I feel that my greatest strength is the fact that I view my blindness as a characteristic rather than a limitation. My disability certainly impacts how I live my life, but blindness does not define who I am as a person. My greatest weakness is that I am a perfectionist. I want to do everything right, and court reporting school is teaching me to rethink how I approach this mindset. I am getting better at accepting mistakes and learning from my mistakes. Dropping words while writing is my weakness where court reporting school is concerned.

Five years from now, I would like to work as an official reporter in court or to be a captioner or CART provider. I know what it is like to experience not having access to things that society takes for granted. I would love to provide the access that enables someone who cannot hear to fully participate and be included in whatever it might be that they wish to participate in. Providing CART appeals to me, because I love learning. Working as an official court reporter appeals to me, because I want to play an integral part in the justice system.
I thank you for your time and consideration of my application.

My greatest strength is my determination and drive. There have been countless times when I have wanted to give up and walk away, but I have not. I realized that I am able to accomplish my goals when I set little milestones for myself. I went to school an hour and a half early to practice before our first class. After classes were over, I stayed an extra two to three hours to practice more and really understand our school’s theory. On the weekends when we did not have any classes, I went to school every other Saturday for two to three hours and practiced some more. When I was just beginning to take speed tests, I put Post-it Notes with the tests I needed to pass in order to advance to the next speed on my bathroom door. Each time I passed a test, I ripped off a Post-it Notes. Having visual goals encouraged me to try even harder. It was inspiring to be able to see my progress; and before I knew it, a year had passed, and I was a 170 goal speed student. When it was time for my parents to come visit me in June of 2017, I wanted to be a 180 goal speed student. Not only was I able to get my 180 card, but I was also able to get my 190 card as well. This determination and drive also helped me pass my 200 speed test and get into qualifiers within the amount of time I had given myself. The ultimate end aim I set was to pass a qualifier before the deadline to the March CSR. I used a combination of audio, YouTube, and our school’s theory book to practice, and I passed my third qualifier and I am now going to the March CSR.

My greatest weakness is my anxiety. I have a horrible tendency to overthink things and get inside my head. I am extremely hard on myself when I do not pass tests. I am my own worst critic. There have been several times when I have lost focus and failed a test because I put too much emphasis on a single mistake. Eventually, all the pressure and stress from school resulted in anxiety and panic attacks. While this was difficult, I feel like this has prepared me for pressures this field has. I am now better able to control the doubts I have in myself and my ability as a writer. I have practiced ways, such as deep breathing and meditation, to help push through and preserve my writing.

I would love to be an international shorthand reporter in five years. After passing the CSR, I hope to work in California for a couple of years and build good-working relationships with other reporters and agencies. Since my entire family is living in South Korea, I hope to eventually work there and build even more working relationships. My aim is to be a reporter who can work in both California and Asia.

I feel my greatest strength is being a highly dedicated person. The word “quit” is simply not in my vocabulary. If it was I would have never become a professional trumpet player and professional chess coach that I am today. If I was not a fighter and did not have the will to master my craft, I would have immediately quit band in the 6th grade after consistently being last chair out of 23 other beginning trumpeters for virtually the entire year. Had I not persevered past that dreadful beginning band year I would have never been asked years later to play at dozens of banquets, social events, weddings, church services, anniversaries, festivals, private parties, celebrations and even funerals, the latest, as a matter of fact, performing TAPS at the funeral for the former Chief of Pasadena Police Department, in Pasadena, Texas just last month.

Likewise, I would have given up on the complex game of chess after getting defeated by my dad over and over again at the age of 9. However, just like playing the trumpet, I aspired to become good and not settle for mediocrity. I wanted to excel; and so I kept playing the game and read as many chess books as I could get my hands on and begged my parents to take me to the Houston Chess Club two to three times a week, even if it was a 45 minute drive across town. However, similar to playing the trumpet, my persistence and perseverance in chess eventually paid off several years later.
One day in 2003, I was asked by a well known chess coach in the Houston area if I would be interested in also teaching chess at various schools in Houston. Since that day I have been blessed to be the mentor and coach at various public and private schools as well as private lessons in and around the greater Houston area for literally thousands of students ranging from 4 years old, all the way to 86 years old. I have also won and placed high in dozens of local and state chess tournaments, all the way up to the national level and continue to be a competitive tournament chess player today. Once I set my mind to something, there is simply no turning back!

My greatest weakness would have to be me being a perfectionist. Because of my super-competitive nature and will to succeed, unfortunately sometimes I overdo it by stressing over minor details. For example, there have been many occasions where I have performed an immaculate trumpet solo as evidenced by the thunderous applause and many compliments I receive. However, because of my striving to always be perfect, I tend to be super picky towards myself and therefore not give myself the proper credit I deserve. I am not saying that I wouldn’t be happy with my performance, but I’d just be hypercritical towards myself. Excelling in chess tournaments is another example. I could win 1st place going 5-0 in a given tournament, but I would still be overly critical on myself for not winning one of those five games in the fastest possible way, or simply missing a cleaner, more convincing, tactical win.

Professionally five years from now, I see myself settled down working in one of the many courts in Downtown, Houston, as an Official Court Reporter and being both blessed and delighted with my decision to take on and make court reporting my full-time profession and reaping the benefits of my hard work and diligence in court reporting school. I would continue to be open-minded and seek to learn more efficient ways of doing my job as a court reporter and at that point in time, be more advanced in all facets of court reporting. Having a strong desire to continue to network and learn from other colleagues and professionals, I’d look forward to continuing to attend the annual state and national conferences like I have already been attending as a student, including the 2017 NCRA Convention in Las Vegas, as well as the 2016 and 2017 Texas Court Reporters Association (TCRA) conferences in which I have already amassed invaluable knowledge which I look forward to applying in the future. Five years from now I would be fairly comfortable and would be looking forward to what each new steno day brings to me and continue to do my absolute best in my every day job as an official court reporter and keeper of the record.

Even though I would be very busy in my court reporting career, in my free time I would definitely make it a point to volunteer my time and mentor court reporting students, stressing the importance and absolute requirement of diligent practice in order to also become a future Certified Shorthand Reporter. I would impart to them my past experiences in my own personal struggles with chess and trumpeting, with the optimistic anticipation of them becoming more motivated to succeed and to strive even harder and to never quit.

For now, as a dedicated student in my 180’s, it has been both a struggle yet fulfilling process of speed building and globaling new entries in my Eclipse CAT Software dictionary on a daily basis, because I know it will only benefit me years down the line at a future job. It would then be at that point in time, five years from now, where I would finally see the real fruits of my steno labor!