Activity

Exercising at the Gym

December 2024 - Ongoing

LA Fitness

~ 15 hours

Over Winter Break 2024, I signed up for a gym membership at LA Fitness, my local gym. My first few visits involved trying out the equipment and learning exercises, and I quickly realized both the difficulty and immense benefit of exercising. 

After going to the gym, I always felt better physically and psychologically. It made me recognize that I overlooked my physical well-being when I was stressed, notably during school. In addition, it compelled me to try out other forms of physical activities, like bicycling and running, which have always interested me. (L.O. 2)

Following Winter Break, I have committed myself to going to the gym at least once per week. While education takes up most of my time, I feel that it is necessary to visit the gym regularly in order to maintain my physical well-being. (L.O. 4)

Home Gardening

Feburary 2025 - Ongoing

~ 6 hours 

Over Winter Break 2024, I signed up for a gym membership at LA Fitness, my local gym. My first few visits involved trying out the equipment and learning exercises, and I quickly realized both the difficulty and immense benefit of exercising. 

After going to the gym, I always felt better physically and psychologically. It made me recognize that I overlooked my physical well-being when I was stressed, notably during school. In addition, it compelled me to try out other forms of physical activities, like bicycling and running, which have always interested me. (L.O. 2)

Following Winter Break, I have committed myself to going to the gym at least once per week. While education takes up most of my time, I feel that it is necessary to visit the gym regularly in order to maintain my physical well-being. (L.O. 4)

Building a Trampoline 

April 19th, 2025

~ 5 hours

In Spring 2025, my family purchased a trampoline for my sister and I to make exercise more fun. When I was asked to help my dad to construct the trampoline in our yard, I was somewhat concerned — I had never built something so large before and I thought I lacked the physical strength to do it. However, I was fortunate to have my father guide me through the process. Over the course of an afternoon, we successfully constructed the trampoline, and I even learned how to use various tools, like a power drill and allen key. (L.O. 2) One of the more challenging parts was attaching the spring to the trampoline, so I focused on observing that step by my dad when I set up the trampoline in the future. 

Nevertheless, I would be remiss if I did not mention several of the significant obstacles that we encountered. When we initially set up the frame, there were issues with fitting it on the concrete, as it was too large. I came up with a basic yet successful solution, where we placed a folding table under the trampoline, so that it could fit successfully. I am very happy about this project, and I have been playing on the trampoline with my sister on the weekends all throughout spring!  

Installing Light Fixtures in my Garden 

March 23, 2025

~ 2 hours

In Spring 2025, I worked with my father to install light fixtures in my garden. Unfortunately, the old lights, which were almost ten years old, were failing. We decided to purchase some solar lights to replace them, but they were attached to poles, so we had to remove them before installing them in our garden. One of my fears going into this activity was that I lacked the knowledge of tools to install the lights. Fortunately, my father taught me how to use our drill to attach the light fixture to our fence. As I got to know the drill better, I was able to attach the lights faster and faster and handle the tool with greater precision. I hope to leverage these skills in the future to help construct and build other projects. (L.O. 2)

SEPTA Rally

August 6, 2025

~ 2 hours

As a student in Philadelphia, public transportation is essential to my daily commute. When I saw that the state government refused to provide adequate funding for SEPTA, I felt I needed to make my voice heard. Without the money, public transportation in Philadelphia would be decimated, with dozens of routes cut, shortened, or experiencing less frequencies; the 8, which I used to get, would be eliminated. As a result, I attended a rally to advocate for funding SEPTA. Although I am deeply involved in politics, I had never attended a rally before, as I lived in the Northeast, where it is difficult to reach Center City. Thus, the experience was a step out of the comfort zone for me, and it helped me develop my community organizing skills. (L.O. 2) Additionally, lack of funding for public transportation is a global issue, affecting many countries. The rally allowed me to understand how important it was to advance public transportation worldwide, both because it benefited people’s accessibility around cities and also because it solved other challenges, like reducing carbon emissions from cars. (L.O. 6)  

Skiing

Feb 27th, 2026

~ 6 hours

In late February, I traveled with my senior classmates to ski at Montage Mountain Resorts in Scranton, PA. In the days leading up to the trip, I was incredibly nervous; I had never skied before and worried that I would completely fail at the activity. At the resort, though, I worked with an instructor to guide me in learning how to ski, and I realized it actually was quite simple: pizza to stop and french fry to speed up. While I did fall while going down my first slope, embarrassingly crashing into several people, I quickly gained confidence and mastered the bunny hills. So, I decided to go up to the green hills, and although I did fall on my first try there too, I successfully mastered that hill as well by my second attempt. Yet, the lesson learned was not that I was naturally good at skiing—I am not and have never been particularly athletic; rather it was the importance of attaining an adequate level of confidence when pursuing an objective. (L.O. 2) Indeed, if I had perceived skiing to be impossible the entire time, sticking to that initial timid attitude, the result would've been a realization of that belief in my actual performance.