Kennedy and his first year.

Kennedy Xiong with an update from Minneapolis: 

"My first semester of college was awesome! I had signed up for 16 credits going to the U of M (totaling five classes). Since it was my first year, most of my classes consisted of the general courses that I had to take in order to graduate. I ended the Fall semester with four A's and one B+ so it's a good fresh start going into my college years! Having received quite the ample amount of advice from friends and teachers, I am part of a club called the Philippine Student Association. In that club they have a program called the AKA program which is kind of like Big Brothers Big Sisters where an underclassmen is paired up with an upperclassmen. Since it was my first year, I had an upperclassmen who is a 2nd year at the U of M. My 'Big Brother' has given me really great advice on how to survive the first year of college and what to expect from the years to come! 

Unfortunately, I am not playing tennis anymore (I do hope to play tennis whenever I can. Most likely when I go back to visit my high school during the spring time!). For the first year, I wanted to focus on school just to see how college is like. With the fact that I am not playing tennis anymore, I have taken a new hobby which is working out in the weight room at the Rec at school. I commit myself to the weight room five days a week so I am still finding ways to stay physically active. 

Although my focus is in the educational area, I am currently undecided. I am not sure what exactly I want to pursue into education just yet. For my Spring semester in college, I have signed up for Elementary Education classes. If I truly like the class, maybe I will pursue Elementary Education as a major. I am also planning to volunteer as a teacher assistant in the Summer to really get the first hand experience on how it is like to work with younger kids also! If younger kids don't work out, I will try Junior High and so on to High School. The option of becoming a professor is up there too! I know I will come to decide my major sooner or later but I am giving myself time to try new things and see what I am truly passionate about.

I look forward to the upcoming winners of the Ace Scholarship and having a blog to keep track of them is an amazing idea! I truly hope more kids apply for the scholarship as this scholarship has really helped me!"