Around this time last year, I never would’ve imagined I’d find myself in the world of photoshop. It may have been that I wasn’t mature enough to think seriously about my own self-image or the fact that photoshop culture simply wasn’t all that popular in my Western-oriented international school community. That’s not to say Western culture neglects or doesn’t pay much attention to female beauty, but Asian cultures tend to have a more standardized beauty expectation for women. Such harsh body image and beauty standards are a nightmare for many girls from a young age, and particularly for today’s generation. Nonetheless, this isn’t another article arguing against society’s tendency to shame women or how damaging the internet is for our mental health. Rather, I take the view that when it comes to make-up and photoshopping for girls, maybe they aren’t so bad.

The sheer number of easy-to-use photoshopping and filter phone apps is staggering. Most of us want the same thing out of these apps: larger eyes, smoother skin, whiter teeth, slimmer legs, thinner waist… the list goes on. Such apps even allow users to apply digital make-up such as lipstick, highlights, eyeliner, and lashes.

But what do girls really want out of these filtered results? Some may say that teenage girls are obsessed with manipulating their faces and bodies all in the name of social media likes and comments. And as someone who, until recently, wasn’t familiar with photoshopping culture, I thought the same. Yet, over the past year, I’ve met a community of friends who ultimately changed my mind.

As my friends introduced me to the “photoshop world,” I found myself downloading all kinds of apps that serve a similar purpose, and what I quickly realized is that it’s not entirely dissimilar from the centuries-old tradition of wearing make-up. The bottom line is that girls use photoshop to make themselves look prettier not just for others, but for themselves as well. Our intentions aren’t solely to attract attention or validation. Most of the time, trying to look prettier is about making ourselves happier and more confident.

Girls that retouch their photos or wear heavy make-up are routinely thought of as self-centered attention-seekers. At the same time, however, we praise and adore celebrities who treat it as a necessity. All of which begs the question: Do we have to be famous to be worthy of being more perfect?

For centuries, a woman’s position in society has been tenuous at best. It doesn’t take a devout feminist to realize that the world conflates women with beauty more so than men. When we are chubby, they say we’re not fit enough; when we are skinny, they say we are unhealthy. When we don’t photoshop our photos, they say we don’t look perfect enough; and when we do use photoshop, they say we’re faking it. There are always going to be haters and people who get in our way, and as a result, many girls are left feeling more insecure than boys.  

Recently Chinese celebrity Qiwei was asked by a male celebrity, “Isn’t the whole point of making you girls look beautiful to attract the opposite sex and get boys’ attention?” Qiwei responded, “We do it for ourselves. I want to tell all boys out there that girls put on make-up and try to look pretty because it lightens up their mood. This is the matter of confidence.” Not all girls are born gorgeous or angel-like, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be.

I would argue that it’s in our nature to seek beauty. In fact, my friends and I joke that every image we photoshop is an artistic masterpiece created with our own hands. Dying our hair bright pink for a wedding, putting on full make-up even when we workout, photoshopping before posting on social media… It is our choice to decorate our lives however we want. People may be dissatisfied with their figure, and it shouldn’t be a crime to let them be the angel they want to be.

At the end of the day, we all need a little boost to our confidence from time to time. Frankly, the problem isn’t that the world is ugly. You just have to see it with an open mind. Maybe then, you can start to find the beauty in everything, even with a bit of photoshop.

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Images: Unsplash.com

It was almost two years ago, but I can still remember everything so clearly: the questions that threw me off-guard, the smell of the room, even the color of the interviewer’s tie. At the age of 17 or 18, most of us haven’t visited a college in the states, let alone participated in a proper interview that could make or break our future. I was 18 at the time, swimming through college applications, IB assessments, and standardized test prep. Nonetheless, I do not regret my decision to fly across the hemisphere and visit the colleges on my list.

I’ve realized that there’s a misunderstanding about the college interview process. It’s a two-way street, meaning the purpose isn’t solely so that the college can get to know you, but also so that you can find out more about the school. I always tell others to think of it as dating. Yes, the colleges are mainly the ones who make the final decision when it comes to acceptance or rejections. But, if you think about it, you’re the one applying to these schools. Frankly, you don’t even have to give a college the time of day if you don’t think they’re worth it! It’s a mutual relationship. They have to like you to accept you, but they also have to fit your standards to even be considered in the first place. This is where interviews come in.

Through the interview, you can glean a sense of the school’s vibe. As the conversation flows, the interviewer will likely introduce specific programs the school offers related to your discussion. Thus, it’s important to pay attention to the details your interviewers provide, because they can end up being excellent resources when writing your supplemental essays later.

Another myth about the college interview is how serious it is. It is a formal interview, yes, but that doesn’t mean the atmosphere can’t be lively, comfortable, and enjoyable simply by being yourself. You should dress smart and respectfully, but no one’s expecting a tuxedo or prom dress. These interviews are meant to be relatively chill conversations, and not rigid questions being thrown at you. Much like a date, if you have to pretend to be someone else to earn the interviewer’s validation or approval, then you most likely don’t fit the school anyways.

I remember the first interview I had at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. I was so nervous and stressed out that I wasn’t able to present my authentic personality. I was sharing my past experiences as though they happened to someone else and my interests as though they belonged to a friend. Interviewers love to see vibrant personalities and applicants who are at ease during the conversation. Despite how disastrous that first experience was, my subsequent interviews at Brandeis University and University of Rochester (UR) went markedly better. I was confident in what I was saying and completely did away with all the awkwardness. There is a fine line between treating your interviewer as your boss and your casual friend, and if you can gracefully toe that line, you’ll do well at any college interview.

But why are interviews even conducted when the admissions officers already have your transcripts and application profile? Well, it’s both an opportunity to get to know you on a personal level and to showcase any shining details you might’ve glossed over in your written application.

Generally speaking, interviewers will start with the incredibly vague and open-ended, “Introduce yourself a little bit.” You can approach this in two ways: One, talk about something unique that you think other applicants wouldn’t share, or two, dive deeper into the main interests of your application. Or you can always do a bit of both as I did! The reality is that most universities are going to see thousands of applicants every year, so it’s imperative that you do something which sets you apart from the rest. For instance, there will be plenty of applicants who are athletes, however, not all of them will choose to get in touch with the varsity volleyball coach like I did. Likewise, many claim to be environmentalists, but fewer founded their own environmental club at school or designed environmentally friendly machinery to make their campus a greener place. The idea here is to highlight two to four main points of pride, and specifically, those with tangible outcomes. For me, it was being an environmentalist, a volleyball player, and a member of the student council.

Furthermore, when explaining your future potential and past experiences, don’t forget to connect them with programs and resources at the university. Before you step into the room, make sure you’re prepared with specific names of programs and professors that you’re interested in. This shows that you know the school well enough and that you know you can thrive there with the opportunities they offer. To make your descriptions and understanding more vivid, make sure to take a campus tour before your interview. If you have the chance, talk to current students to better understand the school from their perspective.

There’s a saying in Chinese culture: “Opportunities are only saved for the ones that are prepared.” Always be yourself in an interview, but don’t just improvise or wing it during your interview. Everyone wants to flourish in college, but interviewers want to know why their school specifically is the institution to help you flourish. So dress sharp, memorize your information, be confident, and last but not least, put on a smile.

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Images: Unsplash, pexels

Community is a flexible concept. For example, I belong to a community of people from different cultures, but who all care for the environment, and who refer to ourselves as environmentalists. Being an environmentalist is not what you say but what you do: it’s a kind of attitude that keeps us living for a certain lifestyle standard that will protect the environment. But just like the others in my community, I didn’t start off behaving, or even thinking, like one.

When I first stepped into high school, I didn’t expect myself to become so passionate about this topic. It wasn’t until our annual Global Issues Conference, where I joined a workshop that discussed environmentalism and started to think about this issue from a different perspective. I realized that I was originally so overwhelmed by this subject, including climate change, air pollution, deforestation and more, that I thought it was out of my reach. I learned that environmentalism is really about how we live our daily lives: from recycling to composting to doing things as simple and not binge shopping online. Sustainability is something we can do every single day.

In my sophomore year, I was encouraged to start my own club, Zer0, at my high school to raise awareness of this issue. Our mission is to reduce the carbon footprint at Western Academy of Beijing (WAB), introduce eco-friendly resources, and educate our community. Now in the international school environment, students are strongly encouraged to join clubs and extracurricular activities outside of academics and truthfully told, part of the reason why I founded this club is to fulfill this expectation. However, as I became the club leader, I found myself truly becoming more passionate. You know that one friend that criticizes you when you’re not recycling, judges you when you don’t print double-sided, and restricts you from using plastic bottles? Slowly through this experience, I have found myself becoming that person. Now, I am the one that persuades you to reduce waste, convinces you to bring your own shopping bag, or even teach you how to turn your food waste into compost.

It wasn’t always easy though. Although it’s fascinating to explore different cultures and understand different communities within an international school environment, the diversity of the student body also leads to differences in students’ experiences and values. We didn’t all grow up as environmentalists, learning about sustainability, or caring about green initiatives. So it was definitely a rough start for me to introduce this subject to the rest of the school. Nevertheless, I thought it would be a good idea to inspire others like how I was inspired before.

Ultimately, the purpose of Zer0 isn’t to criticize anyone for not being an environmentalist or to repeat the information people are already aware of. Everyone has somehow heard about ocean acidification, loss of biodiversity, the nitrogen cycle, and other issues that are seemingly impossible to change. Many of us are so overwhelmed by the scale of these problems that we feel so distanced from them and are sometimes even afraid to take action because they seem to be out of our reach. I started this club, however, to introduce community-friendly ways to approach this concern. Instead of forcing everyone to join environmental organizations or donate to eco-friendly groups, I rather show them ways to continue their original lifestyles in a “greener” way.

Throughout the past three years, our club has been focusing on small projects instead of trying to reach for the ultimate goal right away, but in a short time we’ve already achieved a lot. Projects we have accomplished include presenting in the Global Issues Conference annually, setting up booths at the annual Rock in the Park event at WAB and charity bazaar, working with WAB faculty to improve the recycling system on campus, designing our own reusable organic bags and more. Specifically, we have also made a great connection with WAB’s food supplier. They have now agreed to provide reusable cups to students who forget their water bottles to prevent them from buying plastic ones. Furthermore, they also now offer discounts to people who provide their own reusable cups for their drinks and reducing the selling of plastic packaging for food and beverages. Out of all our achievements, my favorite one is the solar-panel battery bank project. During my sophomore year, we partnered up with an outside company and designed our own battery banks that are able to recharge itself with any sort of light source. We offer custom name prints with multiple colors and have been selling them at different events since then. In my senior year, we were also able to partner up with WAB’s parent link, sharing our resources, ideas, and experiences with each other. Towards the end of my senior year, all environmental groups at WAB teamed up as the “Green Alliance.” We shared our resources, ideas, and experience with one another. Excitingly, after winter break we were able to build our own WAB composting system on campus, run by our own alliance members and using food waste from the whole school.

Changing one’s mindset can be difficult but not impossible. And sustainability doesn’t need one person to do it perfectly; it needs everyone to do it imperfectly. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “The time is always right to do what is right.” We belong to this planet, not the other way around. And it is our job, as environmentalists, to help everyone understand that.

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Photos: courtesy of Chloe Chang

This article appeared in the beijingkids 2020 August issue