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Hello! Welcome to the Fashionista blog, a blog for all your Teen Fashionista advice!

Hello to the DirectTv Scholarship Panel! Please do not mind the title or previous posts of this blog. I used to write on this blog for fun when I was younger.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

DIRECTV Scholarship: The Explore More Scholarship

When it comes down to it, college is about exploring your world to find out who you are and what you want from life. Take that inspiration and write a 500 word blog post on how technology – be it TV or the Internet – helped you to explore your world. Share your post with us and you could win a $2,000 scholarship!

In today's society, TV or the Internet is always looked down upon because people believe both have corrupted children's minds, and have exposed them to adult concepts they are not yet ready for. However, for me, my experience has been quite positive, giving me access to sites and databases that allow me to learn, prosper, and help support my research projects. Growing up I was fortunate to have been able to own both a television and a computer. Last year was my Junior Year, and the general saying is true, Junior Year IS the hardest year of high school! I took many AP classes and I really struggled with my AP Chemistry class. The teacher was not up to my standards, and I felt like I was not learning anything! I started to even despise Chemistry and wondered if I should still become a Pharmacist (who have a lot of chemistry pre-requisites in college). However, I kept my head up high and as a result of many YouTube videos instructing me on basic Chemistry Topics I was able to prosper in the class, and finish with a high grade! Yes, YouTube is not just a website to watch silly cats and babies on, it actually can help you with your education; if used properly! This experience definitely changed my perspective on the world, and even though I questioned it many times, the internet has allowed me to be able to find out who I am, which is a future pharmacist! I was able to research what colleges would have Pre-Pharmacy Programs that would be right for me, and has allowed me to connect to current pharmacists attending those colleges. 
Additionally, I read the news daily on the internet. While many teenagers my age open up Facebook or Twitter the minute they go on the internet, I have found reading the news has been a much more life changing experience than seeing countless selfies posted on Facebook. One of the latest things I have read about is the Malaysian Plane Crash which killed 154 Dutch citizens. Even though I am Vietnamese by blood, my parents escaped from Vietnam during the war and went to the Netherlands, where I was born and grew up for ten years. I am now a seventeen year old American Citizen, but I definitely identify myself as Dutch. As a result, the disaster struck me really hard. It resulted in me searching more and more about the incident, trying to find out if I knew any of the deceased. And, it turned out I did. I knew three people who were on the airplane: Nguyen Ngoc Minh, and two of her children Dang Minh Chau and Dang Quoc Huy who were also of Vietnamese blood but escaped to the Netherlands. While I did not know them personally, they lived a few houses away in my street and I used to go to Vietnamese classes with the two kids. If it had not been for the internet or the news telling me about this incident, I would never have found out. When I moved here in the fifth grade I was quite depressed. I moved to a hispanic-dominant population and I was not accepted, was bullied, and made no friends. I am not bullied anymore now, but I used to always fear that I would be again, because I am currently in classes with people that used to bully me. It has made me uncomfortable being myself, and has made me not want to speak up in class. However, the crash has made me change my whole perspective. It reminds me that life IS short and that I could have been on that airplane instead of them. It makes me appreciate being able to be alive, and makes me want to let go of my past and not worry about having been bullied. It has made me want to be happy and enjoy my life on earth, and as a result, I have made a promise to myself to smile at strangers in everyday life. I know a smile is just a smile, but it could definitely brighten up someone’s day. Not only could it make the people who I am smiling at happy, but it could make myself happy too. Even though I always worry about silly little things that I should not worry about, smiling to strangers will help me realize that life is amazing and that I will be okay. The fact that Dang Minh Chau was my age makes me realize that if I were to die today, I would not be ready for it. I still have not yet explored the world, and I still have so many things I want to do but that I am afraid of doing. As a result, I now carry a positive attitude with me everywhere I go and try to live everyday like I am living my last day on earth. Now, I try to focus less on how I look or what my classmates think of me, instead, focusing on things that truly matter. I am motivated to work hard, and want to leave a positive lasting impact on earth. As could be seen, the internet and television have definitely made a positive impact on me, and now I live by the quote: "Live life to the fullest!" (which I found this quote a few years ago… on the INTERNET)! 


R.I.P may you find absolute peace and serenity in heaven.