Ashley Ng, Period 8, 10/25/21

Ashley Ng

Period 8

10/25/21

Modern Mythology 2022

Goal Setting & Growth:

At this current point in time, what specific goal(s) do you have for yourself? Why?

At this point in time, my goals can be grouped into one of three categories. Doing all I can to secure my academic future, growing into my new responsibilities outside of school, and making the most of my senior year. I'd say that everything I do falls under these categories. The first goal of securing my academic future has been my top priority ever since middle school. I chased top grades in all my classes and studied like my life depended on it. In a way, it did. To my parents, who built themselves up from nothing but hard work, it was the only way to succeed. Now, the window of opportunity for the other aspects of my college application has long since passed. My transcript, recommendation letters, community service, and extracurriculars are now all out of my hands. My focus is now on my college essays. It's a source of stress because no matter what I do, my words never seem to be enough. I'm in this endless loop of writing, rewriting, and then deleting. As the early admissions deadline looms near, I'm going to have to make an executive decision to commit to my words. The next goal of growing into new responsibilities outside of school is in progress. Balancing my part-time job on the weekend and my new responsibilities at home is difficult, but rewarding. I have less time to myself but I'm always learning life skills that would come in handy when I'm on my own in college. In fact, I believe this is why my parents are encouraging me to take on these responsibilities. The closest college on my list is still hours away from home and my parents worry about me, as all parents do. I hope to learn as much as I can before leaving the nest. And my third goal is the result of quarantine. Remote learning was rough, both for my academics and my extracurriculars. I'd watch old color guard videos for inspiration but there wasn't much documentation before the pandemic. It was disheartening because I didn't start putting myself out there in extracurriculars until my sophomore year. With my sophomore year interrupted by the pandemic, there was so little time I dedicated to color guard and not enough pictures/videos to show for it. Since the start of this year, all of us returning members in the guard make it a point to document every milestone with enough pictures and videos to make up for the last two years. I hope to make enough memories with the color guard to look back fondly on my senior year. And as I'm typing this up on the bus to the state championships competition, I return to my camera roll and the shared Google Drive folder. As I scroll through, I think we have more than enough to remember our year by. 

How do you demonstrate resilience towards achieving this goal? (or these goals?)

There's always so much to do and not enough time to do it. And I love to pack my schedule until I barely have any free time to myself. With the crazy workload that comes with college applications and senior year coursework, prioritization is as important as ever. I have to pick and choose my battles, in a way. In some classes, I'm following along just fine and in others, I'm struggling. Sometimes I have to take a step back from an assignment or project and admit I need help. The hardest part for me would be swallowing my pride to ask someone (whose opinion I value) for help. I want to get top grades. I want to finish my college applications to their fullest (no regrets). And I want to do as much as I can in color guard. But I can't do all of that, so it's only through prioritization and relying on others that I can achieve as much as possible. 

How does the world around you affect your perception of this goal? (or these goals?)

The world around me affects my perception of my goals through the environment of a specialized high school and the quarantine. Overloading my schedule with STEM-based classes during my first two years of high school made me realize that I no longer enjoyed such classes. I was tired of mathematics and science, which made me realize I had STEM burnout. So when it came time to decide on a career path, I immediately crossed out the paths that required both. The pandemic, along with its remote learning period, has shaped my decision on my future career. I took a step back from what I was doing and realized, I can't make a living in an environment where all interaction is from a screen. I wouldn't be happy and I wouldn't last long in that kind of job. So this year, I make an effort to be as involved as possible in my classes because that's what I enjoy and that's going to be useful in business management.