The mind is the body and the body is the mind. A weak, unhealthy body is accompanied by a weak, unhealthy mind, at least in my understanding. That is why I train my body and stay in the process of physically becoming the strongest version of myself to strengthen my mind and fortify my mental health. Iron sharpens iron—I apply this principle in my life by lifting weights almost daily. There's something so special about training at a home gym, in particular. The slamming of dumbbells on the floor and the painful, yet empowering grunts and breaths are all oddly cathartic to me. Weight lifting helps me feel like a badass, and by believing my feelings, I associate myself with someone who is strong and unstoppable. This in turn makes my mind sharp and less bothered by the inevitable negative thoughts that come to my 'monkey brain'—the part of me that tends to worry and catastrophize about everything and anything. In my opinion, I think the modern world tries to mitigate mental illness and pain by focusing excessively on how to approach the mind while neglecting the physical body. But the brain is obviously connected with the body via the central nervous system, and so I feel that the world should approach the empowerment and improvement of people's mental health through exercise and healthy lifestyle choices.

"Sheesh bro I think we should just call it a day." After I struggled to finish my set—8 reps of barbell bench presses for 115 pounds—my training friend decided that it was time to leave the gym. I felt like leaving myself. My arms and legs were shaking, my back and chest was sore, and we had already spent two hours in the gym. But I knew I had to press through. Suddenly, the song "Face Off" by Tech N9ne featuring Joey Cool, King Iso, and Dwayne Johnson started playing from the gym's speakers. Bass. Boosted. I could hear my heart racing again, and my eyes dilated and sharpened amidst sweat. "GIVE ME ONE MORE SHOT!" I shouted. My friend nodded and lifted the barbell off for me. One repetition lead to two repetitions to three to eleven. We had no idea I had three more reps in me. But I did. "Face Off" continues to inspire me and my friend to train our hardest and believe in ourselves that we are stronger than we think.

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BRO. I love IU. She is incredibly hard working as she was not born talented. Listen to her!

Big 5. "Big 5" is a thinking system that I have integrated into my life ever since lockdown during the early stages of COVID-19. There are five things in my life that I truly value and enjoy spending time on: my schoolwork, cello practicing, resistance training, strengthening my relationships, and free time—hence the Big 5. From the moment I wake up to the moment I jump in bed, I make sure to have all five of these activities completed in some way. Big 1: my schoolwork. Big 1 requires sheer focus. I stay true to the side of myself that loves to work. Big 2: cello practicing. Big 2 requires discipline. I stay true to the side of myself that values discipline and self control. (Cello requires a lot of dedication and discipline not to toot my own horn). Big 3: resistance training. Big 3 requires strength. I stay true to the side of myself that values strength and resilience. Big 4: strengthening my relationships. Big 4 requires yielding. I take care of my yang, hardworking self by yielding and softening. I stay true to the side of myself that yearns for love and connection with friends and family. Big 5: free time. Big 5 is the hardest activity for me. It requires nothing. And because it requires nothing it is so hard. I don't work or do anything productive. I just. chill. Relax. Play a video game. Watch an anime episode. I stay true to the side of myself that needs to just be chill—my yin side. I don't let anyone or anything get in the way of my Big 5. That's how I stay true to myself.

I want to become a physical therapist! I know that physical therapy is a valuable field that improves the wellbeing of people. I know as technology progresses and jobs are automated, jobs will disappear in the future. But I believe that physical therapy will continue to be valuable, if not more valuable in the future as the life expectancy of human beings is increasing. I want to aid an old man to get back on his feet and walk again. I want to assist an old woman in her journey to standing straight again. I want to help elderly people strengthen their bodies so they may live the rest of their days with good health and ease. I am a firm believer that the body and the mind are one and not separate. Consequently I don't like the term "mind-body connection," because the mind and body are one! If you have an unhealthy, weak body then your state of mind will be weak and fragile. I believe that if I can strengthen elderly peoples' bodies, I will not only improve their quality of physical movement but also their mind and happiness :)

"Everybody's annoying," was the wisest thing I've heard anyone tell me. Now it may seem that the message is a bit negative but let me explain. On one after school golf practice meet, I was talking to my friend about my Japanese language class. We were walking talking and then sometime later the conversation came to his girlfriend, who was in my class. My friend told me that his girlfriend thinks my projects in Japanese class were "stupid" (I will have to admit, I make some very interesting videos for my projects and presentations!). Although I didn't really know my friend's girlfriend that much, I took offense to her remark on my projects. I told him how I was a bit offended by what she had said, and to my surprise he acknowledged my pain and agreed that his girlfriend is annoying at times. "But everybody's annoying," and my friend left the conversation satisfied with that. My friend and I have differing personalities. I tend to introspect a lot and put a lot of thought to my thoughts and feelings whereas he has a simple, straightforward personality that lets him move through life seemingly easily. And I was very impacted when he said that "everybody's annoying." Those words made me realize that every person I interact with is capable of giving me stress and hurting me in some form (I was a bit sensitive though not overreactive). By internalizing what he said that day, I started taking less offense to negative remarks and actions done to me. My relationships and bonds have also grown stronger because I accepted that no matter who I interact with, I can get hurt—nobody is perfect after all. "Everybody's annoying" has given me a peace of mind and acceptance of others' mistakes, even my own.

I have to say I really admire 28th U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. My father and another adult friend are very fascinated by Roosevelt's life and so too am I. This man was a very decisive, bold, and untamed, all characteristics that made him such an influential and impactful president during his term. He would seem like someone with an intense aura or presence around him wherever he went and so I admire him for that.

On one day in November 2020 my mother was very sick. She had muscle aches and a fever and she was in bed the whole day. I wanted to do something for my mother, I wanted my mother to get well. So I took out my cello and I began to play some random melodies, musical ideas, and notes that just came to my head. Finally I managed to create a mellow and comforting melody as heard in my incomplete song, "Eomma Get Well," (Eomma is Korean for mom). The good news is - she got better the next morning :) Any scholarship to be able to bring my love for the cello to a post secondary school will be greatly appreciated.

This is not a special application. I cannot manipulate words and thread together an application that "pops." I won't pull any strings nor will I hold back from the truth - I will be as sincere as possible. I most definitely plan on pursuing a higher education at a post secondary education institution because this is the path that I have considered to work best for me. So far I have lived a relatively "normal" life with no lack of special moments and memories. For someone to understand why I would like to attend college and afford it they would have to understand my lifestyle. I am the type of person who puts his eggs only in a few baskets, meaning I put all of my time and energy on a few activities that I truly care about. These activities include fulfilling my role as a high school student and all the responsibilities student life tasks me, making music (piano, cello, singing, you name it!), spending quality time with friends and family, and finally exercising - exercising a lot. I currently do not play any sports but I love stretching and working out, specifically bodyweight training or calisthenics and physical therapy type exercises. The power to change my body for the better gives me a strong sense of control over my life, and I am happy to say I am so in love with exercising! But how does this explain why I would like to attend college so much? Well here I would like to share a somewhat funny and embarrassing story. I remember this day too well! I was a bold and rash sophomore a few years ago and one day I was in the school's weight room doing a poorly designed bench press - barbell squat - deadlift training plan. I was working out, beasting through the sets and pumping my music to the max. The adrenaline pump was addictive! Then suddenly, the doors to the weight room open... The girls' soccer team had entered the weight room! I was a nervous wreck and being the hormonal teenager back then, I was dazed by their presence. Full of ego and the desire to show how masculine I was to the girls, I put an extra 30 pounds on my barbell and I proceeded to do the best adrenaline pumped set of my life! Just joking... After my fourth rep I noticed a sharp pain in my back. My shoulder blades had popped out of my ribcage. I knew something was horribly wrong with my back, yet I continued to do deadlifts, and then I collapsed. I had injured myself so much that day and I was out of the weight room for a long time. I diagnosed myself with scapular winging. However there was hope for me when I hit a gold mine of self-physical therapy and scapular winging fixing exercises on the internet. It did take some time, but I managed to fix my back and I was back to working out! Since then my love for fitness and working out continues to grow stronger. My past injury made me obsessed with the field of health and fitness, particularly physical therapy and athletic training! That is why I would want to pursue a higher education, to become a physical therapist or athletic trainer myself so I can treat and recover people from whatever life throws at them. I have found some colleges that offer studies in fitness and health and so I would like to follow this path to a higher education. Thank you!