<p>Academics often require great commitment, so we sometimes need to sacrifice personal endeavors. So I'm wondering, what's the greatest sacrifice you've ever made for school? It does not have to be college-related.</p>
<p>The biggest thing I've ever given up for school was my cousin Anne's wedding in 2008.</p>
<p>Anne was the first of my generation (on my mother's side) to get married, so we were pretty darn proud of her. My aunt invited me to the wedding, which I had been looking forward to ever since I learned that Anne was planning to get married. The wedding was in Taiwan; although I hate those long flights, I would have made an exception. After all, I almost never get invited to weddings.</p>
<p>The thing is, I was taking a summer physics class at Berkeley. Had I gone to the wedding, I would have had to take a minimum of two days off. Since summer classes move really fast, I really did not want to miss any of the class. Althougha cademics were the main reason that I had to pass up the wedding, there had been a few other factors as well (for example, plane tickets to Taiwan were very expensive at the time).</p>
<p>I was definitely there in spirit, and my mother brought back a large box of Asian cookies that were given to the wedding guests. It doesn't come close to attending the wedding in person, though.</p>
<p>Since I gave up an entire wedding for the class, I told myself that I had to do well in the class so that it would be a worthy sacrifice.</p>
<p>In any case, I'm definitely looking forward to her anniversary parties (maybe I'm being overly optimistic, since I don't know of a single person who has had an anniversary party). So it looks like I won't be able to celebrate Anne's wedding unless she divorces (God forbid if that ever happens). Oh well, c'est la vie.</p>
<p>Honorable mentions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>My 8th grade health teacher required us to do two hours of community service. My group chose to do it during the Thanksgiving, so my family had to cancel our trip to Oregon. The teacher had said that we could do the project at our convenience, but I felt it was bad form to hold up my entire group because I wanted to go on a vacation.</p></li>
<li><p>11th grade: there was a holiday dance that I had been looking forward to for months. I wasn't doing too well in my English class at that time, but the teacher was kind enough to let me redo some of assignments. Since the teachers chaperone the dances, my mother recommended that I not go because my English teacher may think, "Why is Danny at the dance and not studying?" if she saw me. Sadly, I agreed with my mother, so I didn't go. I've given up on a few other dances after that, but this time was the most disappointing.</p></li>
<li><p>My money, duh!</p></li>
</ol>
<hr>
<p>Danny
University of California, Berkeley '09 (B.S.)
St. Mary's College of California '10 (M.S.)</p>