Although my family did not go out of town on vacation this week, this spring break has still managed to be the most memorable one of my high school experience. While I enjoyed being able to simply relax and not think about school or work, I also took this week off as an opportunity to make memories with family and my friends, both old and new. Throughout the break, I took a few trips to explore different neighborhoods in Dallas with friends, met new people, and spent quality time with my family. Some of the highlights of my break were getting to discover the hidden gem of Bishop Arts District in Oak Cliff, as well as taking the DART for the first time through Klyde Warren Park and Deep Ellum. Getting to explore the diverse sights and sounds that Dallas has to offer was definitely an adventure, and my day trips with friends this break made me fall in love with the city even more. Yesterday, I had the unique opportunity to help my friend Victoria shoot pictures for the website of her new clothing company. For me, this break was my chance to undertake as many exciting new experiences like this one as I could. The idea has finally settled in that I will be graduating high school in three short months, and I now understand the importance of making the most of this time. Balancing time for schoolwork and ISM as well as time for family and friends is the key to having a great senior year, and I will definitely keep this in mind as I finish off my last year of high school!
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This past weekend was filled with anxiety, last-minute studying, excitement, bittersweetness, and pure joy. The rollercoaster of emotions I underwent was a direct result of my experiences at the DECA state conference in San Antonio, a trip that I had been highly anticipating ever since the district competition had ended back in January. All the DECA state qualifiers from across the district met up early Thursday morning to board charter buses to San Antonio, to begin the five hour drive to our hotel on Riverwalk. This state competition in particular meant the most to me personally, because out of all three DECA state conferences I have participated in, this one had the potential to qualify me and my partner, Shivani, for the International Career Development Conference in Anaheim, California. Being able to explore the amazing city of Anaheim with my friends and meet talented and ambitious individuals from across the world at ICDC would be the trip of a lifetime. The pressure of doing well in our event started to build as we attended the Texas DECA Opening Ceremony on Thursday night and crammed in some last-minute studying before our event time early the next morning. Shivani and I made the walk across the street from the hotel to the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center and waited anxiously outside the competition room at 8:00 am. The good thing about having such an early competition time was that we had the rest of the day to explore the Riverwalk and everything that San Antonio had to offer! By 9:30 am, we were changed out of our business professional clothing, ready to make the most of the rest of our trip. We ate delicious food at restaurants on the Riverwalk, took a boat tour of the San Antonio river, and made new friends from schools across the state. That night was a Texas DECA casino night, where the over four thousand state competitors were given a chance to meet each other and form new friendships. It was a great time, and reminded me of my love for the social aspect of conferences like this one. Saturday was our last day in San Antonio, and it started off early with the Awards Ceremony and Closing Session. This was by far the most nerve-wracking two hours of my entire trip, and I’m sure that all the other DECA members in the ballroom felt the same way. As I sat there waiting for results, I realized that winning my event would mean more than a trophy and bragging rights- it would mean my third ICDC experience, a trip to Anaheim, and an amazing way to close off my last year of high school. The moment came when Shivani and I heard our names called by the emcee. Walking up to the front of the ballroom was surreal, and those few minutes on the stage made the hours of preparation and studying worth it. The other girls that we roomed with on the trip qualified for Internationals as well, and that made everything that much more exciting. Overall, this weekend was one of the best I’ve had this year without a doubt. DECA ICDC in April will be a time of growth of my knowledge in business, an opportunity to network with students across the globe, and a trip that will be one of the shining highlights of my senior year. I spent this week preparing for the tests and competitions that are rapidly approaching! With this week being the end of the fourth six weeks, my teachers have been assigning the last major grade tests and essays to wrap up the grading period. On top of preparations for my core classes, my ISM speech is on Tuesday. I have been preparing for this upcoming speech for the past few days, and hopefully I’ll be able to effectively present my research and original work thus far in the year under Dr. Gerlacher. Something else exciting that is coming up is a trip to the DECA State Conference in San Antonio on Thursday and Friday. I am really looking forward to getting to compete against talented individuals in different business events, meet new people from across the state, and explore the Riverwalk with friends. I will definitely be spending time in these next few days studying with my DECA partner, Shivani, so we are as prepared as possible at the competition. This weekend is a three-day weekend, which has thankfully given me the opportunity to be able to do my homework and spend time catching up with friends. I cannot wait to share my original work with my classmates on Tuesday! After I give my speech, I will officially be done with the fourth six weeks of my senior year. I am looking forward to my speech and I am very excited for my upcoming trip to San Antonio on Thursday! I have come to the conclusion that high school is a true testament to how well a person can balance their responsibilities. These past few years of my life have been filled with experiments in the different amounts of time that I can devote to different priorities in my life. Simply stated, being able to make time for homework, a job, a social life, and simple downtime to relax is a feat that is not easily accomplished. Oftentimes, certain things have to be compromised in order to focus your efforts on other tasks. Time and time again, I have found myself struggling in one aspect due to the sacrifices I’ve had to make to prioritize other responsibilities. Reflecting back on my senior year so far, I have definitely felt the pressure of wanting to fulfill all the different things I devote myself to amongst the craziness of high school. These upcoming few weeks in particular will test my balancing abilities. In ISM, there is a 15-minute speech rapidly approaching, in which I will present my original work process and pediatric urgent care center business plan. This week will also be filled with major grade tests in my physics, calculus, literature, and economics classes, which will of course require a healthy amount of studying and preparation for. Something to definitely look forward to is my trip to San Antonio in two weeks for the DECA State Conference! I am so excited to be able to explore the city with fellow DECA members and participate in competitive business events with my partner, Shivani. The rest of this month will require a valiant effort on my part in terms of prioritizing and getting things done to the best of my abilities. Hopefully my balancing act pays off!
February is officially here, and I am getting back into the rhythm of senior year after the crazy past few weeks of the DECA district competition, Research Showcase, and my weekend in Austin for Youth and Government State conference. This week, I focused my time on ISM final product brainstorming, projects in AP Art, and homework in my core classes. With the instrumental guidance of Dr. Gerlacher, I have locked down an idea for my final product that will incorporate both pediatrics and the business aspect of healthcare into one project. I worked on creating a product proposal for ISM that explains the purpose of my product and sets a timeline for the steps I need to take to make sure everything is completed and finalized by Final Presentation Night in May. We have our 20-minute ISM original work speeches coming up quickly in the next two weeks, which I need to begin preparing for! Public speaking is definitely a daunting task for me, but I know that my experiences in ISM practicing and honing in on interpersonal speaking skills through the various speech opportunities will benefit me immensely in college and beyond. This month is off to a productive start, and I am determined to make the most of it by devoting time to my classes, from Art Drawing to Physics 2, and to my ISM-related endeavors. Happy February! With January coming to a close, I can honestly say the first month of 2017 has been one crazy rollercoaster of twists, turns, invaluable experiences, and amazing memories. This last week of January in particular has been action-packed from beginning to end! On Tuesday, I met with my mentor Dr. Gerlacher to develop and plan a final product idea, where he provided me with instrumental help in coming up with a feasible yet challenging proposal that I am excited to begin working on. Then, bright and early on Thursday morning, I headed off to Austin with about thirty other Liberty HS students for the 70th annual Texas Youth and Government State Conference. This conference would be held at the Texas State Capitol and is essentially a mock youth government. Throughout the process, I served as one of seven governor’s cabinet members, where I was able to move from the House of Representatives and the Senate floors to push representatives and senators to vote on bills in certain ways that would align with the youth governor’s views. Watch this video to see a short interview I did on my duties on the Governor's Cabinet! Things I love about conferences like this one are the opportunities they present for self-growth, enlightening experiences, and new friendships. I was able to meet ambitious and accomplished individuals from across the state and I had to push myself out of my comfort zone to be able to take on the tasks that came with serving as a member of the Governor’s Cabinet. My four days in Austin for my last Youth and Government state conference not only taught me more about the legislative process, but also about professionalism and public speaking tactics, skills that will benefit me in ISM, college, and beyond. With the excitement that January’s events have provided me with, I can’t wait to see what February will bring. So many great things have happened in these past few days that it is almost hard to believe. Wednesday was a big day, with Research Showcase taking place at the Ford Center at the Star that evening. I had the help of my amazing friend Shivani, who helped me in everything from loading my presentation board and props into the car at 3:00 pm to buying us Chipotle before the showcase to helping me clean up my table on the field at 9:00 pm after all visitors had left. The atmosphere in the stadium was buzzing with excitement and anticipation for this high-energy and eye-opening event. When the doors of the stadium opened, I felt a pang of uncertainty as to what to expect when people began entering the field. However, any nervousness dissolved immediately as I began seeing familiar faces from my classes at Liberty. After getting to speak with visiting friends and graduated ISM students who are now in college, I became swept up in the adrenaline and blood-pumping energy of sharing my passions in pediatrics and business with anyone interested. Dr. Gerlacher, my mentor, was able to stay for the entire event, which I appreciate so much. I have learned more about both pediatrics and the business of medicine than I ever could have imagined knowing in my short month of mentorship so far, and I am genuinely excited to continue this growing experience through the rest of this year in ISM. At Showcase, the two hours seemed to fly by as I spoke with a wide variety of people, ranging from middle schoolers who asked about advice for success in high school to my teachers from middle school and now to my friends and classmates. Research Showcase as a whole was an unforgettable experience that has been by far the highlight of my ISM journey thus far. On Friday, I was given the exciting opportunity to speak about the ISM program to eighth grade GT students at Fowler Middle School. I still remember the presentation about ISM that I had listened to as an eighth grader in Mrs. Arndorfer’s GT class, and it was an honor to be able to leave this impact on these students. After my middle school presentation that morning, I joined my AP Art class on a field trip to the Kimball Art Museum and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. It was a beautiful day and the art, especially the KAWS exhibit, was breathtaking. On Saturday, I tutored at Kumon after not being able to work for the past few shifts, which reminded me of how much I love being around the smiling faces and contagious laughter of children. For the rest of the day, I went on a nature walk at a local nature preserve and spent time relaxing and enjoying the warm winter that Texas has brought us this year. It has been a great week, and I am looking forward to exciting things to come in the future. There’s just something about three-day weekends that inspires me to be productive and accomplish things while still having time to spend with friends and family. This weekend, thanks to Martin Luther King Jr. Day, has consisted of just that. On Saturday, I had an early start to my morning, getting to school by 6:00 am to leave for Haltom City High School for the District 7 DECA Conference. My day was filled with preparation for my competitive event in Hospitality Services with my partner Shivani, meeting new people from other schools, and excitement after learning that my friends and I had advanced to the State Conference in San Antonio next month. After reflecting on my experiences the past three years at Orlando and Nashville for the DECA international conferences, I realized that DECA has been one of my favorite organizations I have been involved in through high school, as it has provided me with opportunities to learn more about the world of business while allowing me to make new friends and connections with other aspiring young professionals across the nation. I can’t wait for State and everything else that DECA will provide with me in the rest of my senior year! On Sunday, I spent the day relaxing, spending time with my family, and working on final preparations for Research Showcase. Today, I volunteered in the morning with Junior Frisco Women’s League for the annual Day of Service event at a local church and met Dr, Gerlacher, my mentor, at Starbucks in the afternoon. We chatted and went over last minute information for the Showcase, which is rapidly approaching in just two days (!). Overall, this weekend has been incredibly productive and exciting, and I am eager to present everything I have been working on in ISM at the Star Stadium in a couple of days! It has been almost a month since I have posted, and quite a few big things have happened over these few weeks! I had a wonderful holiday break filled with last-minute college applications, time spent catching up with friends, and family outings around the Dallas area. Before we got off for break, however, I reached an exciting milestone in my ISM journey! Dr. Gary Gerlacher, who was my fourth research interview, will be serving as my mentor for the field of Pediatrics. I am so fortunate to have his wise advice and pointers as I begin my research into the business aspect of the pediatric field. Since he agreed to be my mentor in mid-December, we have been meeting on mentor visits every weekend to work on my original work. With his instrumental help, I have locked down an original work idea and am now working on preparing it for its reveal at the Research Showcase on January 18th. I am so happy with how it is turning out and truly think that it is a perfect balance between my interests in pediatrics and the business concepts involved in it. Dr. Gerlacher has shared with me invaluable information and extensive resources to help me in creating my original work. With his background in both the management and practicing side of pediatrics, he has been able to give me insight into the confluence between business and medicine to benefit me greatly in my original work process. Winter break flew by quickly, and the first week of school in 2017 has been action-packed. Currently, I am working on creating my presentation board for Research Showcase in two short weeks. It will be a great experience where I will be able to share my ISM progress thus far with my friends and family. Lots of exciting things are coming up, and I am looking forward to beginning my last semester of high school! This week, Texas has obviously decided that winter is here. In a matter of two days, the temperature dropped from forty five degrees in the mornings to a chilly thirty degrees! In ISM this week, we created our Research Showcase invitations and peer critiqued the designs and content with our classmates. We spent a day going over important things to know before the event about set up and the way the night will unfold.The big day at the Ford Center at the Star Stadium is January 18th, which is rapidly approaching! I am really looking forward to getting to share what I've learned in my ISM journey thus far with my family and friends on the same field that the Dallas Cowboys practice. In events unrelated to ISM, National Honor Society organized its annual door decoration event for teachers around the school this week. We had sixty hard-working members show up to cover doors in festive wrapping paper and colorful decorations to get in the holiday spirit! On Friday night, I was able to make the trip to see the Vitruvian Lights in Addison. Seeing the bright and colorful lights and their reflections onto the surface of the lake was truly breathtaking. I had a productive and action-packed week, and as Research Showcase continues to creep up, I will continue to work on preparations in ISM! |
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