(Upcoming) Spring and a New Year

Here's Food for Thought: 

Last time I was here, I said you have to learn how to fall in order to jump high -- and I guess it's time to take a bit of medicine. One thing I regret is not applying to more Early Action schools this year, because it's not necessarily fun to be the awkward person who hasn't received a favorable word from a school. Not that, I was heartbroken to see "you've been deferred" from my dream school, and not being able to enhance my much-in-need scholarship fund really had me thinking that I was stuck. Then, while scrolling through Google+, I saw someone had shared my post recently and who knew I could be so insightful, even for myself?

 I read my own words which I had posted just a few months ago and there, I found a liveliness that felt foreign to me. I was reading the story of a girl who was experiencing successes that she would never thought of just a few years ago, a girl filled with ambition and vision who was willing to go after what she wanted -- and it was then that I realized that this fall may have actually been good for me. Possibly, falling after trying to climb so much and so hard made me realize what's really important to me since "being on top of the world" put me out of touch with my roots, my original perspective. I remember receiving a shirt that my aunt designed for me, "based on my personality": right above my heart it says "don't just reach for the sky, touch the stars." Yet if I have to jump, leave the world that helped form that same ambition, I'd rather just bring the stars to me. I'm taking back my ambition, going back to my roots, embracing my original dreams -- that's more important than I can get on any Jupiter.

The Energy Fair that I've wanted to do for the past 3 years, I'm going to make it a reality. I have a greater vision for a community festival this year and I'm making sure it happens. The one thing that I've learned from my successes is to not get caught on them. Success doesn't make us who we are. In many ways our victories and prizes are really the result of it. Don't become stuck and fall into that trap -- you are more than such. All of us have striven to fulfill our dreams and explore our interests: whether it's becoming a programmer or part of the electronics team for a robotics competition like I have, presenting your experience at MITES to other students, or surpassing the odds to pursue top schools and recognition, each and every one of us have gifts of which we cannot conceive. As MITES students or not, college-accepted or not, with scholarships in our hands or with nothing in them, if we define ourselves by what we gain, by what others give us, we limit ourselves to it and cannot fully visualize the magnitude of what we could become. I stepped upon this path of thought but fortunately I caught myself before I fell into this spiral. We all have purpose, meaning, capabilities that we ourselves could never imagine: the sum of the parts does not equal our whole. Please never forget those words. For us to inspire others, we must first find inspiration in ourselves.

The Struggle is Real

So in about 3 days, we’ll be saying buy to the year 2012, and hello to 2013. For us Haitians out there, that means T minus 3 days until we feast on some soup joumou! I digress. For me, the year 2012 has been a year that I will never forget. I remember checking my email early April 11^th. I was ready to see the words “We’re sorry…” Instead, I saw the message, “Your application for MITES has been given a decision. Please log in to the application website to see it.” I thought, great, they’re just prolonging the inevitable.  Logging into the application website was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do, but I was fortunate enough to be one of the 80 students chosen to participate in the MITES program.

If you’ve read any of the other blogs, you already know that MITES has been a life changing experience for all of the participants. If you haven’t read any of the blogs yet, go read them first, then continue with mine. I’ll even wait for you………………..Alight, let’s continue. MITES left me with a desire to make a difference, a change in my community. I had the warm feeling inside, kind of like after you watch Wall-E, and I wanted to share that with others. I told myself that once school started, I was going to ignite some inspiration!

The funny thing is, saying you’re going to do something is much more difficult than actually doing it. For example, I had this really good idea to organize a career fair for the local middle schools in my area. I wanted to inform them about many different careers in the STEM areas and inspire them to dream big. As NHS president, I thought it would be no sweat to get people to make presentations about certain careers. However, I faced an unmotivated chapter who only did the bare minimum in terms of community service just to put NHS on their applications. After only a few volunteered to assist me, I felt discouraged. I began to feel like a failure. I couldn’t even inspire my own chapter. How could I inspire anyone else?

I think God was listening in, because he answered my question. A few months later, December 15^th rolled around and I was accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Class of 2017. I was in shock and disbelief. Was I being punked? No, this was real life. After notifying my guidance counselor, she told me that I would be the first student from Sussex Central High School to attend MIT. Most normally end up going to state universities (I live in Delaware, not impressive). She told me that I was a role model for others to follow. Many of the underclassmen looked up to me, and I was their inspiration. Not only that, but I was on my way to becoming my high school’s first black valedictorian.

I was really motivated by what my guidance counselor told me. Through my success, I was igniting inspiration. This has caused me to push myself to work harder as to not let those who look up to me down. It has given me the motivation to do things that I had previously set off. Right now, I am working on the Gates Millennium Scholarship aka the Mac Daddy of scholarships. This scholarship gives you 5 months to write 8 essays. The reward is basically a full ride through graduate school. At the moment, I have 19 days to write 5 essays. Yeah, I know. I should probably go work on those. Procrastination is a ditch.   

Stay Classy

-Rosemond “RowZay” Dorleans

Nervousness

Do you ever get really nervous?

For the opening of the big show, a first date, or before the results of an exam? Trust me, I have been there. Many times. This week seems to take the cake, though.

This past weekend was my robotics team's hosting of a FIRST Lego League tournament. What is FLL? Well, if you click the link, you can check out what FLL is all about. Personally, I am in love with the program. It introduces kids to problem solving with a little bit of engineering and science mixed in there, too. I totally wish I was on one of these teams when I was little. Anywho, I've mentored a couple teams and it's totally rewarding and I'd recommend everyone and anyone to get involved! Even though this wasn't going to be my first time exposed to this. Still, I was nervous. 

This tournament was entirely student run, and our tournament director was starting to feel the heat. Additionally, I was going to be Emceeing the tournament. Now, if you haven't met me, I am a really shy, quiet person. Sure, I can talk in front of people when I need to, but these types of situations....I usually steer clear away from completely. Emcees typically dance, interview teams, sing, jump around, etc. They also officiate the opening ceremonies. To be honest, this wasn't my cup of tea. Sadly, I'd do anything to keep kids excited about robotics. Looking back, I think I filled my position very nicely (except for the part when one boy almost started crying due to robot malfunction, I almost cried with him it was so sad) and I was sore and exhausted the next day to prove it. The tournament went awesome and the kids had a great time. Can't wait to do it again soon!

As always, check out my team by visiting our website here. We're always doing cool things with the community, spreading STEM and other exciting things like that. That's one reason I can't stay away.

I was also nervous due to the fact that a certain school's Early Action results (a school in which I REALLY would like to attend) were coming out on Saturday (at 12:15, to be precise). And I pretty much got the case of "ItotallyknowI'mnotgettinginsoIshouldjustgiveupandnothopeandbecomeabumorapplytomoresafeties" disease. I guess, I got way more than nervous because I pretty much shut down and watched Entertainment television all day yesterday instead of studying for my AP Physics test on Angular Momentum, which I am sooo behind on! Now, as much as I love doing physics problems, there was a HUGE part of me that just wanted to give up. 6 AP classes this semester was a lot for me. I definitely have had no such thing as a break. My friends and I would hang out and talk about the amounts of work we'd just have to do later on. It just felt monotonous and bleh. Plus, my grades are not looking too hot because there are a lot of assignments I am behind on and a couple tests I still have to take. Of course this only adds to my nervousness (and borderline anxiety).

But, then I realized that I was a survivor. Of MITES. One of the most difficult courseloads ever. Not to mention, I actually did really well in all my classes. So, I really don't know why I was complaining. At all. So, my solution was to tell myself to suck it up, deal with it, and use the strategies I learned at Mit to make the best of what I have. First, I will start off by prioritizing. ASAP. I will see where that goes.

I also need to buy my Secret Snowman gift (The MITES 2012 version of Secret Santa, which is going to be pretty awesome because I have the perfect person.) Also, Saturdayat12:15 needs to get here quicker. So that my latent nerves that want to resurface can dissipate!

Until luego,

Eunice

p.s. I'm doing some name analysis

Eu: Greek for good, well

Nice: nice...

Definition: Victory.

I wonder how that was decided. What about your name?

Pantsers and Plotters

MITES was the most inspirational six weeks of my life.  Such a simple sentence that tells a truth, but does not convey enough.  It does not convey that my MITES 2012 family continues to inspire me.  It's in every Google+ hangout that lasts into the wee hours of the morning.  It's in every Facebook post about completing college applications or a scholarship/award won.  Igniting inspiration?  Definitely.

This past Sunday I was inspired at and attended, for the final time, the Connecticut Children's Book Fair. Going to the Book Fair has been a tradition for my mother and me for at least 8 years.  Every year, authors for children and young adult come to the Fair to present (~20 minutes each) and autograph books for young fans.  This year, during the Q&A session of the teen panel, a boy around my age asked if they (the authors) outlined the story before actually writing a novel.  One of the panelists, Kim Harrington, stated that there are "pantsers" and "plotters," but many times it depends on the novel.  Overall, she believed herself to be somewhere in between.  

The comment resonated with me and I started thinking about my life.  I used to plan things to the extreme.  I would outline my night's homework, even including approximate durations of time for each assignment.  Sometimes my plans went haywire, but after those numerous hiccups, I would go back to my old planning ways.

At MITES, my perspective changed.  I loved being able to go on a spur-of-the-moment 10:40 PM LaVerde's run with a friend.  Or even being able to text a friend about meeting for a vanilla-coffee coolatta in 10 minutes.  As for PSets?  If I understood the idea, then maybe it would only take 4 hours or so.  Many times, I would THINK I mostly understood, go to Office Hours and finally finish about when the TA was going to call it quits for the night.  Humanities?  I don't even want to think about how many times I revised a thesis statement.  A thesis statement is not just any sentence.  Trust me.

I'm still a little neurotic at times (who isn't?), but I've found the balance between obsessively outlining and living.  There are still many things I need to plan for including college application deadlines, but it is in every break from work that I realize how wonderful life is.  These breaks are spent with friends.  They are spent on the couch reading my new (autographed even!) book with a mug of coffee precariously perched on the nearby table.  They are spent embracing life and all forms of inspiration.

Until next time,

Katie

I've returned!

I know I haven't talked to you guys in a while so here I am again! School has been really stressful. my school's homecoming game was a couple of weeks ago and I made the mistake of enrolling in the class that would make me hate it. My Leadership teacher, a perfectionist, made my life a living hell because the game is such a big deal and he's an ass.


So he stressed me out way too much all of October (when I was trying to get some college apps done). But I got through it and now he should be easier to deal with.

I've missed you guys. It has been way too long since I last attended a hangout. I always talk about you guys. People are so tired of me saying  "Oh yea this reminds me of MITES" but I can't stop telling people about you amazing people <3. Whenever I wear my MIT sweater, I remember Kaelyn saying that woman told her she was voting for Mitt Romney. I got my evals on Friday. It brought all the memories back of how hard yet fun MITES was.

Well I hope you guys receive good news from the colleges you applied early to. Hopefully, we can talk more  because I don't want to lose touch.

Liz