vicky kao_multimodal booklet

H I G H S C

Chapter: Take off

Some memories never leave your bones.

Like salt in the sea ; they become part of you -- and you carry them.

Firstly, I want to say, that time really doesn’t wait for us huh? It’s 2024, I’m a senior, and I’m leaving Kang Chiao. WOW. I’m still in disbelief that I’m about to graduate. The memory of the first time I entered this school is still fresh. The 6 years I spent in Kang Chiao International School as a middle and high schooler occupied one-third of my 18 years of life – which is a lot for a teenager And, although my 3 years of high school experience is only ⅙ of my life, it will undoubtedly be a profoundly transformative experience I will ever have in my entire life. My high school is like a nostalgic, coming-of-age movie, the type that fills you with longing for the past and fond memories.

ame better

Throughout high school, I grew, in many aspects.

For one, I improved my social/communication skills and social relationships. During the first summer, I attended the Dale Carnegie Camp, which is renowned for teaching people communication skills and improving relationships. With the camp, I made progress on improving my relationship and communication with my parents, which is the hardest since it’s an intimate relationship. Moreover, I utilize rules in my relationships with my friends, and when talking to someone new.

During the summer of ‘22, I went to Philadelphia for a summer school at UPenn, a three-week residential Social Justice Research Academy. This is my first time attending summer school in the US, so pretty much everything is a k to me. In these th weeks,

I went from a shy and scared foreigner to a confident and fluent English speaker( I wouldn’t say I’m THAT confident and fluent but I can speak without too much pulse).

– I learned how to have small talks with strangers and people I barely knew. I could say that I became more extroverted.

I

met wonderful people there who made me realize my shortcomings and aspire to be the

type

of

high

school student they are.

I started to put more effort into playing tennis and working out, as well as academically. I started to be more proactive, academically and socially.

FINDING PASSION

My high school experience also helped me find my passion in social studies, more specifically, in law and social justice –which is why I chose sociology as my major. I spent five out of my six years in KCIS in the school’s geography olympiad team. Thanks to the opportunity to participate in different competitions, my teammates become two of my closest friends. In 10th grade, we started to prepare for our most important competition: the National Geography Olympiad. From brainstorming research topics to analyzing/reading existing research papers to interviewing and investigating the indigenous tribe ourselves to writing our papers, we spent one and a half years getting close to our goal – winning a medal. I will never forget the late nights we spent discussing our paper and preparing for the presentation through Google Meet, the nervousness, the chatter, and the laughter. We were stressing out together, but also encouraging each other

We did our paper on urban indigenous people living in Xizhou, a small community near the periphery of Taipei. As we gained a deeper understanding of the Xizhou tribe and the problems they are facing, I felt more compassionate towards their condition and more obligated to do well in the competition and let more people know about their stories. Fast forward to the day of the competition, we were standing at our booth, introducing our research to other students/ professors walking by, waiting for our turn to present to the judges upstairs As I talked to more people about the poster, I couldn’t feel more proud of what we ’ ve done and what we ’ ve known. However, sadly we didn’t get the medals we wanted. But we did not give up – we improved our paper and attended a GIS competition. Finally, we won a national third place. On November 15th, in Kaohsiung. We couldn’t be happier. At that moment, I realized I wasn’t only happy because I won the prize, but also because I contributed to helping minorities with my power as a high school student. This is the main reason that makes me more certain that I

If you randomly ask any high school student, what’s the most important or most stressful during high school, I could assure you the answer would be unanimous: applying to colleges. Applying to college includes a myriad of obstacles – the mountains I have to climb through. Before I could choose any schools for my school list, I needed to first complete my standardized tests, TOEFL, SAT, and APs, to a decent score. If my scores aren’t high enough, I have to retest until I reach my goal But it doesn’t mean you can test as many times as you want. The more times you take them, the less valuable the scores are to the admissions committee. At the same time, I have to handle tons of schoolwork and maintain a 4.0 GPA. Equally important, I have extracurricular activities to attend.

Imagine the stress I experienced while trying to get control of all these, the frustration I experienced when I couldn’t get a desired test score on the SAT, and the anxiety of worrying I couldn’t get into any top schools, and the dropping selfesteem because the standard of my dream schools are so high and my peers are all extraordinary. I wasn’t happy. I couldn’t get enough sleep. I couldn’t relax because after I got home I still had to listen to my parents’ nagging. I got frustrated because I didn’t know how to write essays to show the universities my strengths and my identity when I wasn’t even certain who I thought I was. And the stress made my body continuously catch colds, fevers, and stomach flu. Days like this continued until that day. On my birthday, December 15th, I got off the school bus and entered the classroom. Opening my mailbox, I saw it. The admission update email of Boston University, my Early Decision school. My heart almost stopped. And my body started shaking. With my eyes half-closed (I’m scared), I clicked. The confetti was all over my screen – I DID IT. At the moment I felt like the luckiest person on Earth. Looking back, the stress and anxiety were worth it, and the processes I’ve been through were worth it It helped me understand myself better