David Zhang, Age 16
School: Junior at Los Gatos High School
Accomplishments:
- Once ate two foot-long sandwiches from Subway in one sitting and still felt hungry
- Swam varsity, competitively for a while
- Captain of LGHS Speech and Debate Team, 2013-14
- Won competitions in art, likes to do art, has been doing art for 10 years
- Survived AP Physics (for now)
Key to Awesomeness: "Be different. If there is one thing I hate, it's copycats. Don't let other people's judgment and dogma be your guiding principle in life. Let your own judgment and dogma be your guiding principle. This may sound cliched, but it is damn right true," writes David in an email interview about his key to success.
"Stay focused. Stay efficient. Plan things out. Always be 10 steps ahead. Think things through before doing them. I learned this the hard way back in middle school. Organization and time management are key to success, achievement, all that good stuff."
He adds: "Most importantly, keep going. If life seems to get harder, you've just leveled up. Think of failure as success. I am probably more relieved by failing than by succeeding, because failure is positive growth. Failure builds character. It makes you a better person. I would put all of my failures on my accomplishments list, but I am too egotistical of a person to do that. Whatever you do, don't believe the illusion that failure is the end. Failure is the beginning."
