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113. Who do you look up to in your family or community and why? (06/05/2023)

I look up to my best friend, Canyon. He is always been there for me whether I was stressed out about planning my social events or anxious about asking a cute girl in my club. Whenever I had a question about anything, he always seemed to know the answer. He was better than me at almost everything. I envied him for that too.

I first met him at 10th grade. We both had the same classes in AP World History and English. During lunch breaks, I would often move between the Korean crew lunch table and the nerd lunch table which he was in. In 11th grade, even though I wasn't officially a member of his Robotics Club, I hung out almost everyday after school playing Catan or Scythe board game. During summer break, we spent hours and hours at night playing Left 4 Dead 2 workshop maps alongside David.

After high school, we went to the same community college, Santa Monica College. Over there, I first joined Alpha Gamma Sigma, a volunteering club. I was active in the newsletter committee writing stories about our events and our members. I became their Constitution officer and also invited him and Samuel to join the club as well. We volunteered almost every weekend, helping out the community and having fun in the process. He became our next Hours Manager while I became the student government representative. We both felt a sense of belonging in the club.

He was better than me. He went on to become the next AGS president. He always seemed confident and didn't seem to care much about what others thought of him. A lot of the girls in the club liked him. I was the opposite. I was often nervous and I tried too hard at everything because I wanted to impress others. I always looked like a kid.

While I still look up to him for advice and inspiration, my future lies elsewhere. I am not supposed to be the next Canyon or the next Jit Bahadur Gurung (my dad), I have to create my own path that is as unique as I am. My dad used to ask me, "who is your role model?", and I used to respond, "nobody".