YouTube Deep Summary

## Welcome and Summer Goal Setting Overview [00:00] Hello, Stephan. Hello. Hello. All right. I'm excited for you to uh be on this. The good old times. Yeah. Honestly, that was only like what that was how how many months ago? like six. Honestly, it's been not that long at all. About six months or so. Yeah. Crazy. Or what what you would say? Insane. Insane. Yep. Castle points out all my filler [Laughter] words. Can't help it. It's just one of those things. Yep. Yep. All right, everyone. We'll get started in just a minute. All right, so let's get started. Welcome ## Why Most Students Waste Summer Without Realizing It [02:00] everyone. Uh today's topic is is going to be about mastering time management over the summer and how to stay productive while balancing your uh the fun and the growth. Uh because summer is just right around the corner, a lot of people are trying to figure out how to be productive this summer or is it that they should be taking a break? And so our goal here is to be able to uh help you figure out how to manage both of them. And as folks can see here, I have a guest presenter with me, uh Coach Stefen. So before we get started, let's introduce ourselves real quick. If you haven't met me already, I'm Coach Victor with Eagle. I used to formerly work at UC Berkeley's admissions office, taught a class on how to get into graduate school. And also, fun fact, I got I went to UC Berkeley for undergrad and graduate school on a full ride scholarship. So, that being said, uh excited to be a part of this group with everyone and to share my knowledge that I um have. And I'm going to pass it to Coach Stefen to introduce himself. Awesome. Uh my name is Coach Stefen if this is our first time meeting. Um, for my background, I have about 5 years of experience working in education and technology startups. Um, I attended UC San Diego as an undergraduate and my passion here is to help students uh thrive through the college admission process. Um, I'm also a coach and an adviser at a couple of uh different educational startups and things like that too. So, if you have any questions, you can always reach out. Awesome. And really excited to have Coach Stein a part of our team now. uh he's really great especially if you want to talk about like uh working in tech or working in like product or project management uh in case those are career uh aspects that you're interested in uh definitely take advantage of getting to learn more about coach Stephan's background. So let's dive into it though in terms of what we're going to be talking about for today is the importance of summer planning. Uh what are some things and ideas that you all can do and also uh how to create your personal summer project. Uh we always talk about personals projects or passion projects or capstones. Uh there's different variation names for it. And we're going to tell you about how to get started. Uh how to set goals for the summer and also how to prioritize your energy over productivity. So there's a lot to cover today. And our goal is to be able to give you the toolkits and in fact if you're a parent yourself, you might actually find some of this uh content actually useful. So uh let's talk about why summer planning. So summer planning is the most one of the most important things because it is what helps you stand out from the rest of your peers. Think of this way, right? The rest of the school year, generally speaking, a lot of students are taking the same classes or involved in similar activities. The only time when you're breaking away from the rest of your peers is during the summer time. ## Setting SMART Goals and Avoiding Vague Plans [04:30] Remember that when it comes to admissions, what the people who admissions are going to compare you to are the people from your school and also your geographical location. So that being said, if uh that's the case, then you don't want to look like the same as everyone else. So using your summer as a way to uh to stand out is a way to be advantageous here uh by maximizing your activities and your academics, which we'll talk about. And so um also to know is that what what is it that universities actually look for uh especially when it comes to summer is a few characteristics. They want to first understand are you a good fit for our university? because ideally if you were to come to our campus you will contribute towards the culture and the um and the community itself and to better the student experience. So that being said what they're looking for here is like one taking initiative are you uh you don't have to necessarily wait till college to really start learning about your field. You can start learning about it right now and that's what summer is a perfect time for because you actually have time to take initiative. Uh the second thing is curiosity. Do you have an interest to learn more? Because uh the reason why we go to college is because you're trying to learn not just get a degree for a job, but because you're trying to learn more about a specific field. And so the curiosity is uh what they're hoping to be able to uh gauge uh based off your summer projects or whatever whatever you've been working on. And lastly, problem solving. This is a important uh skill set that people don't realize which is you're not just doing things for the sake of doing it like such as activities or volunteering or any type of project. You're doing it because there's a particular purpose to it. Right? So a lot of people sometimes think like oh as long as I'm like doing busy work or showing that I'm I'm uh involved in some way then that will be good. Well on on top of that yes that might look good to an extent. What's really important is do you understand how to solve uh particular problems that really matter for people because they want to invest into you as a future learner and future um uh problem solver in this case. So uh there's two uh spectrums of students that I want to be able to um uh identify and maybe you can find yourself uh leaning towards one side or the other. And if you're a parent maybe you know uh where your student might lie here. So you have one uh spectrum of the side which is like they just want to see the summer as a way to rest. They're um really excited to just sleep in every single day, play games, and just like relax, right? And there's nothing wrong about that. Just just to be clear, uh the relaxation is like good especially for students because you need to recharge to be able to do more and do better quality work. On the other side of the spectrum is the super highly productive people who are like, "Oh my god, I'm gonna take three, four courses. I'm going to take the SATs. I'm going to uh do a whole bunch of stuff to be able to stand up for the college admissions process. And that's awesome, right? But remember that that can also be a challenge as well because you don't want your uh child or you don't want to be the student that burns out so quickly. So the goal is to find that right part of the um the middle of the spectrum where you're still able to rest at the same time of being productive and maximizing your time because remember that the school year will start again and you want to be refreshed for that moment. So let's talk about uh the particular things that you could do for the summer. So there's two ## Energy Management... Finding Activities That Refill Your Tank [08:00] kinds of areas that we're going to focus on for today. One side is the academics. The other side is the activities. When it comes to academics, uh really the typical things that we encourage uh families to do is to participate in dual enrollment courses, which are community college courses while you're in high school. The reason why this is important is because it shows to the admission officers that you can handle college level rigor. Uh the in ideal state, right? If you want to be extremely academically uh competitive competitive, you'll be taking dual enrollment courses throughout your entire four years of high school. Um but the thing is sometimes you don't have time to be able to uh logistically to go to the community college or take the course or you can't fit in your schedule. So using the summer as a way to uh to diversify your academic rigor is going to be uh really valuable here because remember if you take the same courses as everyone else, you're going to look like the same as everyone else. So the goal is for you to differentiate yourself through your schedule. Other thing are pre-ol programs. So, uh sometimes like you know Stanford, Harvard and all these other top schools are having like summer programs where students can experience like a week or two weeks in college. Those are all valuable as well. And um the common question I get is um do do these are these pre-ol programs necessary to stand out for admissions to this particular university? The answer is no. um that's what people think and in most cases a lot of these pre-ol programs are a little bit like cash grabs to be quite honest where they're just charging an absorbent amount for students to participate and yes it helps students to be able to uh get a little bit of leg up in a sense of they get to experience what college is like they could write about it and they can tell the university when they're applying uh like what kind of experience they're hoping to gain through this experience through the pre-ol program. So it's it's about what did they learn from the experience as opposed to what did they actually do. Summer enrichment camps um so this might be like uh science camps or um like a very popular ones like Cosmos or other ## The Discovery Zone: Trying New Things Without Pressure [10:00] sorts of uh related things that help you explore your academic field. Another thing to consider is UC Scout which is where you can take online AP courses. And when it comes to which AP courses to take, um, usually for the most part, you want to think of it this way. What are the AP courses that are available at my school and what is um what is the delta of what's available within UC scout. So for example, let's just say that you are interested in studying engineering. Remember the things that matter the most are your math courses, your uh physics courses, computer science courses, and also engineering courses. And if you didn't know, there are almost uh there are three AP uh physics courses. There's AP Physics 1, AP Physics 2, and AP Physics C. For the most part, a lot of schools only have AP Physics 1's or AP Physics 1 and C. So, that being said, you can take advantage of that time in the summertime to take AP Physics 2. And so, that way you could be able to have a class that no one else at your schedule at your stu uh at your school has. And lastly, SAT, ACT studying. Remember that this only really applies if you're trying to apply to a private school because for UC system or University of California system they are not looking uh they're test blind and also just recently New York State uh uh as well has declared that I think they're test blind as well. So that being said if you're trying to apply to those particular schools only then you don't need to necessarily worry about the SAT or ACT. Uh right now based off I know a lot of parents are asking us like but what if they bring it back? Well, if they do bring it back, they'll at least let us know, at least give us two to three years in advance before they actually roll out this new policy to bring it back. So, I wouldn't be too worried about it right now. So, uh in this case, UC's are still being are still test blind in this case. Uh going next into the activities. So when it comes to activities, uh the way to kind of think about it is the activities are intended to uh show that you're taking that initiative. As I mentioned, um because you're trying to learn more about your field and also it's a way for you to be able to relax as well. The activities aren't made to be thought about as work. The way to think about activities is what are things energy generating, which uh coach Stephan is actually going to talk about a little bit later on. So, some examples of that might be your uh sports, uh personal projects, which we'll go into a little bit about how to come up with your personal projects, competitions or tournaments, uh internships and volunteering, and also if there's any type of school club or school activity that's going on. So, there's if you were to ask me the question, which I always get from parents as well, like which one is like the best thing to do? Well, the most important thing is to understand what exactly are you trying to learn or what are you trying to maximize for? So let's talk a little bit more about how to be a bit more intentional or to decide how which things that you should be doing. So starting with the academics, right? Um understand what are your weaknesses, your strengths and your availability. Those are kind of the main things. Uh when it comes to weaknesses, right? It's really about uh being able to indicate uh either if you have a low ## Planning Your Perfect Week... Structure with Flexibility [13:00] grade in a particular course and you need to retake it or if you are trying to apply to a particular major and that major uh might be looking for more towards like math or a particular uh subject and you haven't taken those classes yet. So that might be your weakness there or a gap per se because in order for them to accept you, they need to validate will you actually be able to graduate on time if you were to go into a university. Other things such as strength, right? If you are trying to demonstrate that you are really amazing at math, right? Because usually math is like the number one determining factor at least uh when it comes to those interested in engineering or computer science. And so taking next levels of math that people don't have available is a great way. So for example, majority of schools will only have up to calculus BC. But and calculus BC is equivalent to calculus 1 and two at the community college. But if you go to calculus 3, right, calculus 3 is multivariable calculus. And not that many schools have multivariable calculus. Some schools do, but in this case, if you go to a school that doesn't have it, then that's a way to boost that. And lastly, availability. Also think about the logistics, of course, right? In terms of uh can you actually get to the community college or can you uh take the course after high school. So you need to see what's actually available. And remember, if you're part of our program, you can always talk to your coach about what exact courses that you should take. The next part is the activities. The activities, we always stress that we want you to be passionate about what is it that you do. You don't want to do an activity that is energy draining. And the reason why we say that is because your activities are supposed to paint the picture to the university that you have done the exploration yourself that you understand that this is something that you want to dedicate your time to. And so uh to be passionate about it is a self-reflection for yourself. Do you really actually enjoy this particular activity? And if you do then amazing. And if you don't then great. You learned that that's not for you. So move on to the next thing. Uh major alignment. Why should colleges care? In a sense of like remember um for your major and career alignment, you want to be able to uh try to identify um accessible activities that you can do in the meantime uh that relate to your intended future. And like let's say for example, you're interested in premed. Of course, you're not going to be able to practice medicine or anything of that sort because you don't have a degree. But other ways to be able to uh consider uh like premed like activities could be like uh doing a health education campaign uh doing research or like volunteering at like the uh animal shelter or at some uh some hospital. So there's a lot of opportunities for students to be able to take advantage of. You just have to think what exactly do I want to learn from these experiences. And lastly is the career alignment as well. And just so you know, the goal isn't for you to decide, I want to be a doctor, I want to be engineer, I want to be any of these things, right? The goal is to help you ## Avoiding Burnout While Still Being Productive [16:00] understand, do you really like to do this or not? Because the whole point of activities is to give you a little bit of a taste or like a test in terms of if if this is something that you want to dedicate your future towards. So, now that we talked about how to decide, right? Now, we're going to go a little bit deeper in terms of the um personal project because the personal project is really the um usually what you present on within your personal insight questions or your personal statement because uh this is something that you have that's unique to you compared to everybody else. So, what I'm showing here is called the double diamond approach. The double diamond approach is actually used a lot within the tech field if you didn't know in terms of how to create new solutions for for a particular problem and this is what people do to innovate and so you can apply this yourself even as a student. So starting with the first diamond the first diamond is about the uh problem space right the problem space is where you try to understand what is the problem that you want to solve for. So the first phase right here is discover meaning Bo learn as much things as possible about this particular issue. So let's say for example you're really interested in uh the problem of uh like you see a lot of litter or like waste uh at the beach or something and so you really care about the environment. So you look out and you try to understand what are all the different problems related to uh to the env uh pollution and environment and also what are the things that people are saying is the root cause of the problem. Why is it that people are littering uh like even though like there's like a garbage can like 5t down. So that's the discovery phase. You are doing observations. You're learning about the people that are in that geographical location and also you're doing your online research to better understand how do people also tackle this problem or why are people experiencing this challenge. The next part is defining this is the converging phase. This is where you narrow down to just one problem. So I took the issue of environmental pollution right that is a huge space that is a huge area in terms of what is it that you can address. But the goal is just to narrow down to just one problem that you really care about because uh these colleges are not expecting you to cure cancer or anything of that sort. The goal is for you to go in deep with a particular problem that you feel that you are equipped to solve for. And even if you don't know how to ## Making Time for Fun Without Guilt [18:30] solve for it, the goal is for you to do this discovery where you learn the skills and experiences required to uh to solve for this particular problem. So that being said, like you don't need to be an expert at this in this field to understand what problem that you care about that you want to try to solve for. So this is why we this is why it's that this phase is called the define phase because you're trying to define what is the actual problem that you're trying to solve for. So that's the problem awareness uh or the the problem uh diamond, right? The next diamond is the solutions uh diamond. So this is where we come up with ideas on what is it exactly that we can develop. So the first part is developing diverging meaning that you consider every potential solution. So the goal is to uh think about all the possible ways to solve for this littering problem at the beach. You could uh have uh organize more beach cleanups. You could uh put up more signage. You can uh increase the number of garbage cans. You can uh do a social media awareness campaign. There's so many different things that you could do, right? But you're not going to do all of it. So the goal is to just focus on one thing and to articulate why is it that you decided to do this one solution out of all the solutions that you could have done. Why is this particular solution the most important uh to you and uh and this is what you articulate within your personal insight questions or your personal statements. This is if you're able to show that you can go through these four phases uh within your essays, then you're going to be in a really great spot because what it's showing to the readers is that you understand you you took the initiative to understand the problem and you uh did your due diligence of trying to learn from uh from the past or why is it like has been a challenge and also you were able to concretely identify what is one particular solution that you could do to be able to solve for this problem. And that itself is putting you in kind of like that experimental or like innovative like mindset that these universities are looking for because they're not just looking for people who will follow the rules and just be told what to do. They're looking for people who can take the initiative and try to uh create something new. And so if you're able to accomplish this uh kind of double diamond approach uh within your personal project, then you're going to be in a really great place on your competitiveness. So let's just say after you uh created the particular solution, ## Accountability Tools and Support Systems [21:00] right? The next part is it's not just a matter of just delivering once and being able to uh say that you have one solution, you did it and you learn from it, but also another way to take it up to the next level is to constantly iterate. So the way that iteration works right or um or what other people know it as prototyping you uh take a concept you build it and you try it out you review whether has it worked uh did it work or did it not work and then from there you refine and iterate. So you just keep on going through this process over and over. So for example maybe one of the solutions that you try to do is to have more garbage cans out. So you did that right and you observed that there's still trash. So in that case then it's like okay let's go back to the drawing board and let's figure out what's the next thing that we could do. So you pull out one of your other ideas and then you try to create like a campaign of some sort and you make it like really like you create all these posters you you spread awareness through social media and then you notice hey this one actually worked a bit more than uh the last one and it was pretty effective. And so the goal is to uh demonstrate like what did you understand or what did you learn from this experience uh through experimenting and then how will this entire experience uh relate to what you want to do later on in your college or your career. So again it this whole thing of uh of iteration right it's showing persistence it's showing that you're taking initiative to try things out and also it sh it shows your critical thinking about why is it that it didn't work and so this these are like the important fundamental uh parts of a personal project that can really help you stand out. So what makes a good personal project for uh to consider? Well, as as I as I mentioned already, ideally, it's uh aligned with your academic or career interest, right? You're doing it uh because you want to uh dive a little bit deeper into that particular um role in the future. Uh it ## Building a Summer You Can Actually Feel Proud Of [23:00] solves a real world problem. Uh and there's a lot of problems out there in the world that you could possibly do. And so just trying to identify what is a pain point that you notice is a challenge, whether that's for yourself or for somebody that you care about. uh think about what is it that makes people's lives like hard and that's what you that's where you identify as a potential opportunity. Uh third measurable outcomes like what what are you hoping to get out of this from this experience and can you measure anything quantify it uh because one of the uh great things from from essays that I've read in the past is that if you can quantify your impact that's more advanced than majority 90% of the different personal statements that I've read in the past. Uh fourth, consistent time and effort over weeks and months. Uh so one of the kind of fallacies that people tend to do, they do this uh personal project right before their junior year. And not to say that it's not going to work if you start junior year, but ideally you want to show that this isn't just some type of like uh small like uh short-term interest. This is something that you have been accountable to or been interested in for a very long time. So if you start a personal project as early as freshman year and you continue to build and iterate on that for the next three or four years then that shows an amazing amount of persistence demonstrates leadership or collaboration. It's not just about you. It's about how do you get others to be a part of the solution too. So uh that's this is also something that not a lot of people realize is that um the goal is also to try to get people to really care about the same issue that you care about and to get them to be a part of the solution. And lastly, unique, original, creative, uh, and trying to be able to think about something that can help, uh, stand out. And usually, if you want to try to figure out something that's unique, don't worry too much about like what's a personal project that can stand out, think about more so what's a personal project I really care about? What's a problem I really value that I want to solve for? And lastly, what is a bad ## Final Takeaways and Free Resources [25:00] personal project? So, or what's what's the common issues? So, um, it's pretty much the opposite of what I just mentioned, right? where you don't have it's not related to any academic or career interest. You're just kind of doing it just because uh there's a lack of a clear goal or outcome of what you're trying to solve for. There's no reflection of learning, right? Uh because the whole point of these personal projects is to help you grow as an individual and to uh increase your critical thinking uh for this particular problem. And lastly, too generic or similar to everyone else. Majority of the times a lot of students are talking about like uh creating um certain things within their their school campus that it uh often is something that you would see in a lot of different applications. So also be innovative, think outside of your school campus uh when if if possible. So, that being said, u now that I talked about personal projects and uh and how to kind of think about it, I'm gonna actually pass it on to Coach Stefen, who's going to lead us to be able to understand how do you set these goals and how do you like manage your time for this. So, Coach Stefan, take it away. Awesome. Thank you, Coach Victor. Wonderful. So, I'll start off with essentially one good way to maximize your summer is to kind of set goals that stick. And a good way to do that is to set smart goals. So here smart stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timebound. For specific, you want to think about what exactly do you want to achieve here? Are you trying to increase your SAT scores or anything like that? Measurable is how will you track this progress? So if you want to increase SAT scores, um how are you going to track this? Is it going to be pages completed in a guide? Is it hours spent studying or is it um maybe classes attended online or things like that? Is it achievable? You want to think about is your goal realistic for the summer. You want to make sure that you can do this within that period of summertime. You can't set a goal that's going to be too big. Um is it relevant? Does it align with your long-term vision? And then lastly, to make sure that it's time bound. Setting a deadline will help you kind of stay in pace and stay focused. So, for example, instead of saying, "I just want to study more," a smart goal would sound something like, "I'll I'll review SAT math for 30 minutes every weekday at 10:00 a.m." The clearer your goal, the easier it is to take action and stay on track. Next slide, please. And so, as you work through all these different goals and activities, another thing you want to keep in mind is your energy levels. So, if you don't know what fuels you and what drains you, even the best plan will leave you feeling burnt out. And that's why it's important to audit your energy. Start by listing out your daily and weekly activities. And then ask yourselves after each one, did this energize me or did it exhaust me? And you have to be honest here. Um, looking on the left side, you can mark them with green or red to indicate what gives you energy and what's draining you. Next, you want to dig a little deeper. Why did it give or take energy? Was it the people you were with, the environment, the purpose of the task or things like that? Sometimes it's not the activity itself, it's how we experience it. Um, next slide. So once you know what gives and takes energy from you, you want to use that insight to redesign your schedule. You want to start by identifying your top three goals for the week. Um, these should align with what matters most, whether it's college prep, a personal project, or self-care. Um, next, balance your schedule with a mix of energy generating and energy draining activities. is don't overload yourself with tasks that will burn you out. Instead, space them out and surround them with things that recharge you like movement or creative time or connecting with people that um you enjoy. Um finally, build in time for discovery and learning. Your perfect week should leave room for trying something new. Whether it's exploring a new topic or watching an inspiration uh inspirational video or simply just journaling your thoughts. Growth doesn't happen by accident. It happens when you make space for it. Um, one example that always works for me is to prioritize high energy activity in the mornings and then batch the low energy tasks um, all at once to just get them out of the way. Um, and then I also plan in breaks to add movement and exercise just to make sure that I take care of my body. Next slide, please. Awesome. Um, another tip to keep in mind is that summer is a perfect time to grow, but not at the cost of your mental health. The key here is consistency, not intensity. So if you find that starting is difficult, um try 25 focused minutes a day. Just 25 minutes can move the needle. Whether you're prepping for SAT or exploring a new subject or building a personal project, you can also try things like microlearning. Um like short bursts of studying, reading or journaling. Sometimes you'll find that starting is probably the hardest part. Um so once you get started, you might be able to hit a groove and then kind of keep that going. Next slide. Now, when we're talking about journaling, this is actually a very powerful tool that you can use to reflect and kind of adjust. Um, even with the best plan, things won't always go perfectly, and that's perfectly okay. What matters is check in with yourself each week. One way you try to do this is by taking 10 minutes to just ask what went well this week. Um, what could I improve on? And then what should I focus for next week? These kind of small reflections will help you stay on track um without feeling guilty or anything like that. Um, growth isn't about perfection. It's about learning, adjusting, and then moving forward a little bit each day. Next slide. And lastly, remember um growth includes rest. So give yourself permission to recharge so you don't so you come back stronger and not more stressed. Um rest is essential. Um but the trick here is to be intentional about it. Um you want to be able to add fun to the calendar the same way that you would add a meeting or a study session. Um, you can use a 31 rule where you get three focus blocks of work and then one reward break. Um, whether it's hanging out with friends or exploring a new spot or just relaxing with the show, scheduling fun um allows you to recharge and stay motivated all summer long. Awesome. All right. Thank you, Coach Stefan, for uh sharing all that knowledge. And uh if you didn't know, uh Coach Stefan is probably like one of our most organized people in the world. Uh he always uh it thinks ahead. I know like for him he's always thinking like five steps ahead or 10 steps ahead uh just because he wants to make sure that he is uh in in good shape and well prepared. So that being said like if you ever wanted to learn from coach Stephen uh definitely recommend it and uh we'll talk about how you could be able to like uh potentially work with him in the future. So uh that was the end of our presentation. So if you want the notes and replay all right just text uh notes and replay to 9497750865. uh so that we could send it over to you. Uh please allow 24 to 40 hours so that we can get back uh because we need to also uh wrap up this recording as well and make sure we upload it. Also uh free 15-minute coaching sessions. So if you're not part of our coaching families yet and especially I'm talking to the class of 2026 uh folks where you're trying to get your application done. Uh so we always have this free uh coaching session where you can learn more about the college admissions process and a free action plan to maximize your chances. Uh we only allow one per family. So uh take advantage of this. And uh to take advantage of it or to schedule it, text coach uh to 9497750865. And also if you prefer to work with coach Stephan on this, uh Coach Stefan has joined our team to host these coaching sessions. Just text Stephan to the same number. So that's s T uh P hen. And uh the next few quick announcements are about our research and internship program. If you don't have anything planned for the summer yet, okay, this is only for our coaching families who are part of our program, but we do have our own research program where you can get research experience. And so this is where you work one-on-one with a professor to identify a research topic and write a college level paper. And that will show to the university that you can you're taking initiative. And this could be a long-term relationship with that professor as well uh to be able to learn more about um their their field and their interests. Oh, and also the internship program. Uh this is a 8-week program where you can work with a virtual startup uh to be able to uh get real world real world work experience. Uh no worries. Uh there's no work experience required to participate in this. So even if you're like in ninth grade and this is your first job, this is a perfect opportunity to give it a shot. So again, for those who don't have a summer plan yet and you are part of our coaching families, text research or internship to learn more information so that we could schedule you uh to chat with our team. Great. And so that brings us to the very end. And so want to invite folks to uh ask any questions in the chat or the Q&A. Uh in the meantime, uh would love to be able to also use this time uh to do a Q&A with uh Coach Stefen because it's going to be because he's joining our community. Uh so coach Stefan uh out out of curiosity if you don't mind uh what brought you to Eolock in the first place? Oo interesting. Yes. So I've always been really interested in kind of education or so u I think I tell a lot of the the parents I speak about this. I was I was a first generation college student. Um when I was applying uh to college uh back in high school, a funny story was that I didn't even know the UC system existed until junior year. Um, I thought that SJSU was kind of the only school within within the distance and I was just going to apply to to there first. And then junior year once all my uh my friends started applying to college, they were asking like, you know, uh, are you going to do the UC's? And I'm like, what is a UC in that scenario? And that's really indicative and and shows how little knowledge um, especially a first generation college student has in this case, you know. Um, so my goal with joining Eagle is to try and bridge that gap to kind of help students um from backgrounds similar to mine um navigate and and be able to apply to schools that would be as you know help them maximize their potential as students and kind of professionals in the future. I love that. I love that. And uh it's great that you're part of our team and um I'm sure a lot of families are probably curious like uh what do you think they should come to you for? Uh so uh what what would you say are like the topics that you think that you would be uh really uh good to talk to about and to help them brainstorm or ideate or whatever it is or get advice? That's a good question. I want to say so I attended UC San Diego so I'm pretty familiar with the UC system. So anything around there would be great. Um apart from that I've been always been really interested in kind of uh motivation um personal growth and things like that. they do a lot of uh reading around kind of personal growth and stuff. So if they come to questions um things like you know setting smart goals, staying on track, staying motivated and things like that, I usually have kind of a good set of uh tips and tools um for stuff like that. Nice. Nice. I love that. And related to our topic as well, uh given like what we just presented on and also with your expertise and background, uh what's one tip or advice that you want to give to all the students that are watching right now? That's a good question. I want to say the the biggest thing and I never really took this seriously before is to to kind of do that energy tracking process and and funny enough I'm I'm starting to really take this seriously nowadays. See you a lot of people try to plan their productivity on how many things they can get done in a day and things that you check off and stuff like that. But what they really don't know notice so much is that um what they're doing and at what point of time during the day and what scenario and what situations and things like that would give them the most energy. Um an example is I probably study and work the best when my environment is kind of new. Um and a lot of people do find that. So trying to pay attention to various um areas and time um where you feel the most energetic. So, and then trying to schedule really important stuff around those uh specific very high productive times, you know, um taking into consideration your night owl, you know, or kind of more energetic in the morning to kind of focus all the most important tasks during those times um to kind of maximize your potential and productivity. I think that' probably be the biggest one. Yeah, I love that. What I'm hearing is like a lot of self-awareness. And one thing that stuck out to me is what you said about like creating a good environment that can like really uh be conducive towards your energy as well. And I think that's something that's useful for I mean us as adults uh you know in the workforce and also as students is like uh you are a product of the environment that you're placed in right that's the typical saying meaning that um the influences that you have whether that's the people or the resources that are available or even your desk space right everything contributes towards certain triggers uh that uh create a certain action or reaction from it uh so if you haven't read the book atomic habits which is extremely great book and recommend recommended um where it talks about how your environment um really shapes your identity. So that being said, if you are also um joining our community for the first time, right? By being in the environment of being placed with everyone else, you are absorbing everyone's knowledge and you are part of being that product from that environment as well. So that's that's also for everyone else to consider. Yeah, very true. Very true. You are a product of your environment. I like that. Awesome. And maybe one last question for you, Stefan. Uh based off your experiences and uh working with uh students and uh families, uh what's one tip or advice you want to give for parents? Oo, for parents, um I think the biggest one is is don't shy away from some of the tough conversations or so. Um I spoke to a family recently where they were saying that um every single time they try to bring up the question uh of about college or careers and things like that their their their child is almost very against it you know um and I think it's in this scenario you really want to be able to foster some of that stuff make yourself a little vulnerable kind of share stories to them about how you were kind of struggling through some of the same uh issues and things like that so that they are aware that they're not alone in this process you know that it's not all on them to kind of help decide this and try approach those conversations head-on because I think they're important conversations to have. Um you need to be able to have that. You need to be able to talk about it because if you don't, you don't really know what your um students need support with. So, I think that's kind of the biggest tip I have. Yeah, I love that. I love that. And also just thinking about the accessibility of the questions that you're asking. The quality of your questions really matter for this discussion. The worst question to ask anybody uh or any student is something that everyone has heard growing up. What do you want to be when you grow up? because it's such a limiting kind of thing where you have to choose a particular occupation and you stick with it, right? Uh the thing about life is that we're we all like work you're all you're going to work in different roles. I mean we're now we're talking about post college but generally speaking like um a lot of people have many different jobs especially for this current generation uh which is what uh genzers and gen zers right now in high school right I think so after that yeah but like uh the next generation um it's already like research studies have been showing that um these uh folks are going to be more entrepreneurial and being able to try out a lot of different typ types of fields and they're not likely to stick in one particular job. Uh usually from what we've seen from generations is like um baby boomers tend to uh stick with one job and stay consistent because one of those values that was uh for that generation was stability. Um but the next generation uh that's going through college system right now a lot of their values is like creativity and also like happiness. And so that being said, uh it's not about what do you want to be when you grow up, but more so about what is it that you are curious about. I remember one of the characteristics we talked about was curiosity and that that's something that we want to demonstrate to the university. Stephan, any any thoughts or reactions to that? No, I think that's a really important point. I remember I when I was in college, I attended this this talk. I forgot from who it was, but it always stuck to me all the way till now. and it was one of the data scientists um and they were kind of talking about their experiences and they basically say that every five to eight years their career changes. They go from data scientists to kind of uh interest in psychology um into technology and things like that. So your interests change and stuff. So so like you're saying you know the generation does change and things like that and it's perfectly fine to to feel like you're passionate about one thing now and then kind of change your mind later on down the line. Right. Right. And I think that's the emphasis of uh that's why for these activities that we talk about for a summer uh get students to just try it out, right? Like what because the worst thing that could happen is they figure out like no, I don't like doing this. Cool. All right, we figured that out. Now we go on to the next thing to try out. And in fact, a lot of students actually don't realize the importance of things or learn to appreciate certain things because they don't know why it matters. So let's say for example um like let's say you're trying to learn like business right business is a lot of um how to you know make revenue how to make money how to operationalize things and these are very logistical right and a lot of students might immediately be like oh I'm turned off I don't like turned off from this I don't want to like participate in like making money per se that's not my interest well it's possible that they might gain that interest over time like let's say they learn how to do uh computer software or like computer engineering uh and and so once they learn how to create their own application their own program then they start like realizing like oh I can share this with other people in the world and then that's where the business skills start coming in right so you unlock something for the student once they have tried something first and then they realize the next path is the business path after that so that's like an example of like how one learning can lead to the next path that opens up for sure. Yeah, they always say kind of uh try fast and fail fast in the scenario so you kind of gather more information and stuff like that. So, always something to keep in mind. Yeah, 100%. Okay. Uh so, I know we're going off in a tangent because I was trying to buy time for folks to uh put in any questions. It looks like this group uh doesn't have any questions so far, even though we have a good amount here. Uh so any last words uh coach Stephen that you want to leave with the rest of the um audience? No, I think the biggest thing for this is it's essentially it's summer. You know, take advantage of the time you have specifically for those students in junior year. You know, this is kind of like the this grind time at this point, but then also kind of enjoy it, have fun with it. Um it's kind of like the one of the few times you'll miss once you do graduate college and start work. You won't have this summer anymore. So, I want to say do enjoy yourself. Yeah. Uh and the last thing I'll say is uh especially for parents uh let your kid be a kid at times too you know like they they are young right now and they should experience like hang out with friends and yes it's good for them to be productive but not to the point where they are stressed out about it right uh remember that activities the things they do for the summer is supposed to be energy generating so always kind of seek out what are those energy generating uh activities for your child so that way they can focus on that and that what is what builds empowerment and motivation to try harder in school. All right, for sure. So, I think we're good to close out. So, thank you everyone for participating and uh looking forward to the next webinar that we might uh teach together. Right, take care everyone. See guys.