Cal Day event, which is basically an open house for UC Berkeley. The campus was breathtaking, with redwood trees lining the outskirts and intricately designed buildings surrounding the iconic Campanile Tower in the center. After walking through Sproul Plaza and touring the Haas School of Business, I was able to meet up with a family friend from Plano, now a junior at Berkeley, to talk about her experiences and life in California. Cal Day was a one-of-a-kind experience that really gave me a sense of the campus vibe. On Sunday, we made the trip back to Berkeley once more because I had planned to meet up with other prospective students and current Cal students who had graduated from Liberty. I found that I had a lot in common with the other freshman admits, and I even found out that a prospective student from New Jersey would also be at DECA Internationals in Anaheim later this week! For lunch, I met with Shreyash, a former ISM student at Liberty who is in his first year at Cal. We talked about campus life and the pre-business track at Berkeley, and I loved getting to hear about his college experiences so far. Later that afternoon, I met with Jack, a former Liberty student who went to TAMS before coming to Cal. Jack took me on a hike up to the Big C, a spot on the edge of campus with a view so amazing that no pictures can do it justice. UC Berkeley boasts one of the most picturesque campuses in the nation, and seeing Cal from the Big C made that clear to me. As I talked with Jack, he explained to me the reality of studying at a school like Berkeley. He helped me sort through the pros and cons of pursuing business at UT in BHP versus on the pre-Haas track at Berkeley, and his insight really pinpoint my ultimate college decision, which I will finalize this week. I just landed back in Dallas last night at midnight, and tomorrow morning I will be back at the airport to catch a flight to Anaheim with other ICDC qualifiers for the DECA International conference. So many exciting opportunities have been presenting themselves in my life, and I cannot wait to make the most of every experience!
These last two weeks of April are going to be filled with lots of traveling and exciting new memories, all taking place in the sunny state of California. This Thursday, I will board a flight to San Francisco for Cal Day, an annual open-house event that UC Berkeley hosts for admitted students. After getting back from North California that next Monday, I will come back to school and catch up with my classes, before heading out on a flight that Wednesday back to California for DECA. This year’s International Career Development Conference will be held in Anaheim, and my school chapter of DECA will be staying in SoCal for five days! I am eagerly anticipating these next two weeks, as I will have amazing opportunities to explore new surroundings, meet new people, and learn invaluable information that may determine where I choose to attend college. At Cal Day, I am looking forward to meeting other prospective Golden Bears and learning more about an education at Berkeley. Even if I end up deciding to attend BHP at UT Austin over Cal, this trip will still be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make new connections and explore the great city of San Francisco. I am also looking forward to the DECA trip and taking on Anaheim with my friends! This will be my third year attending ICDC, and my experiences there never fail to make my list of favorite memories of high school. As all these travels are happening, I am slowly making progress on my final product to get it ready for Final Presentation Night on May 19th. Before we know it, seniors will be walking the stage at graduation and our four years in high school will come to an end. For now, I am making the most of these last months at Liberty! The past few weeks of stressful planning, dress and shoe shopping, and last-minute scheduling changes have finally paid off this weekend at Liberty High School’s senior prom. The group of 36 excited seniors that I was in boarded party buses from Frisco, stopping first for pictures and dinner, then heading to the W Hotel in Victory Park, Dallas for the dance. It was an unforgettable night filled with laughs, memories, and, I’ll admit, an excessive amount of pictures. Some other unique opportunities came up this week, including a call with a state representative regarding my final product, a DECA-sponsored Dallas Stars game and Q&A with the businessmen and women behind the sports scenes, and an information session for DFW-area Berkeley freshmen admits. Thanks to Dr. Gerlacher, I was able to have a brief conversation over the phone on Monday with State Representative Pat Fallon, who represents parts of the nearby Denton County, in which I proposed my final product idea of a public policy proposal to bring low-cost and efficient healthcare services to rural Texas through telemedicine. I am so grateful that Representative Fallon was able to take time out of his busy schedule to provide feedback and constructive criticism regarding my final product. The next day, Liberty HS DECA members and I went to the Dallas Stars vs. Avalanche hockey game at the American Airlines Center. I always look forward to the annual DECA sponsored sports games, because in addition to the entertaining games, there are also opportunities to hear from the business people behind the sports franchises. Then, on Saturday afternoon before prom, my mom and I attended a UC Berkeley information session for students in the Dallas area. It made me excited for the potential of a college experience in San Francisco, and made me realize how difficult it will be to make my final college decision by May 1st. Hopefully, my experience at Cal Day on the UC Berkeley campus in two weeks will help me decide where I want to spend my next four years! The last week of March is known to many high school seniors as the week that determines the next four years of their lives. Many universities across the nation send out their college decisions throughout this week, leading to life-changing commitments that will send students to different cities, states, and even countries to begin the unfamiliar yet exciting journey that is a college education. For me, this process left me with an extremely difficult choice to make. I have been so blessed with supportive individuals who have helped me in every step of the application process, like my family, teachers, and friends. Ultimately, I have to now decide between four amazing opportunities to continue my education at a higher level: the University of Southern California, University of California Los Angeles, University of California Berkeley, and the Business Honors Program at the University of Texas at Austin. All four of these schools have stellar business programs that I would be honored to be a part of, but the catch is that I have to narrow it down to the best institution for me. Today, I actually had the opportunity to attend a regional lunch where the UCLA Admissions board presented an informational session for freshman admits in the Dallas area. The entire experience was eye-opening and I gained valuable knowledge that will help me in my decision of where I want to spend the next four years of my life! As the month of April continues, it will be a whirlwind of exciting activities, like my senior prom, a family vacation to Galveston, a trip to visit UC Berkeley, and DECA ICDC in Anaheim. On top of the craziness of April, by the end of this month, I will have chosen the college that I plan to attend. As senior year comes to an alarmingly rapid close, I will have lots of once-in-a-lifetime opportunities and will make many lifelong memories. Simply stated, I am ready for this crazy rollercoaster of a month and I cannot wait for what is to come! |
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