Andreas CAS

 For my J-term, I spent the two weeks (minus 3 days due to an unfortunate COVID positive test) learning everything there is to know about the fascinating and beautiful cultures of Asia. More specifically though, the cultures of China, Vietnam, and India. I found myself learning so much as each day passed and finding a newfound appreciation for these almost magical cultures and lifestyles. While diving into their cultures was certainly a highlight for me, I'd have to say the best part of this immersion was the food. Almost every single day we went to incredible restaurants that served authentic Asian food, with my favorite of them being "Himilaya" an absolutely incredible Indian restaurant at which I gained easily 5 pounds from the nan alone. With all said and done I am very happy and grateful I had this experience for my last J-term and will definitely recommend it to anyone who is considering doing it next year. 

 As high school began, I managed to get right back into the swing of things, with turning in assignments and participating in a seminar I felt perfectly fine. My brother, however, was a different story, this past week my brother had been struggling with figuring out how the dynamics of high school worked especially with it being online this year. Even though I too was a little confused I had a much better understanding of how our school works compared to my brother. I decided that I would try to set some time away to help him figure things out, at first he was getting mad at me and my "teaching" style, but as I kept trying I found the best way to teach about our school. We went over his classes and even some of his homework. Helping my brother reminded me of how I felt when I first entered high school and how much I wished I had someone to help me figure it out. Even with the setbacks, we had in the beginning I managed to successfully help my brother figure out how things wor...

  Andreas Cantu  This past week I returned to Westbury Little League to continue my umpire volunteer work, and while I had originally started this for my personal NHS project, once my required hours were completed I made the decision to return till the season ends. So far, I am very glad that I made this decision as I have continued to learn more about how to properly umpire a game both in the field and behind the plate. However, I was recently faced with a decision that required me to really think about my morals and what I think is the right thing to do. Because I had finished my required volunteer hours, I was now eligible to be paid for my work with the league. Naturally, I would always take money for the work that I do, however, I felt the obligation to continue my tenure with the league as an unpaid volunteer and let the money that would be given to me get put back into the league. I am happy with the decision that I made and I hope to continue to learn more about the ar...

 Andreas Cantu  On the day before school officially began, I joined two of my friends at the gym located in one of their neighborhoods for a pre-school workout of immense magnitude. We wanted to start the school year feeling both physically and mentally strong in order to properly conquer the year ahead of us. Before the workout, we all loaded up on caffeine so we could last as long as possible and really push our bodies to their max. We worked for nearly two and half hours straight, with weight being moved at a crazy speed and determination behind each rep, and just when we thought we were coming to an end, we had the genius idea to begin working an entirely different part of the body to really finish strong. This final workout also happened to be the grueling deadlifts. However, because we had all already worked fairly hard we developed a system the involved teamwork in order to make sure that everyone left the gym in one piece. This inclusion of teamwork showed us how benef...

 Andreas Cantu  This past week I joined my friend and his mom at a volunteering program titled "undies for everyone." While I had worked with this organization before in the past it was about 3 years ago, so I was more than happy to go back and help especially after my lengthy sabbatical. upon arrival, we were greeted by enthusiastic workers and tired volunteers. After a 5 minute introduction, we split into multiple groups and began the sorting of hundreds of underwear. The sorting of underwear is a task that is capable of being completed by small groups of people, however, because we had a fairly large group of people we saw firsthand the benefits of working together in order to complete much more than what could've been completed in smaller groups. by the end of our time in the sorting line, we had sorted a record amount of underwear and we all felt accomplished about the work we had done and the effectiveness of working together. 

 Andreas Cantu  This past weekend I spent time with some friends up in Lake Livingston. One of my friends has a house on the lake and is perfect for a weekend getaway. While I had typically gone up there with a specific group of people, this time the group was mixed up a bit due to scheduling conflicts and I was very pleased with the outcome. I got to spend some more time with people I don't typically see on the weekends. With the house being located on a lake it meant we would be spending a lot of time out on the water engaging in a multitude of different water sports such as kneeboarding, wakeboarding, skis, and tubing. While I had done most of these sports in the past, skiing was one I had never done before. So after I received a minute-long explanation on how to properly ski across the water I was ready to go. It took a couple of tries but by the end, I had acknowledged the areas that need more attention and I had strengthed my overall skills.