#colormecosmic

🍋 *introduction*

~ i’m 14 

~ i’m a freshman

~ hufflepuff (even tho i like hate harry potter)

~ i live in chicago and apparently have a really thicc accent but i can’t hear it?

~ i’m currently learning portuguese and asl

~ i’ve been learning french for fun since i was 8ish?

🍋 *classes*

~ french 2 honors (highest a freshman can take at my school but its too easy and i’m dead)

~ theater

~ honors global studies

~ geometry b

~ biology

~ AP english

🍋 *interests*

~ musicals

~theater

~ andrew rannels

~connor murphy

~ wait oops

~ reading

~ hand-lettering (ik i suck but i’m trying)

~ accidentally vegan food (srsly god’s gift to vegans)

🍋 *inspos*

@studyoon @studypdx @apricot-studies @cmpsbls @zeestudies @scholarc @colormecosmic @eintsein @studyplants @reviseordie @niftynotes @studyquill @studyquill @bcckmarks @studywithamelia @litlelight @studyinginstyle @scholarstudy @languagetea @french--language @stawbeestudy

MSC 2/31 2.3.17- Favourite time of day to study

I just finished a project for my education class that I would like to share with y’all. Our assignment is to answer who we were as our best student and who we were as our worst and what do we need to be our best student selves, and present it along with an image. I felt that my favorite passage and drawings from The Little Prince represented my thoughts best. Students who are currently finishing up high school and worried about college admissions, this one is for you!

A message from a student who understands what’s it like, to anyone who needs a little reassurance that it’s going to be okay:

My best as a student was simultaneously me being my worst as a student. In high school, I got A’s, I took AP courses, I had leadership roles and multiple extracurricular activities. I appeared to be a well-rounded student. Yet, at the same time, every day of junior and senior year of high school, I copied math homework from the back of the book, “bs-‘ed” some of my literature essays, and barely kept my club afloat as president, all on about an average of 4 hours of sleep each night. I learned more about test-taking strategies than the content of the course. I did everything I could to get by and ultimately, although sleep-deprived and barely functioning, I looked good “on paper”. I had to, after all. As an Asian-American growing up in an predominantly Asian community, the stereotypes made me believe there was only one way to make it— major in biology or mathematics to become a doctor or a scientist. Being the oldest daughter of Asian immigrant parents, there is huge pressure to succeed, to prove that your parents’ struggle was worth it, so you can only imagine how I disappointed in myself I felt when I didn’t feel competent or interested in either of those subjects. My passions led me down the liberal arts path. I struggled to call myself a psychology and human development major for the longest time. When my dad asked how to spell “psychology” so he could tell my aunt what I was majoring in, I felt ashamed and told him, “No it’s okay, you don’t have to.” I had no idea if I was going to be successful with what society called a “useless degree” and I didn’t want him to feel judged if my relatives told him the same. 

In Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s famous The Little Prince, the narrator’s childhood drawing was constantly misinterpreted by adults. Whenever he tried to explain his drawing to show them what’s beneath the surface, adults told him to set it aside and get a more practical hobby. Adults only ever ask me what I’m majoring in, but they never ask why. If they asked, I would have had a chance to explain my interest in mental health and why I’m so concerned for the well-being of students. I would tell them that my closest friends have encountered depression and anxiety, and that I, too, have had my own battles with anxiety and low self-esteem. I would explain to them how some kids are so worried about disappointing their parents, they work so hard in school to the point they don’t sleep or eat or want to live. Yet, instead of asking why I would choose such a major, they just tell me how difficult it would be to find a job. Adults seem to fixate on one path to success and expect us to follow it without questioning. They lack the creativity it takes to think outside of the box and ask new questions and make new comments. Yes, they want what’s best for us, but do not realize every child is different in needs and desires. Hence, I believe educators, parents, and adults in general should let us know that we have a lifetime to be who we want to be and that there are various pathways to get there, not make us think we have to decide by the time we click “submit” on our college applications. And if we do reach higher education, we need to be told that no matter what we choose to learn, that as long as we’re learning something, we’ll be okay and enough, as us, as who we are.