Timmy Le

Growth, regrets, and experience. Those words are what come to mind when I think about my past 4 years in Westminster High School. To explain myself, I'll go in chronological order.

​

Freshman Year

I still had social anxiety during this time, which wouldn't be resolved until senior year. Unfortunately, I put a lot of regret on that social anxiety. I didn't do clubs nor participate in much extracurricular activity for fear of judgement. In fact, my social anxiety prevented me from doing a lot of things that would've made me more successful.

​

Despite that, it was still a fun year for me. I was known as a great video editor and programmer and my grades were good. I even made a couple of new friends (who are still friends with me today). Outside of school, I was working on a game project with another group, marking the first time I was "employed."

​

It was over Summer I started learning Java, which was a wise choice to make.

​

Sophomore Year

My sophomore year wasn't actually too different from the year before. I did participate in CyberPatriot (a cyber education competition program) this time around, just because one of my friends wanted me in it. Apparently, I single-handedly carried my team from a miserable score to a more competitive score by completing coding challenges. Mr. Pham greatly appreciated this because I received a Leo award from him for career preparedness. I was also receiving therapy for my social anxiety (which unfortunately ended when I had to switch medical insurance. Shoutout to my therapist, she was super nice.)

​

And then Covid-19 hit at the end of the year. The school shut down with lessons taking place online.

​

Junior Year

Even with lessons taking place online, my social anxiety was still strong. The thought of webcams was horrifying to me and my grades tanked due to the distraction of my computer being ever so present. This wasn't a great year either. Though I did start writing a Minecraft mod, and as of right now it has over half a million downloads.

​

However, things started looking up at the end of the year. That's when I moved by airplane over to Florida for my sister's wedding, and both my nieces were there (the younger one is in the image above). Initially, I wasn't able to interact with them (anxiety) but somehow I got into a pillow fight with my older niece, Camille, and her best friend. The younger niece, Claire, was also enjoying the fight. It was exceedingly fun, and it started the resolution of my social anxiety as I wanted to be a role model for them.

​

I was invited over a few more times over the summer, with Claire becoming pretty attached to me and Camille regularly texting me updates with her interests.

​

Senior Year

Arguably the best year for me. Many milestones were achieved in this year alone for me.

​

In the beginning, I still had social anxiety, though it was considerably less severe. I was no longer walking around school in paranoia people were judging me. But what really shook things up was when I was invited for an appointment with SSgt Nguyen (Sgt at the time) to become a part of the USMC. I accepted after much debate, wanting to avoid further stress with academic work. It was after officially enlisting that my confidence went high up and my social anxiety took a critical hit. With regular PT sessions, I worked my social anxiety down.

​

I did need to go to MEPS again a week later to complete a requirement for my cyber security job, and it was there I gained my first girlfriend. Another hit to my social anxiety. Unfortunately, we broke about sometime in late January due in part to distance. However, it was late February I dated my second and current girlfriend and student of WHS.

​

I was also a member of the school's robotics club, First Robotics Competition (FRC). That was also pretty fun too and I became good friends with Thien. I was recognized as a genius in programming there, but I'm pretty sure that was just an exaggeration.

 

I was also the substitute guide for a bit in my platoon as I was deemed fit for it. I then became a permanent squad leader, forcing me to confront my social anxiety and tackle it directly.

​

In the end, I have a clear path of what I want to become, a girlfriend, and my years-long struggle with social anxiety finally ended with me at the top.