I have to admit, I had never considered myself a confident, outspoken person in public. I have always shrunk away from encounters with people because, let’s be real, any time not spent in my room sleeping or surfing the Internet is pretty much wasted.

OK, not really, but still, I never imagined that I’d be waking up at 5:30 on a Saturday morning to drive to speech and debate tournaments instead of sleeping the morning away.

From the people I have met to the skills I have gained, being a part of the individual events team for speech and debate has been more than just another activity to list on my resume.

Because of speech and debate, I found a way to share what I felt. In my original oratory speech, I was able to convey that although my childhood dream of wanting to be princess is impossible, I am happy with who I am. To me, that is what being a “true princess” is, the princess I had always wanted to be.

In the same way, I hoped my dream of becoming a princess would help convince others to follow theirs too.
Embarrassing myself in public is something I have had little trouble with, but being given the opportunity to do so in front of strangers and calling it a speech was something

I could not easily pass up. I would never see the people I performed in front of again, right?

I was wrong. Judges came up to me, as well as other speakers in my rounds. They remember me as the "ballerino printhess," as senior Jason Li so aptly put it. (In my speech I actually said that I wanted to be a gymnast cloud princess, but it is what it is.)

Going to tournaments and speaking while making a complete fool out of myself was only the beginning of numerous memories from the year. From being nicknamed the baby of the team, to listening to music and playing cards, to going to get Ikes sandwiches to jumping in fountains at the Santa Clara University invitational, there was never a shortage of things to do during free time at tournaments.

In fact, I even discovered a new pastime: making my friends into princesses by coloring around their faces in snapchats. Inspired by my speech, I confidently turned others into Ariel and Cinderella, drawing dresses and hair to transform them. While I know that I’m not actually a princess, in any case, making other people into princesses is good enough for me.