Each year, the Harvard Book Prize sends students to the US to participate in the Harvard Summer Programme, a scholarship programme that is an excellent opportunity to experience living and learning in a different culture. This year, 245 secondary schools, of all band levels, across Hong Kong are taking part. Deserving winners are selected for the scholarship based on financial need and the quality of the essay they submit. The students' work reveals a range of perspectives from the young people of our city, and are often moving and thought-provoking.
This year, the theme is "A Positive Mindset". Because when we are positive and happy, we are actually able to be more engaged, creative, and productive. In their essays, students have described how they have adopted a positive mindset to improve themselves, or to improve their relationship with others.
Below is one of the winning entries by Niharika Singh from Delia School of Canada Secondary, which has not been edited by Young Post.
Imagine you’re in the midst of a blizzard trudging through layers of snow smoothly blanketed across the ground. You can’t feel your feet. Or arms. Or face. Yet, you continue to struggle through. You can make out a faint trail in the gaps so graciously left empty by the snow; the trail leads to a cascading tower of jagged rocks, ice and snow. Eight thousand eight hundred and forty-eight metres above the ground lays your destination. The top of the tallest mountain in the world. Happiness to me had always seemed equivalent to climbing atop the snow-white summit of Mt. Everest; near-impossible to achieve, but worth every second of hard work. Once I grew older, however, I realized that perhaps I had been wrong because happiness is not the breathtaking view you find waiting at the end of your arduous toil. Rather, it is like the constant voice in your head motivating and encouraging you to continue walking. It is the voice telling you that you can do it, and in life you have two choices: believing that voice or giving up.
On the 7th of February this year, I decided it was time to trust that voice. It was the day of the ISSFHK U20 Tennis Division 2 playoffs. There was a chill in the air and a certain stillness about the location of the match. This year felt different. While warming up, I caught a glimpse of the deep-lustrous gold I had so desired for the past three years. I could almost feel the medal in the palm of my hand; I could almost see the admiration in the eyes of my coaches; I could almost hear the applause of the entire Athletics department. With adrenaline coursing through my veins, I felt prepared to overcome even an opponent of the greatest calibre.
Instead of the yellow-brown hues of gold, unfortunately, I ended with the consolation of silver. I should have been devastated. The strange thing? I could not wipe the grin off my face after the competition. I clapped for the winners, rejoiced in the appreciation my teammates and I received and realized that a different colored medal would not have changed the feelings I had about the day. That day I had made a choice. Instead of letting a medal dictate my happiness, I chose to be happy. I realized that a positive mindset does not always ensure the best results, but it definitely puts you in a better position to achieve them. If I had not aimed for gold, I may not have won silver.
Slowly, I’ve instilled trust in the voice inside my head and in doing that, I’ve won half the battle already. I may not be strong enough to climb the Everest of my life just yet, but I do have the tenacity to get through whatever challenge life throws at me next.