Austin Scholar #114: How to become your kid’s support system
& Stanford admit weekend
Hey, y'all!
This week from Austin Scholar...
Austin’s Anecdote: Stanford admit weekend
How to become your kid’s support system
Scholar’s Sources: What I’ve been up to…
Stanford Admitted Students weekend was last weekend!! You’ll hear more details in the anecdote, but overall it was such an incredible experience and only made me more excited about going to college. I stayed in the actual dorms for two nights with current freshmen – and it’s crazy to think that I will be just like them in a year.
Growing up is surreal.
Austin’s Anecdote: Stanford admit weekend
So: admit weekend.
It was honestly a whirlwind. I met so many new, incredible people who have done such impressive things. There were kids there who invented new colors, had organizations in over 15 countries, and won national title after national title. I had a little imposter syndrome, but mostly felt awe towards the people I’ll get to spend my next four years with.
We had three full days of attending example masterclasses (my favorite was a mathematical magic show), going to different seminars and events about life at Stanford (I loved going to the activities fair – definitely joining the ice skating club), watching showcases (dance, a cappella, and band performances), eating good food (supposedly they made better food than usual for the weekend…), and walking (I literally walked 20,000 steps each day).
And on top of that, I had hundreds of conversations with different people and met more new people in one weekend than I have in my life.
One of my favorite parts of the weekend, though, was ringing the “committed students” gong. At the very end of the weekend, all of the students who had committed to Stanford stood in line to ring a gong and scream the following dialogue:
Current Stanford student: “What’s your name?”
Me: “Austin Scholar!!!”
Current Stanford student: “Where are you from?”
Me: “Austin, TX!!!”
Current Stanford student: “And where are you going to school next year?”
Me: “STANFORD!!!”
So fun and exhilarating.
We got back to Austin on Saturday, and on Sunday I had a family reunion in Victoria, Texas.
The event itself was totally fun – I love visiting my Mimi and Grandad, and my aunts, uncles, and cousins – but after Admit Weekend, I felt completely overwhelmed.
There was so much going on in my brain and on the drive back, I couldn’t get my hands to stop shaking.
And that night, as I tried to go to sleep, everything kind of came together and I had a pretty bad panic attack. But after the worst of that was over, I found my dad in the living room and curled up next to him while I finished calming down.
And once I stopped crying, he started distracting me by asking me what my thoughts were on God Emperor of Dune – and I fell down a rabbit hole talking about how annoying Duncan Idaho became, how awesome Leto II II (the second Leto II) is, and how the kind-of protagonist of this book (Siona) reminds me of the movie version of Chani.
That eventually tired me out and my dad and I came up with a plan to move forward: take a shower tonight and sleep in tomorrow until I went skating.
So I did just that and already felt better by the time I arrived at school.
But I was still so incredibly wired and could feel the anxiety and overwhelm in my chest. My AP Physics 2 practice exam was on Wednesday, so I had to focus, but I just couldn’t.
So I called my mom.
She walked me through what actions I could take to start solving my problems: do some deep breathing, change locations (go to a different room to work), and come home early.
She reminded me that I wasn’t being very productive, and unless I wanted tomorrow to be the same, I needed to take care of myself today.
As much as I’ve healed – gotten “better” in my head – I still have bad days. I still cry and feel the heaviness in my chest and can’t get my mind to just shut up, but I know I can go to my parents for help.
And they know how to help me.
I am so incredibly grateful both to them and to the fact that we’re able to have this relationship.
How to become your kid’s support system
As that final sentence alluded to, my parents and I have had to work for our relationship.
Here are a few things you can do to have an awesome relationship with your own kids: