Q: Community service is clearly very important to you. How have you increased your involvement with Student Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) to ensure a greater impact on the school community?
A: I joined SADD in my freshmen year. My friend was also planning on joining the club, so I also decided to go to the first meeting because I never heard of the club. After the first meeting, I really wanted to contribute more to the club and learn more about it, especially since I found the values that guide the club to be really important. When I was an underclassmen, I attended the Peer Rival Team Conferences and also helped out in the planning for Miles for Maura. When I started my junior year, I became president. I believe that during this year, I became more involved with SADD, especially in terms of planning and guiding events. My goal for the club this year has been to spread awareness about it and try to get more members to join. In order for this to happen, the club as a whole has been trying to do more events, especially in terms of collaborating with other clubs. The events that we have done so far in the year include a visit to Gilly House with some donations, a fundraiser with Menchies, and attending the Team Rival Conference. Next week, we also have the Miles for Maura event. For the majority of these events, we shared them out with other clubs related to the goal of SADD, such as Active Minds and Leo Club.
Q: You have taken several AP classes during your time at KP. How has your experience with the challenge of these courses shaped your approach to learning and your understanding of success?
A: Even though I have felt some stress and pressure on myself with all the AP classes, I will say that my mind sight about my grades and education as a whole has changed. I feel like in the past I was really hard on myself and trying to get perfect grades. However, ever since my junior year started, I noticed my grades haven't been the best like I would've liked them to be. Regardless of the grades though, I feel like I have learned a lot, especially from my mistakes. Even though the grades may not be enlightening or as encouraging as you want them to be, you don't have to be hard on yourself because if you are challenged, then you are learning, and that makes all the difference. Not everything is going to be perfect, and even if it was, then your experience with the class would be boring. In order to be successful in life, you will obviously encounter obstacles thrown in your way. However, those obstacles will increase your perseverance and courage, which will be very helpful for your growth as a person. That's true success; learning from your mistakes and growing as a person.
Q: At the Kyle Cares conference with Active Minds, you explored the connection between activities like cooking and mental health. How did that experience influence your interest in mental health, and how do you see this shaping your future goals?
A: This experience influenced my interest in mental health because it opened my eyes to things I never considered before. Throughout the conference, there were many breakout sessions and you were assigned to three out of 16. Something that stood out to me was how they made sure to assign you to the breakout sessions that did not have people from your school in it. In a way, this was comforting. It was a lot easier to talk with people you didn't know about deep topics that involved mental health. If you talked with people you knew, then you wouldn't really feel as relaxed because since you knew the people, you would want to make sure they didn't judge your opinions negatively; in other words, you would want to please them and not scare them away. In terms of the breakout sessions themselves, they were very eye-opening due to the personal stories they talked about. This was really important because it shows how everyone has their own problems to deal with and as a society, we can help each other overcome these diverse problems. A way for us to do this would be to share our stories and things we did to overcome the problems. During the conference, I went to a cooking breakout session; I don't really like to cook but when I went to the session, I really enjoyed it. The speaker added ingredients as she told her story. For example, the best parts of her story included her putting in little chocolates in the dough as she talked (since we all like chocolate!!). This also stood out to me because it was unique in how she told her story and kept it engaging. I always found mental health to be fascinating and oftentimes overlooked. This conference in a way shaped my future goals by how I want to continue learning about what other people face and how to help them. As a society, we can overcome anything.
Q: What advice do you have for students who have not yet found their interests/passions?
A: There's going to be something out there where you will find your passion. No matter how long you have to wait, it will be worth it in the end. Keep on trying new things and have an open-mind, especially to things you feel like you won't like (it's often those things that we end up taking an interest or have a passion for). Most importantly, remember how you matter and can make a difference, no matter how big or small it is.
