October 2022!
Festive season, Fresh start, TKS Updates, Personal Projects, and Mindset for the Month
Nice to meet you!
My name is Jasleen Gunsi, I am 17 years old from Bay Area, California. I am currently a senior in highschool invested in all things dance, computer science, and making a positive impact. I also love to bake and read! This is my monthly update!
October is by far the best month in the entire year. Just think about it. The weather is still nice but slightly chilly. You can wear hoodies and have the creative freedom to layer your entire closet. Everything smells like pumpkin spice and tastes like caramel. And oho, the amount of things to celebrate
Festive Season
Bathkuma
This year the festive season kicked off straight on October 1st! My friend invited me to Bathkuma, a flower festival, that happened at a local park. It was my first time there and and everything about it was really beautiful.
Garba
The weekend after was Garba, a dance that celebrates the ninth day of Navratri, which my community held at our highschool’s football stadium. This year was the first year they were holding it since COVID and it was packed to say the least! There were highschoolers, there were families, there were couples, and we all danced the night away. I got a few blisters but it was definitely worth it.
Diwali
The next weekend was my birthday which this year, very luckily happened to be on Choti Diwali, basically Diwali Eve. I had a Diwali 17th as one does when a moment like this lands to you and it was very jalebi inspired. There were ironically no jalebis present but it was sweet with lots of orange, mehndi, and bollywood music.
Halloween
To think I would stereotypically pull out the “I’m too old to trick or treat” card but its true, showing up to a strangers home with cardboard fairies wing is possibly socially acceptable, but definitely questionable. Showing up to school with cardboard wings however is not. My wings broke during my Calculus test (like my grade) but we overcame. I may have just taped it on my back. It was normal clear teacher tape. But guess what? It lasted the whole day.
Swaggy Seventeen?
I love any and all excuses to re-invent myself so this year I’ve been treating my birthday like its New Years, which if you think about it is honestly fitting. What this means is I’ve been taking the regular New Years rituals and making it a lot more personal to help me set the tone for this new age. Starting 17 off with right note has meant so far attempting to prioritize my fitness and mental health rather then the usual negligence. So far its been a shaky start but all progress is progress and its only week 3. I’ll keep you updated though, more to come in November.
The Knowledge Society (TKS)
I’m pretty sure most of my family is tired of me talking about this program but its quite frankly amazing. The concepts we have been tackling are beyond interesting and somehow the mindset of the week is always relevant to the week I’m having. Its literally always right on the dot, Its crazy, I swear this program is just the Universe’s way of communicating with me. Beyond keeping me going The Knowledge Society is a 10 month global innovation program for high school students. The goal of the program is to directly take our learning and use it to make an impact on the world. Its like the best part of school but even more relevant to the world beyond it.
Computer Science Project:
This year I am in the capstone course for my school’s computer science pathway, Advanced Java Topics. We’re currently doing mini projects to help us prepare for next semester where the capstone project is going to take place. This month I finished a two weeks project with a set of members I had never talked to before. It was a pretty cool experience and while our project wasn’t legendary, the learning was productive and I’m proud of what we came up with together.
DECA Mini Comp!
This year with the motivation of showing more courage, I participated in my schools DECA mini competition. It was like a pre-competition for Norcal, which is in January with all of the schools in Northern California. At one point speeches and formal talking was my strong suit but somewhere down the line of isolation I think I lost my knack for it. Gone but not forgotten. I will definitely find it, but for now fake it till you make it, and we made it to Norcal by qualifying in both our role play and written event!
Progress > Perfection
This reminder is something I want to carry on for the rest of November. It was introduced nicely in one of our TKS sessions, but perfection hinders progress. Wanting to get everything exactly right the first time makes a straight line that maybe eventually gets you to greatness, but is redundant and hard to manage. Making true progress is messing up here and there, but most importantly getting feedback so you can make the changes that can lead to exponential growth. I feel like this notion is really easy to say but in action I've been finding myself wanting perfect progress. Completely counter intuitive, but persistent nonetheless. As the month continues I think I’ve been improving but to conclude my credibility enough to talk about it stay tune for the end of November.
November Updates:
TKS Innovate Hackathon
Challenges solutions
Perception
A life beyond college apps
My progress with making progress!
Well until we meet again! See you all in November.