IN YEAR REVIEW (Fall 2020- Summer 2021)
The 2020 – 2021 academic year has been another challenging year in my college life. There were roses and thorns. I was so honored that I got selected to receive Angle Wing Thai Scholarship by the Angle wing foundation. This scholarship is for Thai- American students who are the good representative of Thailand.
Since spring 2020, the pandemic is still happening, but we have had to adjust our lifestyles to be able to be going on with our life. Fall 2020 was my first full-time online semester, I had been struggling with focusing on online school because I learn better in person, I don’t like to sit in a tiny room with my tiny little laptop to study, in a meantime, I listened to the global news and realized what had happened back home. It made me depressed, and I lost my motivation and inspiration to study or follow my dream.
However, there is always a light in a dark time. My friend, Katy Greniner, reached out and encourage me to apply to the DSIL Equity Center Design Executive Certification. It totally changed my life, I made new friends from different ages, backgrounds, and industries but they are all here to learn and want to make this world a better place. And all these positive energies cheered me up and made me want to do something to make this world become a better place.
In spring 2021, I was on coop in Indiana and I have more free time after work, I started to dedicate some of my free time to helping the senior living facility in Illinois launch a global pen pal program with the seniors who live there. I helped recruited pen pal volunteers to write emails to the senior, help them connects and made them feel less lonely. I also helped my sorority run fundraising projects, starting from pitch an idea to start an online thrifting account to raise money and also promote sustainability in our community. Next, I designed and sold tote bags to raise money toward our philanthropy, and lastly, I helped raise awareness about the coup de ta in Myanmar, what is happening there, and helped raised money to support them. Lots of people might curious as that why I want to help Myanmar? I’m not from there. It’s sad to see what’s happening there and one of my friends from Myanmar went to protest and got abducted by the dictatorship military government in Myanmar. It hits different when it happened to someone you know, and I can feel Myanmar people’s pain because we are in a similar situation in Thailand. I’m lucky that I’m in the USA right now. I have freedom of speech and basic human rights, but they do not.
In conclusion, while I was sitting in a tiny room and hiding out from covid, I have learned to become a better global citizen, I have learned to pay it forward, one small kindness action might change someone's life.