Reflection: Letter

Dear little person (Age of Ultron reference),

    High school. I’m not exactly sure what to say about it. It can be one of the worst things you’ll go through, or one of the best. I think it really has to do with your perception of things. High school is what you make of it. Actually, that’s pretty much true for life too. If you go in with a bad attitude and are expecting to hate every minute of it, that’s likely what will happen. However, if you keep an open mind and don’t let the pessimists get you down, it might surprise you. I know that sounds hella cliche but you’ve got to trust me on this one. Four years seems like forever when you’re a freshman, but by the time you are a senior, you start to wonder where the time went. I promise, that no matter how hard it may seem at the time, you will get through it and survive.

    Now, I don’t know what your high school is like partially because when I’m writing this, I am 18, and honestly, who knows where they will be in 20 years? Nobody. But I can tell you this. My high school was a bit of an oddity. I went to Lynbrook High School in the Silicon Valley. The center for technology. The Silicon Valley has its own culture and kind of lives in a bubble. My school was less than 15% white. I grew up as the minority race, believe it or not. The Asian culture that surrounded me could be very intense at times. Everyone forewent the learning process in order to get the grades they wanted. College was the endgame, and you didn’t win unless you got into the top schools. The “Asian grading scale” was commonly used. A=Average, B=Bad, C=Catastrophe, D=Disowned, and F=Forever Forgotten. I know that may seem a little intense but that’s honestly how people thought. I watched for years as people would freak out or even, in some cases, burst into tears when they got a B. However, by Senior year more and more people figured out that it’s not the grade that mattered. It’s who you are.

    Colleges want to know who you are as a person, so I encourage you to use high school as a tool to find what you really want to do. This is the time to find your passion and discover what you love. Then, come Senior year, you will have some idea as to which college you want to apply to. Now, I sincerely hope that your high school is nothing like mine. But that said, I don’t know what a “normal” high school is like.

    Don’t feel like you have to join the popular kids whoever they may be. You want to find friends who accept you for who you are. If you don’t you will end up pretending to be someone you are not and it can be exhausting. I embraced my quirks and how weird I could be, and found friends who were just as crazy as I was. These are the people I will remember in 15 or so years because these are the people I really connected with.

    And when you come across the times when you think you can’t handle school anymore, ice cream is always the answer. It will always help. I also recommend you read the poem B (If I should have a daughter) because even if it may not apply to you, it has some pretty good life advice. Chocolate and ice cream. I can’t believe I forgot chocolate for a bit.

    Hope this helps you on your four year endeavor.

    Your mother (SO WEIRD to be thinking of myself as a mom at 18. so I think I’ll just sign my name instead.) Susie Mallison.

P.S. I know these shows are probably hella old now, but I HIGHLY recommend that you watch/ binge-watch: Flash, Daredevil, Marvel agents of SHIELD, How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Scorpion, House, White Collar, Once Upon a Time and many others. OH but do not get me started on movie recommendations. I could go on forever. Just ask me. I probably have them all somewhere.