Coping with Rejection

Hi everyone!

This year has been full of scholarship and college applications; and whenever you take a risk, you risk rejection. I have been rejected from fly-in programs and scholarship committees; I've even been rejected by other people. It's hard and it can be very discouraging, but what I've found (especially this year) is that with every rejection, I earn another form of acceptance. Like I was recently rejected from the Elks Most Valuable Scholarship, but the next day I received an email telling me I was a Jack Kent Cooke Finalist. Rejection hurts, but it shouldn't stop you from achieving your dreams. La fois peur deplacers de montagnes. Faith can move mountains and nothing (not even rejection) can change that.

Acceptances and a Formal Adress

Hi everyone!
I just returned to school after a month long break to a new list of goals for the week. 1) Write a short story to enter in the Literary Fair within 36 hours. 2) Write, memorize, and recite a speech in front of a hall filled to the rafters with perspective students and eager parents. 3) Meet all my new proffessors and get started on the work that I need to do to earn straight As this final semester. Surprisingly, I actually managed to accomplish all these tasks and I did them all well.

Tonight was the night I spoke in front of a two story auditorium overflowing with people and the rush of being able to articulate what I actually believed in front of all those eyes after a long day at school is just so exhilarating. I'm so proud of myself for my performance! It was just so professional and genuine. The best part is a Chinese girl came up to me afterwards and we had a full blown conversation in Chinese about my school and how I know Chinese and about how college works; I'm super proud of my multilingual skills right now. I'm also really proud that I received my first college acceptance from Hofstra University following my speech. What a great start to the new year!