Been a while ;)

Hey everyone!!! So a lot of things have happened..

First of all, I drove alone for the first time and I'm still alive to tell the tale! This has been a huge landmark for me (don't laugh), I'm so excited to start gaining more confidence in my driving skills!

Me driving to Marlhurst for volunteering!! 

Second, junior college prep day was EXTREMELY helpful. We started our resumés, filled out the common app, and started our faifsa!! I wouldn't even know where to start if we didn't have a day dedicated to just these things, so grateful that SMA holds events like these for their students. We didn't get through all of it, but it's so nice to have a starting place and somewhere to continue from.

Hawaiian dance at the AAYLC

Third of all, the AAYLC (Asian American Youth Leadership Conference) was absolutely spectacular... Never have I ever seen so many Asian people in one room. We did several work shops, from dealing with micro aggressions to learning about Japanese internment camps during WWII. it was truly enlightening. And speaking of all things Asian... I'm going to be an official APIC (Asian Pacific Islander Club) leader next year, definitely something to look forward to!

Certified member of the NHS :) 

And lastly... I GOT INTO NHS (National Honors Society) ! I'm so excited to have the opportunity to tutor and help people, as well as be part of such an amazing program! I hope it'll help me break out of my shell as well :)

Have a WONDERFUL week of studying and finals prep sma, my prayers go out to all of you!

Hey St Mary's!!

Hey SMA, i hope you're all enjoying the sunny weather :)

 I finally signed up for the AAYLC (Asian American Youth Leadership Conference) this week, and I'm so excited to go! I'm looking forward to all the new people I'm going to meet and workshops we're going to do. I'm really nervous as well, but I think it's going to be an amazing experience and I hope I'll go again next year :)

APIC (Asian and Pacific Islander Club) has been going great too! We're nearing the end of our service project, an de it has been a long road but I enjoyed every moment. Thanks to everyone in the club who participated in our diabetes prevention and awareness project, the posters look great! I can't wait to see them up around school.

SAT class has drawn to a close as well. I feel like I still have a lot of preparing to do, but the class has been so helpful. I'm going to miss spending that extra bit of time with everyone on tuesdays after school ;( good luck on the SAT everyone!

The pic above is the dress I wore to the SMA auction. I so appreciate everyone who donated and everyone who just attended, your support does not go unnoticed! It was a wonderful night and we reached well past our goal, way to go St. Mary's!! I just got back from Mary's Woods Elderly Home where I told everyone about it, and turns out one of the tenants there used to work at SMA and go to every single one. What a coincidence! Just keep swimming lady blues 💕

Happy back to school Tuesday :)

hey lady blues, welcome back to school! I hope everyone had a wonderful, stress free break. I might be moving soon, something exciting to look forward to! I finally figured out how to add photos to my posts, so there are going to be a lot more visuals from now on ;) 

This spring break was all about colleges for me. I went on an overnight trip with Serapiya, her godmother, and two sisters to the University of Oregon. We enjoyed spending time on campus of a bigger college, and we shared (or tried to share) their enthusiasm for the Oregon Ducks.

Their sports teams are increasingly successful, but I don't think Sera and I are very interested in going there. Still, it was a a wonderful experience and I learned a lot about what to look for in a good school! I know that it's important to visit all kinds of schools even if I don't want to go there, because now if I hear about a school about the same size that I'm unable to visit I have a reference school to look back on. 

Today I went to visit two more colleges, and I just got back home a few hours ago. Our wonderful SMA college counseling office provided up with a college bus tour the Monday before school starts back up again, so we all have something to talk about tomorrow. We visited OSU and Willamette, and they are both wonderful schools. I'm interested in biology/BioHealth sciences and PreMed as a Major, and OSU has wonderful programs for both of those, as well as a 75% acceptance rate into medical school after graduating. I was very sad about Willamette though, because I absolutely loved the campus and small school feel but they don't offer Premed as a Major. I still enjoyed visiting and having the opportunity to go on a tour with the student ambassadors. 

This break I also went on a more relaxing vacation with my godsister and her family to bend. 

Visiting the painted hills near bend 

We rented out a house and visited many Oregon landmarks, and I really enjoyed the break from schoolwork and college-ing. 

Wild cow-crossing on the way to a state park

Hope to see you all bright and early tomorrow morning! Have a wonderful Monday afternoon 

Spring is Almost Here!

Hey lady blues, great job at the basketball game last week! We did amazing, i hope everyone enjoyed sporting our class colors and cheering our team on :)

Ski team recently got fourth in state, I'm so proud of everyone on our team! I haven't been able to participate recently due to injuries, but im so looking forward to getting more involved next year. Ski team is definitely something i want to be a part of long term, I loved the overnight trips and staying up at the lodge to warm up before practice. Races were amazing and i look forward to having the opportunity to improve.

SAT classes have begun -- and with them a lot of college related anxiety, but i know that our college counselors are really good about helping us through the process. Im thinking of visiting a few colleges this summer to get a head start for applications, and I've signed up to take a bus tour with Serapiya to Willamet College and Oregon State Uni. Still need to get that SAT prep homework done!

I hope women's empowerment week is going well for you as it did for me! The kickoff assembly was amazing, and we heard some wonderful speeches from our student body and from some of my amazing friends.

Have a great women's empowerment week!

Hey SMA!

I hope all the junior who went on this encounter had a wonderful time. It was nice having some time away to relax and make new friends.

It was my birthday recently, and i just celebrated yesterday! I enjoyed spending time with family friends and having a great dinner at my favorite restaurant. I hope this weekend was great for everyone else too!

The junior class is in the process of writing our english research paper. I'm writing mine on the catcher in the rye. Right now I'm on the outlining stage, but its really starting to come together! I was very worried about the process, but now that ive started im really enjoying seeing the piece of writing take shape. I think the end result is something im going to be really proud of and something im going to learn from. 

We've also just started forecasting for our schedule next year. Next year is my last at SMA, so im feeling a lot of pressure to get everything in before i leave.. but im sure it wil turn out ok! I only have a few credits left to complete and they should be done by the end of next year. Some classes im looking forward to are AP Bio, SRM, and the PSU challenge course for European history. Arm is especially exciting because I get to go aroun dto different science and research labs and write up lab reports, which is something im really interested in.
Biology project stop motion animation

Hello lady blues!

Happy end of semester one, I hope all your finals went well! Finals week was stressful for everyone, but we made it through. I think my toughest finals were U.S. History and Honors PreCalculus. 

So far our ski races have been going great, I've shaved my time down to 1 min and 9 seconds (I still plan on a lot more improvement!). We have many more overnight trips to come (in fact we have one the next two weekends), and I'm excited to be in so many races and to have a chance to improve. 

I finally took my last drivers Ed test! Now all I have to do is wait to see if I passed. I brought in lemon bars for everyone and we did many kahoots, and we had a review/ study session before hand so I'm pretty sure I passed. Can't wait to get my license!

Yesterday I went with WOCA (Women of Color Association) to see the movie "Hidden Figures" (also for extra credit for U.S. History :) ), and it was an amazing film. It's about three Black women during times of segregation who work at NASA. They're mathematicians and scientists, and the film is about how they progress in their roles in NASA despite their oppression and discrimination. I really enjoyed it! 

Going to hidden figures with WOCA

Back to school

Hello SMA, I hope you all had a wonderful, peaceful break. We've been having many snow days and it's interfering with many school and extracurricular activities but I'm sure we'll all be able to work through it! I hope everyone is enjoying their extra days off!

I haven't been skiing much because I recently got a concussion, but we had our first race of the season and our team got third place out of all the teams participating!! Go SMA Blues!! We also had out overnight bonding trip, no it was loads of fun. We did a white elephant exchange and I stole a lava lamp (sorry Elsa!!), and we played cards against humanity and waxed our skis. I hope everyone had just as much fun as I did on the trip!

Our last drivers Ed class is this Wednesday, and I'm super nervous for the final test. After that all I have to do is go to the DMV and take a safety test to get my license -- I'm so excited! Thanks mom and dad for all your support and thank you Marilee for being such a great instructor.

Christmas tree at the lodge at meadows! 
Ski trip blizzard