Hello all,

This is my first post of 2019. My winter break was full of planned activities, as I spent about a week in Puerto Rico with my student organization MUNDO, and then worked on study abroad applications for the week I was home in Cleveland. I was able to relax while in my hometown; I watched numerous Netflix movies (most of them in Cantonese) with my younger brother.

Despite being on break, my mind is constantly wondering when I can be productive, and urging me to do something useful each day to better myself, to further myself and my education. For a few days right before spring 2019 semester began, I went to Chicago to meet up with friends from the Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP) in Iowa. I was fortunate that we were able to coordinate plans over winter and actually spend three days together, informing each other of how we have been. Overall, I enjoyed my winter break and utilized the three weeks to the best of my ability.

I wanted to inform people of the exciting developments in my life. During autumn semester, I was working on applying for graduate school. I am ecstatic and exuberant to officially announce my acceptance into my program of choice! Beginning in August 2019, I will be a public health graduate student in addition to being a fourth-year undergraduate student here at The Ohio State University. I will be in a Combined Bachelor’s and Master’s program, so that I will graduate with my Bachelor’s in 2020 and Master’s in 2021.

My Master will be in Health Behavior and Health Promotion, since I am fueled most by improving people’s and population’s social determinants of health. My specific specialization is expected to be health disparities, because these are social justice issues and societal inequities that are preventable. This news does not feel real to me at times; I have to remind myself that I indeed was accepted into graduate school. I earned this honor. It can be scary to think about the added rigors, challenges, and responsibilities that I will have just seven months from now.

I am a multidimensional person who has worth and value outside of my academics. I am a scholar, but that is not all that I am. I am also an artist, someone who creates, including spoken word, drawings, and graphic designs. I am a traveler/explorer, who adores adventures and the many things I learn on these journeys. I am a writer, and although I am not the best at grammar or prose, I enjoy writing as a way to self-reflect and to help others. I am a feminist, who advocates for equality for all genders, as well as equity for individuals of various identities: gender, sex, race, ethnicity, class, income, (dis)ability, geographic location, citizenship status, age, and more. I am a human being, with worries about the future, where I’ll be, and who I will become. Right now, I should just continue doing what I am doing and maintain the drive and determination I have. I know that I have accomplished quite a lot in my college career and life so far, and even more opportunities lie ahead for me.

I am enough.