Dec 31, 2020

20 Reflections from a 2020 Grad


Welcome back to Peridot Cove! It's so great to be back and see that our community is flourishing. Between starting my first semester of college to navigating through the pandemic, blogging took a backseat. Now that I am more settled into (virtual) college life and in light of my high school graduation, I'm using winter break to work on bettering myself. One aspect of this goal involves returning to Peridot Cove. This is what the photo above represents to me: Peridot Cove is a space to document the path I am about to take and the journey that will follow.

The biggest life lesson COVID-19 has taught me? To never take the little moments in life for granted. To close off this year, here are 20 highlights from my high school career - the moments  I will never forget, in no particular order:


1. Mock Trial: In my freshman history class, we did a mock trial on the actions of Napoleon Bonaparte. It was the first long-term high school project I participated in, and through it, I discovered my love for hands-on, collaborative learning. 
2. Finding My Voice: In high school, I dabbled in Speech and Debate. Advancing to States in Original Oratory heightened my confidence and sharpened my public speaking skills.
3. A Non-Traditional Graduation: As someone who had dreamed of graduation day for years, I was heartbroken when I found out we would not have a traditional ceremony due to COVID-19. However, our experience turned out to be so special! The outpouring of support from the community was unimaginable, and when graduation day came around, I was the happiest I could've possibly been.
4. Hall of Fame: At the end of my senior year, I found out that I was inducted into my school's Student Hall of Fame! The day I found out I was selected was one of the best of my life. 
5. APUSH: I was recently asked what my favorite day of high school was. The day I took my AP US History exam sticks out for many reasons. Before the exam, we gathered in our classroom, listened to pump-up music, and hyped ourselves up. The feeling in the air after closing our exam books was incredible. My friends and I went out to breakfast afterward, and we continued to make history puns for days.
6. Discovering My Passions: I discovered that I love to work with children and give back to my community through volunteering and mentorship.
7. HOBY: Through my time as a delegate at the HOBY leadership conference, I learned about types of leadership and building a personal brand! I also met some of the coolest students and mentors around.


8. My First Job: Senior year, I landed my first job. Although I was one of the youngest on the team, all my coworkers were so welcoming and made me feel right at home. 
9. Applying to College: College admissions are stressful, but the thrill of receiving your decisions is exhilarating. I am currently attending the school from which I got my first acceptance! 
10. Improving My Spanish: I ended up taking Spanish through my senior year and got a score of 5 on my AP exam! As a senior project, I got to interview a native speaker from the Dominican Republic! Although I am still working on fluency, I surprised myself with how much I could understand. 
11. Becoming Politically & Socially Aware: This transpired as my understanding of the world developed alongside my critical thinking skills. Following the 2016 presidential election, I authored a research paper on media's role in modern feminism.
12. High School Dances: High school dances are coming-of-age staples! While we couldn't have a senior prom, one of my favorite memories is of dancing the night away with my friends at junior prom.
 

13. Literature: My junior-year English class exposed me to the expanse of American literature. Several of these pieces opened my eyes to new perspectives and periods in history. 
14. Journalism: Sophomore year, I took a journalism class that exposed me to the process of interviewing, reporting, and news writing. Through crafting my own pieces and exploring other journalistic works, I grew invested in the field and plan to stay involved throughout college.
15. Yearbook Editor-in-Chief: This was the high school activity that brought me the most joy. Not only did I get to play a part in preserving the history of my school, but I got to integrate my love for content creation with an incredible leadership opportunity. There is no better feeling than holding a fresh-off-the-press yearbook that you have poured your heart and soul into.
16. Giving Back: Through various organizations, I volunteered in and around the community. My most memorable experience was organizing a community food drive with my friends to support families in need during the holiday season.
17. Building Relationships: With 100% certainty, the teachers, friends, and mentors I met along the way were the best part of my high school career.
18. Improving My Writing: Throughout high school, I wrote both personal reflections/poetry and academic papers that I am proud of.
19. Travel Adventures: I got to see sights like the Liberty Bell and the Ellis Island Museum! As a history lover, I was so excited to visit places I'd only ever read about!


20. Finding Joy: Although my senior year was unexpectedly cut short, distance learning forced me to break out of my comfort zone and find the joys in the little things in life. Most notably, I got to spend lots of quality time with my family.

This post was so fun to put together. I plan to share lots of new content this year, so I hope you will join the Peridot Cove family! What are your end-of-year reflections? 

Happy New Year! 

Jun 20, 2018

My 2018 Summer Goals


Welcome back to my blog! I've officially been out of school for a couple of weeks, and now that the initial post-exam relief has passed, sometimes I struggle to find ways to keep myself occupied. I wanted to put together a list of goals for this summer and thought I'd share it with you! Here are the things I want to accomplish this summer:

PERSONAL
  • Grow as a person from new experiences. This summer, I was selected to attend a couple of leadership seminars through my school. I attended the first earlier this month, and it was a life-changing experience to say the least. I learned so much about personal, group, and societal leadership and can't wait to incorporate those lessons into my everyday life.
  • Read more. Besides for required reading, I hate to admit I only read one book for my own enjoyment last school year. Reading expands the mind, so I'm not limiting it to novels - I'm open to reading new blogs, memoirs, etc.! Please leave recommendations below!
  • Write short stories. I used to be such an avid writer, but unfortunately during the school year there is little time to spare for my personal passions. I love being given prompts and developing my own stories around them. Recently I found this list of prompts I really love.

HEALTH & FITNESS
  • Work out at least 5 times per week. I've been trying to work out consistently since January, but since I have so much more free time this summer, I'm increasing both the quantity and duration of my workouts. I recently joined a gym and love using the elliptical and swimming laps in the pool.
  • Improve my tennis game pre-season. For those of you who don't know, I play tennis for my school. Conditioning starts pretty soon, and I want to work on my strokes and serves.
  • Stick to a consistent sleep schedule. This is super important to me because honestly, I have an unhealthy sleep schedule. Too often I stay up finishing a movie and then sleep in too late into the day. Sleep is crucial to my well-being and I know setting a sleep schedule now will help during the school year as well.
BLOG
  • Collaborate with more bloggers and companies. I absolutely love getting to work with different bloggers and companies. This is something I've been doing more and more lately and I'd love to expand on that this summer! If you are a blogger or company and would be interested in working together, please feel free to reach out and I will get back asap. 
  • Expand my audience and outreach. This ties into the previous goal. Networking is so important and I want to work on catering content to a wider audience and reaching more readers, bloggers, and companies alike. I'm thinking about creating a blog-specific Instagram account.
  • Plan for the school year. This is so important to me - maintaining a school-blog balance will be impossible if I don't plan ahead this summer. I want to create some sort of a blog calendar - if you have tips or printables, please let me know!
Thank you so much for reading! Be sure to stay tuned and keep in touch. You all are so amazing and I hope you have the best summer yet!
What is your biggest goal this summer?

May 26, 2018

InstaCandy Review: Have a Sweet Summer

Welcome back to my blog! Recently I've been extremely busy with studying for AP exams, finals, and other end-of-year assignments. The end of the school year was definitely bittersweet. This year was both the most stressful and the most enjoyable yet. However, I can't wait to get back to my blog this summer! 


Speaking of which, as students I think you'll agree that we all deserve to treat ourselves after a strenuous school year. I know I do. Today, I'm teaming up with InstaCandy to show you a unique way to indulge your sweet tooth this summer. InstaCandy is a subscription box service that delivers candy to your door for under $25- They offer one month, three month, and six month subscriptions. Each box comes with 8+ candy items, ranging from sweet to sour. Check out their website HERE for pricing and other information. I would like to thank InstaCandy for sending me their May box to review. 




As you can see, the May box contained a wide variety of candies, including bubblegum, sour dip, and Twizzlers. The gummy cake was the main feature of this box, and I was excited to try it. My favorite items from the box have to be the Haribo gummies and the truffle bar - I love gummies, and you can never go wrong with chocolate. Overall I was really happy with the box and I liked how there were both candies I was familiar with and others that I have never heard of before. If you have a sweet tooth like me, check out InstaCandy this summer and let me know what you think! 
Also, I plan to focus more time on my blog this summer, so be sure to stay tuned and leave your links below! I hope everyone has a wonderful summer. xo
What is your favorite candy?