If truth be told, I’m probably not the most reliable source to find out how the Arcadia “success story” is achieved. My response will likely be one of the three: I don’t know, I don’t wish to know, and I will probably never know. But I can tell you this—everyone’s success story is different. I wish I had known sooner that each and every one of us has our ways of carving out our success be it from personal experiences to unforgettable memories that we wouldn’t trade anything for.
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If you’ve ever attempted to take the first step and entered the wrong path, it’s quite scary and lonely. I know because I’ve been there before.

I
once
tried
unsuccessfully
to be someone
who wasn’t me.

They say freshman year is the time to explore your options, venture into them, immerse yourself in hobbies that fuel passion and excitement. Don’t be afraid to step outside your comfort zone, they would add to their list of suggestions.

Before I could even ruminate on the impossibilities, I was already looking left and right, as I sat in the constricted spaces of my classrooms to explore options, or more like models of what the “success story” entailed. I observed closely at what the top Arcadia students achieved—an unbearable load of APs, various extracurriculars (include a sport or internship as the cherry on top), an SAT score ranging in the 1500s, a perfect grade point average, the list could go on. At one point, I convinced myself this was normal. All the years leading up to high school had amounted to achieving this form of the ideal, which was far from who I was deep down.

Arcadia students are perfect; they could never afford a mistake. I’m quite clumsy, and I know it. Once, I was walking outside my Chinese class, fixated on the thought of going to the restroom, when the world suddenly began spinning. My unsecured Jesus sandals stepped not on the ground, but the ends of my pants. I saw a boy miles away from another classroom, as he stared blankly while I laughed at the thought of how I slowly tripped over my own pants. On tests, I’m no different. Sometimes, my mind just slips past the easiest mathematical equations like how 4 divided by 2 is not ½, but 2. I’ve accepted my fate that I can be careless at times, but it doesn’t stop me from learning from the little mistakes and moving on. It keeps me going.

Arcadia students have a set way of doing things; they know their hobbies and interests from the start. I enjoy experimentation, trying things out of the ordinary and exploring what interests me. I never quite found my passion for writing until my freshman year of high school when I was drawn to the prospect of becoming a reporter for the school’s newspaper. I cherished every bit of being the small, naive writer I was—though I was still in my early stages of navigating proper syntax, memorizing the Style Guide by heart, and extracting information from online sources to develop my arguments. Talk about community circles and Socratic seminars—I’m definitely not the type to readily share my thoughts aloud. I’ve always found a sense of peace and quiet reflection in journaling; I’m more productive writing on paper than giving an improvised speech. But something about reading a book out loud and conveying my message through gestures fascinated me. So I stepped out of my comfort zone and took on the challenge of public speaking, where I later discovered a passion for debate and activism. I spent hours reading the newspaper while writing for one and refining my argumentation skills through practice in writing and speaking.

Arcadia students are good at what they do; they never fail to impress. I was reenacting a victim impact statement in front of the judges during a speech tournament, as I took a dramatic, monumental pause. For five seconds, it seemed like an intentional pause, yet the pause continued on for what appeared to be a full minute. If you couldn’t tell, I completely forgot the lines of my speech. So to fill in the awkward silence and embarrass myself further, I fumbled on filler words and sputtered random lines I could barely recall. I ended up placing nearly last in the tournament, but I wasn’t disheartened by the performance, let alone the embarrassment. It was a lesson learned not to memorize a speech a few days prior to competition and accepting the fact that I won’t always be perfect at what I do.

Arcadia students are born leaders. Upon entering the towering gates of Arcadia High, I had a disconcerting feeling I wouldn’t find my place in this highly competitive, academic environment. Being around classmates, who conducted lab research, invented AI creations, and interned with governmental figures constantly, reminded me that I was innately ill-equipped to handle such professional tasks. I’m glad this toxic mentality, at the time, didn’t get the best of me. If there’s one thing I learned from being in this Arcadia environment, it’d be that even if you aren’t naturally good at your passion, you can always make an attempt to put your best foot forward because no matter what, you’ll grow and thrive.

Arcadia students are the epitome of success. You see, my success story is nowhere near the bar of perfection. The lighthearted stories and the accounts of failing and moving on have led me to discover my own content and a sense of reassurance that future me will trudge through life’s most difficult hardships, even if it means falling multiple times to get there.

My story doesn’t end here. I still have many miles to tread and memories to cherish before I reach my final destination and achieve my ideal version of “me.” While the journey will be rocky, full of ups and downs, twists and turns, I will always look back and remember, knowing these four years were the first chapters of my success story.