Hi, I'm Xinyue (Shirley) Zhang.

(originally written as a college application essay)

Amateur, n., a word commonly used as a criticism for unprofessional performance. However, I love the word as a piece of advice I would love to live by. According to Merriam-Webster, “The earliest sense of amateur ("one that has a marked fondness, liking, or taste") is strongly connected to its roots: the word came into English from the French amateur, which in turn comes from the Latin word for “lover” (amator).” To be an amateur literally means to love something and diligently spend time on it, a compliment as to one’s interest in a topic. Nowadays, there is an intensifying competition to foster natural-born talent in things, which often makes me feel bad about my skills. I have a number of interests that I would never give up for all my life, ranging from editing to writing to music. Though I’ve been an editor at Yearbook and Sojourn, our literary magazine, for the majority of high school, I had always been ashamed of telling others of these hobbies: I had never felt good enough to be worthy of attention. However, I find that one should never live their life only pursuing what they are innately good at; one could be bad at what they love and still love it. To be an amateur is to begin a journey from the fondness of skill since no talented artist was born knowing how to paint everything.