As the 2024 year comes to an end, Seniors have announced which college they have committed to and or plan to attend. This year’s cheer captain, Nicole Nguyen, has maintained a strong grade point average throughout her years at Preuss and has become the embodiment of the Preuss Spirit. With this, she hopes to continue spreading joy further on in college where she plans to major in Psychology and minor in another clinical-psychology-related subject at UC Berkeley.
Psychology has always been something that Nicole is very passionate about. She acknowledges that Preuss has brought her many opportunities. However, Psychology specifically is a chance for Nicole to improve her communication skills and connect with people more deeply.
“In the next few years, I think I’ll continue to pursue my passions. Preuss is a great opportunity to learn your passions and explore those but being able to actually pursue them on a much bigger scale and be surrounded by people who have similar interests to me [will] be really cool and eye opening,” stated Nicole Nguyen (‘24).
Physcology played a major part into the type of college Nicole will attend. She wants a college that holds a social aspect to it and hopes to continue to pursue cheerleading and advocating for mental health.
“UC Berkeley has one of the best Psychology programs in the nation, alongside Stanford, and I think that would be the most impactful towards my future career, which is why I chose it,” mentioned Nguyen (‘24).
Looking back at her big accomplishments throughout her senior year, Nicole has been proud of what she has achieved. She has managed to get into a top university and continues to keep her high GPA with involvement in many clubs such as Asian/ Pacific Islander Association (APIA). Therefore, she models as someone who is very involved within her culture and seeks to spread and elevate spirit within school as captain of the cheer team. Since these accomplishments, she has continued to leave a legacy here at Preuss.
“In the beginning of my senior year, I presented to teachers, staff, and administration about having a mental health section in their syllabus which is really important to add into the curriculum. The impact I’ve made has been very prideful for me especially because I [have] dealt with my own mental health issues and I know that the demographics of Preuss are similar to mine,” expressed Nguyen (‘24).
Additionally, despite dealing with so much stress in her many years at Preuss, senior year has become less stressful for Nicole. She has been familiar with the goal of Preuss upon her arrival and has worked hard to get where she is today.
“I knew Preuss was for first-generation, low-income students and that it was a very academically-driven school. I have felt fulfilled academically to get where I am now and have even founded some of the clubs here. I liked seeing change in Preuss within my seven years here,” conveys Nguyen (‘24).
Throughout her seven years at Preuss, Nicole has learned to adapt to difficult situations and hopes that next year, juniors will do the same.
“Take a step back and breathe because Senior year has a lot of emotions and changes,” advised Nguyen (‘24). “Be easy on yourself and take breaks to recharge and push through difficult times.”
Despite these fun years, Nicole hopes that her younger self will take problems in a more positive manner. She has grown over time and learned not to be so hard on herself despite being an overachiever. Her younger self was more serious, but she has grown to become more joyful and fun within the Preuss environment.
Nguyen reassures herself of this by remembering her motto: “Life is about the ups and downs and you have to experience the downs to experience the ups. Everything will work out.”
