Growing up, the only English that I knew came from “Dora,” “Sesame Street,” “Caillou,” “Clifford,” and whatever else was on PBS. I recall vividly how I was absolutely clueless in kindergarten and first grade when it came to anything English-related, but by some stroke of luck, I was selected to join the EXCEL program and from there my academic career took off.
I am blessed to have parents who never asked much of me besides to listen to my teachers and make sure I do the best I can, in whatever I chose to do. Their decision to have a relaxed parenting style coincided with me acquainting myself with both English and school. Everything just fell into place for me to have the academic career that I have.
Sadly, I do not have any simple life hacks for those of you who are reading this trying to become outstanding students. People may look at me and expect a student who goes home and studies for hours and stresses over tests, but those expectations could not be farther from the truth. For me, school just came naturally - all I really do out of class is running, speaking, and simply relaxing.
I have found myself over the years adopting the motto, “It is what it is.” In my case, I realized that there was no real use in stressing over homework or tests because it simply was not worth the effort or the time that it took up.
You may be thinking that it is easy for me to say that because of how successful I am as a student, but I believe that part of my success as a student is how I have been able to prioritize or deprioritize school appropriately as well as how involved I am outside of school.
Now I am not advocating for never doing your homework or procrastinating for hours on end, which I myself am guilty of, but I am advocating for not going overboard whether it comes to studying for tests. You will not really get much studying at 2 a.m. or pushing yourself too hard when there are better ways to go about it. s
If there is anything to take away from this letter, it is that my success came not from the books, but it was a combination of knowing when to grind like there is no tomorrow and knowing when to have fun.