Martial Arts ⚫
Probably one of the biggest accomplishments of my life so far has been receiving a second-degree black belt. I’ve been training in martial arts for over 12 years, focusing specifically on tae kwon do and self-defense. Training for my black belts was incredibly rigorous: I did physical training for 8-9 hours a week, 6 days a week, for half a year and once my training was complete, took a 3-day long test. However, the experience was incredibly rewarding and helped me learn about the importance of responsibility and dedication.
I also wanted to pass my experiences to the younger generation of students, which is why I began teaching beginner classes to younger students and mentoring older students training for their black-belts. I taught basic self-defense techniques and kicks, life-skills, and meditation exercises to 15-20 elementary-school level students weekly, inspiring them to work harder and continue learning karate. I became better at communication and speaking to larger audiences as I was teaching skills I’d known my whole life to younger children for the first time. I was even awarded with the Bu Cho Gyo Nim instructor title when I was 16 years old for being a dedicated and respected instructor at my studio.
Here are some pictures of me when I was training for my black belt: 
Volunteering 😄
As mentioned in the activities section, I have been heavily involved in volunteering and community service efforts throughout my life. A couple years ago, I was really interested in the medical field so I started volunteering at my local hospital (the same one I was born at!) Once I realized that being a doctor just wasn’t who I wanted to be, I decided to keep volunteering because I enjoyed the fact that my work was directly benefiting my community. I greeted patients as they entered the hospital, attended to them by providing food and drinks, and ensuring that the hospital had adequate supplies of PPE in each building. I was later promoted to shift leader where I assigned tasks and responsibilities to other volunteers and supplemented nurse and doctor duties to ensure the entire volunteer department was smoothly running. I gained crucial experience in a fast-paced professional setting while also becoming better at effective communication and collaboration.
Another passion of mine is improving voter outreach and voter registration efforts in the South-Asian community which is why I joined They See Blue (TSB), an organization that mobilizes South-Asian Americans to engage them in the democratic process. My primary project for TSB was programming an algorithm that generated a list of over 10,000 South-Asian Americans in swing states who were eligible but not registered to vote. TSB then contacted them using my list to get them registered to vote ahead of the 2020 election. As part of TSB, I also conducted research over several months to determine the best states for TSB to open new chapters. After conducting this research, I then recruited and mentored new volunteers to further expand the organization. I’m incredibly proud of my work at TSB to mobilize South-Asian Americans in the US to ensure our community is represented on the local, state, and national levels.
Exploring the Outdoors 🏃🥾
Growing up in sunny California, I love spending time outdoors and exploring different trails and hikes nearby. I’ve been on hundreds of trails in California and across the Western US but my favorite is definitely the Panorama Trail in Yosemite National Park. The trail starts off at Glacier Point where you have a view of the entire Yosemite Valley and takes you down to the bottom of the valley with a couple of beautiful waterfalls along the way. I also just recently went on a hike with a couple of my friends in Big Sur, photos down below! It’s definitely harder to stay outdoors as much during the winters in Michigan but I love running in the Arb and going night-time sledding after snow storms.
Here are a couple of pictures from my favorite outdoor adventures:
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