High school seniors, could you use $1,000 to help pay for your freshman year of college? Or better yet, could you use $1,000 every year for the next four years to put toward your college expenses? If so, keep reading…

Class of 2010, YOU’VE DONE IT! You’re almost to graduation and you are ready to move onto the big leagues: COLLEGE! Woot, Woot! You received your college acceptance letters, selected the college you want to attend, are sending in your housing deposit and receiving your financial aid package. So now you can just chill out during the summer!

Well, not yet. Before you begin your chill session, make sure you apply for the CSO Opportunity Scholarship–a $1,000, four-year renewable scholarship awarded to first-generation, low-income, and/or minority high school seniors (class of 2010; entering the college class of 2014) enrolling at a CSO College Partner. If you win, you’ll also be given the opportunity to share your college journey and offer advice to younger students on how to make it to college on this blog!

Download the application here or email scholarship@csopportunity.org to receive an application.

Make sure your application is completed and postmarked by the deadline, May 28th. And again, congratulations on making it college!

I was going to keep some of the more major things I’ve been doing at college under wraps, but in light of a series of events that have occured back home I feel the need to stop being so abstract and “wise man” like and show maybe proof that the sky’s the limit regardless of “this, that, and the third”. Hopefully I don’t sound like I’m gloating…but I am. Just kidding, hah.

So maybe we should kick it off with my high school year.

January 1st passed, just like you guys now, all my applications are done and I’m feeling overly relieved. Between my schools it was a whole bunch of business schools: Washington & Lee, Uni. of Virginia, Uni. of Richmond, and Babson. And then there was the Rhode Island School of Design. I know!! Complete 180 from all of the schools I’ve applied too, but that was my sort of crazy, not-secure school that I would go to if I decided to pursue my more creative dreams.

Well the rest is history as they say, but it’s actually more like a long story I’m going to explain in my blog.

I never went to RISD as you know, hah, I was too scared to follow that route, but to serve as a medium I went to Babson, which I thought would be nice because Boston is right there and a big city means big opportunities. Oh good lord I forget to mention that at that time and currently still, I was/am passionate [is that too corny of a word to use?] industrial design/product design. Industrial design is basically the creation of new products. Some of your favorite companies have a huge emphasis on design: Apple, BMW, Fender, etc. You get the gist.

Right anyway, so I’m all gung-ho about design so I email the professor, Sebastian Fixson, in charge of this really cool class at Babson called Product Design & Development. So I email him once I decided on going to Babson. We remained in correspondence all throughout the summer, and after the first week of college I email him again and we set up a time to just talk about everything. So I meet him and I’m trying to exude my passion as much as possible, and let me remind you meeting him was a HUGE thing for me – I had already planned on sitting in on his PDD class. Anyways we talk about everything and he offers me a seat in the course!!! This just put a smile upon my face because even though I wouldn’t get credit I would learn something, which I did, and I also created a few important relationships. Right also this course was a 3 school joint program with Babson College for business, Olin College for engineering, and the Rhode Island School of Design – HOW COOL THAT EVERYTHING COMES BACK 360 [actually I knew about the class before I came].

Check out more from the class here

Anyways I sit in on the class and [this part always makes me laugh] it’s full of 3rd years & 4years and I introduced myself and I said I was a 1st year at Babson and I picked business over RISD and they all laughed at me. Woot! So I sit in on other classes and I even got to go to RISD, which is absolutely beautiful by the way, and I met a man named Tim Prestero of Design That Matters. A quick aside, DTM is a non-profit that produces products that are actually of use to people in 3rd world countries such as medicial devices.

Tim had this really interesting project where students would be making a phototherapy unit to help fight hyperbilirubinemia/jaundice in newborns [you can find out more here and click around that is only one type of HB]. If there are any parents, you know how this works. The jaundiced baby/baby with hyperbilirubinemia is placed under a blue light [yes blue light is all it takes] and in a few days the problem is gone. Well this project was of particular interest to me because it was to be made in Vietnam and first implemented in Vietnam, my home country. As you know, Vietnam is not so rich, and the best phototherapy units, such as the neoBlue, cost up to $10,000 USD. Yeah that’s not working for a third world country.

I approached Tim and we exchanged information and I email him a few days later seeing how I could help even though I was a first year. He then directed to the Babson MBA graduate students who were working on this. I emailed them, and then I met Shilpi Gupta, Molly McDonald, Lara Clemenzi, Rahul Bhansali, & Prakash Bhatia the students on the project. We met over the course of the semester and worked on a design that would fit the culture [even my mom helped!]. Well long story short, the final product matched the best phototherapy unit on the market, the neoBlue, on output and the product lasts, about, 10,000 hours. And guess what? The creation of the product only takes $400 USD. Labour expenses will raise the cost of the unit once it starts becoming manufactured in Vietnam, HOWEVER, everything should remain will under $1000 USD. Also, by the time the product was in the design fair at Babson, there were already 300 orders for it.

Here are photos:

This is Praks with our baby. And our finished design.

I am completely honored to have worked with these people, they are nothing short of amazing. Something major come from practically nothing. Even if you’ve got a million to one shot, you’ve still got a shot.

“The most powerful weapon on Earth is the human soul on fire” – Ferdinand Foch,
Duylam

Class of 2009…Class of 2013…Class of 2015…

After you say them enough, they all begin to roll off the tongue.  While these years may mean little to you, for me, they represent graduation years—high school, undergrad, Master’s…the list could continue for quite a while.  The years also symbolize change, something present in everyone’s life on the eve of a new year, particularly for current seniors.

My advice:

BE OPEN

BE PREPARED

BE EXCITED

Open to the many new experiences headed your way, some of which you may have never considered participating in.

Prepared for all that has yet to come and for the events you have yet to finish.  Before the college journey begins…finals, admission decisions, prom… (GRADUATION!)… all remain.

Excited because here you finally are—on the brink of a novel environment—closing the chapter of elementary, middle & high school…progressing to another stage of your life.

Be all of these things and ultimately, be ready for change.

So here I am, back in Arkansas for Christmas break.  I exchanged a 78^o climate for 37^o weather.  I’m back at my job at Steinmart, greeting customers and bagging purchases.  Once again, surrounded by family and familiar friends. But now it’s different.  I’m different.  Still myself but with subtle adjustments.  In fact, I realized that college may be a guide in becoming more “me”.

“To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly…”

–Henri Bergson

So, as you finish up senior year in the next few months and Fall 2010 becomes more of a present reality, keep who you are in mind, but also be willing to change…to mature…to progress…

First off, I hope everyone had a great holiday.

Now that it is time for school again, it means it is time for me to get back to work. Last semester I really didn’t know what to expect, so I treated it like it was still high school. That was a bad move and by the time I realized that it wasn’t going to work that way it was too late for me to change my ways.

So as a new semester begins, it is a whole new beginning for me. I switched my major to Sociology with a minor in Psychology (and History) and I have pledged to get serious about my studies.

Being the first in my family to attend college is very important to me. I want to be able to succeed.

Do I plan on destroying my social life? Not at all. I plan on learning something I have never had before… Time Management.

Although it is cliché, I know I can do anything I set my mind to. I have survived 2 days of the new semester and so far, all is well. I hope this is one New Year’s Resolution that I can keep.

Now as a message to my readers.. I want you to (if you haven’t already done so) think of the year ahead. What is in store for you? Are you prepared for it? If not what can you do to make yourself ready? This new year will be coming at us full speed and many challenges are ahead. Make sure you are ready. If you are, then you will conquer all.

Finally finished my first semester at Harvard!!! I can’t even describe how I feel. The first thing I did when I got out of my last final (Philosophy), was call my mom. She was at work so she couldn’t answer but I left her a voicemail thanking her for helping me overcome all the obstacles we have faced together. It was tough, but we made it!!

This semester was most definitely a challenge but it just takes adjusting. It’s nothing you can’t handle!

If I could give a piece of advice: learn to manage your time while still in high school; set your goals and in everything you do, ask yourself if it is helping you get to where you ultimately want to go. Also, always make time for family and friends; they are the ones that will help you get through the rough times.

The Holidays are here!! I can’t wait to come back home!! I just hope that I will be able to reconnect with all my old friends after four months. I have so many stories to share. College is definitely one of those life-changing experiences that help you gain perspective on the world. I never thought I would make it, but through hard work and faith, you can too!!

Keep working hard guys and enjoy the holidays! I’ll definitely blog again soon!

College is the BEST!! I’ve had days where I felt overwhelmed and thought that I might not be able to make it to the end of the week, but that comes along with the transition. It’s something new, it’s something challenging, but it’s something you can handle.

When I first got here, the workload seemed impossible but it just takes getting used to. I’m feeling WAY better now that I’ve learned to balance things out and really find ways to make time for the things that really matter. I’m sure I’m still going to have days where I want to crawl into a corner and assume the fetal position but I’ve got everybody back home counting on me! You gotta find that special something to give you strength.

The opportunities in college are endless and the experiences you have here are going to stay with you forever. For example, I met Dolores Huerta on Friday!! She was the co-founder of the United Farm Workers (UFW) along with Cesar Chavez; she is a major civil rights leader who pioneered the way for not only Chicanos, but for all oppressed people. It was truly an honor to meet her. My friend Jesus-Mario and I even got to drop her off at the airport!! It was pretty crazy.

These opportunities are out there; you just have to reach for them!!

Who are you going to meet? Who are you going to impact?

Well, that all depends on how much work you put in now, while you’re still in high school.

I’m still a little shook from the honor of meeting Dolores Huerta.

If you work hard enough now, people could say the same thing when they meet you one day.

Have you ever heard the saying―“Out of the frying pan, and into the fire…”?

That’s pretty much my motto for the week, since I’m gearing up for mid-terms this Thursday and Friday―one in math and the other in Latin―while also maintaining my other classes…work…exercise…etc.  A few nights ago, I was sitting at my desk conjugating A-stem verbs (unsuccessfully, I might add)…and I realized that I was still in my volleyball gear from class earlier that day, kneepads and all.

Test weeks always feel like a blur to me…from one mode of studying to another.  And sometimes, I still have to remind myself to take a break and relax, whether that’s through volleyball, dancing, or even playing with my rats, Mike & Ike.

During my senior year of high school, I often forgot to let myself sit back and enjoy the year.  I was always working…or studying…or searching for scholarships.  And when I look back, I recall moments that I wish I’d simply had more fun…times that I wish I hadn’t been thinking of that upcoming History test over the Nazi Regime or the Psychology paper over chemicals correlated to addiction.

Those tests were one of many…but the movie nights and dances that I missed…were not.  Now I realize that this may sound like the old “live in the moment” and “smell the roses” lesson…but bearing those things in mind can help you create a balance that is necessary for good health and emotional well-being.

As you work on college essays, applications, high ACT and SAT test scores; keep in mind that many great schools also want to know that you’re involved in other activities…things that you enjoy.  Pomona was an especially good fit, because they weren’t interested in me as yet another high school test score, but rather, me as a person—with goals and passions and faults.

So…to sum this up…in the midst of all that senior-year perfection you’re constructing so that you bedazzle nationwide admission-ers, don’t forget to let loose every so often…shake your hair in the wind…smell the roses…dance & sing…have fun…just because…

“The best way to prepare for life is to begin to live.” Elbert Hubbard

I tried to think of what to say to the readers of this blog at first I was going to be specific and target the seniors, but after a draft I figured my message can be applied to everyone.

I remember October senior year, and now it’s a year later and I’m in college chasing these dreams of mine. It all seems so long ago, but when I look back it wasn’t, it just moved so fast – so fast it slipped out of my hands. Looking back on my high school career and much of my life, I honestly mean it when I say I regret some of it. As I step and move further away from my past, I understand what people mean when they say youth is wasted on the young. I don’t mean to make myself sound any wiser than I am, but the grass isn’t greener on the other side. The grass you’re standing is pretty much Kelly green. The problem is we never notice. We enjoy the things around us, but we don’t appreciate it.

You might read this now and think I’m completely bonkers, but you’ll know what I mean one day. So, my friend, stop yourself as you step forward to create wealth and success within your family. Don’t forget how sweet it is to be with your family or how fun it is to just kick it with your friends. As much as you want to be 18 or 21, you can only travel through time in one direction – forward – and with one speed – normal. Why not enjoy it?