The PUSD Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council (SSAC) hosted its second-ever Pursuing Passion, Not Perfection conference on April 24. Designed for 8th-graders and their families, the event was hosted at Design39 and aimed to ease the stress of college admissions by emphasizing the value of passion rather than a perfect resume.
The SSAC is composed of student leaders from all PUSD high schools and meets monthly with the superintendent to provide student input. One of the objectives of the SSAC is to plan an annual district-wide service project that addresses a current issue within PUSD. While planning, the majority of the SSAC voted that “academic stress” was one of the district’s most pressing problems. As a result, Pursuing Passion, Not Perfection was created to promote a healthy relationship with school for students and their families.
More than 350 families registered, and the event hosted a showcase where admissions officers spoke about the college admissions process in an attempt to demystify it. Additionally, attendees had the choice between eight different possible breakout sessions. Sessions ranged from discussing topics in STEM-related fields, mental health and wellbeing, and balancing athletics with academics. In all of these breakouts, families could ask a panel of professionals, educators, and high-school students questions.
SSAC member Josh Yang (12) was a student panelist in the STEM-Related Fields breakout room. As an aspiring aerospace engineer, Yang has experienced the rigorous academic competition of pursuing STEM firsthand.
“You can see over time the deteriorating effects of this obsessive mindset,” Yang said. “For me, especially trying to pursue engineering at a highly competitive public high school, I definitely have felt a lot of stress around that.”
Though Yang said he believes preparing for the rigor of STEM in college is important, he warned against taking on too heavy of a course load. Yang said he hopes to use his personal experiences to help younger students navigate the process of choosing classes.
“I hope that families can better plan their child’s academics and extracurriculars so they can better focus on what the kid wants to do, rather than following the status quo and just doing whatever everyone else is doing,” Yang said. “For me, I was just taking APUSH because everyone else was doing it. So I wish I realized that I did not need to do that.”
SSAC member Dominic Hubschmitt (12) was another student panelist in the same breakout group as Yang. While Hubschmitt has always been passionate about STEM, his journey in deciding his career path was not always linear. Hubschmitt said he initially pursued chemistry until he realized it wasn’t his interest. After this realization, he began to branch out and take classes in computer science and physics, which he plans to further study after graduation.
“I was able to further my interest in each of those fields because I found that wrong path first,” Hubschmitt said. “The main thing I’m trying to emphasize is it’s OK to experiment with what you like and what you don’t like. All of [PUSD] high schools have great AP classes and great STEM classes, and it’s OK not to instantly like a specific field. That’s what high school is for – for experimenting.”
Hubschmitt said that his favorite part of the event was learning from the experiences of other students and teachers.
“I thought it was super interesting to hear from other people on my panel about their own personal experiences at their respective schools,” Hubschmitt said. “We had a teacher from Del Norte and a student from Mt. Carmel, so it was cool to hear from them.”
Aside from conversations about navigating academics, there were also breakout sessions dedicated to promoting healthy self-care practices. SSAC member Kailyn Donnelly (11) was a student panelist in the Mental Health and Wellbeing panel and said she hopes to help other students overcome their personal challenges.
“I started struggling with my mental health in seventh grade, but I’ve come a really long way,” Donnelly said. “I’m just really passionate about being able to help other people because I’ve been in that low position. I know how horrible it is and how different life can be when you take it upon yourself to improve your living situation and your mental health.”
The SSAC members hope that Pursuing Passion, Not Perfection can guide incoming high-schoolers by helping them learn from the personal experiences of older individuals.
“You do gain so much experience through high school, and getting advice from someone who’s in the same generation is helpful,” Donnelly said. “I hope they are able to see who they’re able to become.”
