9/14/25 Dear Helaine: Letter 02

Everything will work out for the best. As clubs start their applications, and I am now on the receiving end of applications and interviews, I see reflections of my past self in the freshmen I interact with. I was just as nervous, excited, and anxious as they were when I applied for way too many organizations, stressed out and overprepared for interviews, and decided between different clubs to commit myself to. However, looking back now, I realized that it was really not that deep. It was and still is an amazing experience, but it is not the end of the world if something doesn't work out; you just have to trust that everything happens for a reason. Do your best, don’t leave regrets, but also relax.

My best tip for interviews is to be confident and calm. I know it’s much easier said than done, but when you tense up and get nervous, you actually perform so much worse. Bring your best self to the interview, make sure you do your research and you are prepared, and show who you truly are to the interviewers. Compared to knowing everything, interviewers most of the time want to know who you are as a person and that you are able to perform well under the pressure of an interview setting. You got this!

Food: Cava Kids Meal

Learning: Preply Lessons

Discipline: From a young age, I developed discipline in having a good routine and also staying consistent. I think a lot of this came from my piano practice. My mom set the rules of how many hours we had to practice every day and enforced them, so I developed the habit of staying consistent from a young age. Unless it was a holiday or super special occasion, I would practice every single day. My mom would also create written schedules for us during summer break, outlining what we were supposed to do at every hour of the day, and I think this helped me get into the habit of staying on schedule and blocking out my time to get work done.

Learning how to learn: Whether it was in school or my extracurricular classes, I think figuring out my best strategies to learn and absorb information really helped me and still helps me now. Instead of just giving up, actively seek help and figure out what the best learning techniques are for you.

Respect: Respect is a very prominent aspect of Chinese culture and philosophy, so I was taught to respect my teachers, elders, and people around me from a young age. I think this definitely helped me with some of my social skills and also my ability to learn and succeed in different environments. Of course, it is also easy for kids to develop “over-respect,” which can result in low self-esteem. Everything is a balance, but I think teaching kids to respect is incredibly important!