Tag: school

May 21, 2019

~ Campjustin ~ Leave a comment

It’s approaching the last day of school with only two weeks left, and that means yearbooks will be distributed soon. Suprise, yearbooks will be distributed tomorrow!

In case you don’t know, I’m going to be featured in the yearbook. Someone came to interview me on January 10, 2019 and take a picture of me on January 21, 2019. I have an entire two pages of a spread to myself, which is quite unique.

I know I should feel excited, but I’m feeling a bit nervous.

What am I supposed to expect? I’ll probrably recieve positive feedback from everyone, which is great, but then what?

I don’t want to be known as THAT heart transplant kid. I’m not just that heart transplant kid, I have more to offer.

Does this add to my personality or become my personality?

Throughout the year I haven’t been shouting it out on the rooftops but also not outright denying it. When someone asks me about it, I’ll tell them about it.

My biomedical class know about it (October 12, 2018), the Pink Dot Club knows about it (January 22, 2019), my last year Honors English class knows about it, and a random classmate even knows about it (January 25, 2019).

This time it’s different. It’s not that I haven’t had a lot of people look at my story before, but these people at school know me.

I’m so strange. I can handle telling random strangers about my heart transplant, but I can’t bear to tell people I know.

The truth always come out, but I don’t know why I want to hide what I am.

When I came in nobody knew my name. When I come out everybody will know my name.

Is this a good thing?

Last Day of School – May 31, 2019

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Today was the last day of school, and it couldn’t have gone better. I officially survived my sophomore year (10th grade) of High School!

I did fine academically this year, which is unexpected. Another thing surprising is how well I adjusted back into life.

This school year was different from all the other school years because of my heart transplant. A year ago, I was picking brochures for my online High School. I was preparing to start my sophomore year online.

I think my most significant accomplishment of this year was my success. I not only survived, but I also thrived.

In a year, I started a blog, released a cookbook, and developed healthy habits that’ll guide me for the rest of my life.

If I can do all of that within a year, who knows what will occur during the next year?

I have dreams, but for the first time, my dreams seem attainable. I’m so close to my goals that I can feel my fingertips barely grazing them.

As my English teacher said, “I’m expecting great things from you.”

This is only the beginning. The beginning of what? I don’t know. Whatever IT is, it’s going to be great.

Look out world, Justin Wang is coming!

August 12, 2019 – First Day of School

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11th grade!

It’s the year in high school that colleges look at. Everyone around me is doing crazy stuff, while I’m here just taking it easy.

On one hand, I’m glad to be back in school because school is awesome, but on the other hand, I was lying and school sucks. 

High school sucks (honestly). I’m not going to name any names, but there are some fake people and I can’t stand them. 

I don’t anticipate this year to be as bad as last year. I was really cautious in 10th grade because I was so post-transplant. Now I’m one year out, and I’m much better.

Actually, I have high hopes for this year. I accomplished a lot last year: launching my blog, releasing my cookbook, and appearing on TV . Who knows what I’ll accomplish this year?

August 20, 2019 – Hi Mr. Lewin

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Today I visited Mr. Lewin at his classroom after school. I wanted to check up — well, not check up. I shouldn’t say that. More like say “hello” and tell him I was doing fine.

He was excited to see me! And I was excited to see him.

I told him everything, well, everything except Tasty. I wanted to tell him later.

But I told him how I met Donor Network West, me speaking at Sonoma for Make-A-WIsh, and transplant camp. After I updated him about my summer, he said he was glad to see I was doing great.

Mr. Lewin told me I was glad I stopped by because he was thinking about me sporadically over the summer. Just yesterday, he was talking with someone about heart failure and he thought, “Oh wow, I know someone like him!”

I’m planning to see him a week later and tell him everything about Tasty. I can’t wait to see his reaction.

August 26, 2019 – 504 Plan

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Another Monday, another school week. Ewwww.

Anyways, I had my 504 plan today. My last 504 plan was on October 4, 2018, so I was surprised that this one was so early in the school year. Also, the school didn’t inform me that my 504 plan was today?!? I just found out yesterday when my mom and I were fighting when she yelled “Y’know, why don’t you just not come to the 504 plan tomorrow!”

The reason I have a 504 plan and not an IEP is because a 504 plan is added modifications to your academics while an IEP is a completely customized education. 

As expected, not all my teachers were there. Of the group attending was my AP Psychology teacher, US History teacher, vice-principal, school nurse, and school counselor. 

So it was the same old, same old. Just the usual stuff:

  • Flexibility for missed assignments and schoolwork for days missed
  • Unlimited bathroom trips
  • Ability to change seats if students nearby are coughing or sick
  • Sunscreen applied regularly stay out of sun

Last year was the tricky year. Since I was so fresh out of transplant, I was so sensitive to diseases and getting sick. When ever someone coughed in the classroom, I would avoid them like the bubonic plague.

I don’t anticipate this year to be as tricky. I feel that it’s going to be easier, and that I have a lot more freedom.

What’s different about this year is that I have a full schedule instead of the five periods I attended last year (10th grade) and ninth grade (the grade I was in heart failure). 

Pre-transplant I could take my medications roughly in the morning and evening, but now my meds require to be timely. I take my morning meds in first period (8:45 AM), but no one minds because everyone minds their own business.

I mean, who would be like “Oh my god, he takes meds! Hahaha!” High school kids are mean, but they’re not THAT mean. I feel like the only people who would say that are people who don’t have lives.

August 26, 2019 – “Mr. Peterson”

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What I love about my schedule this year is that I have the same teacher I had in ninth grade. 

I’ll call him Mr. Peterson. Mr. Peterson was my biology teacher in ninth grade, so he saw the craziness that happened that year. If you don’t know, ninth grade was when I returned into chronic heart failure.

He remembers how I sporadically missed chunks of school. I remember dragging my backpack to the ER because I was so dedicated with keeping up my grades. 

I saw the emails my school counselor sent out after I got out of surgery. Mr. Peterson said I didn’t need to take the final because I “would get an A on it anyway.” I think his email is what set off the chain of emails from my other teachers saying I didn’t need to take the final.

Right after school started last year (sophomore year/10th grade) I visited him to say hi and tell him I was healthy and okay.

Although I already completed Biology, I’m on the biomedical sciences pathway in my school so I’m taking the second course and Mr. Peterson happened to be my teacher. 

I’m excited for this year. I have a feeling it’s going to be different from the other years. 

August 27, 2019 – Telling Mr. Lewin About Tasty

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As promised last week (August 20, 2019), I met up with Mr. Lewin and told him everything about Tasty.

He said I’m a real go-getter. I try to grab every opportunity I have. Which is funny because I had to create my own opportunities before I grabbed them. 

We talked a lot about Hollywood. How tiring it was to be an actor and the aspects of shooting on set. Looking back at Tasty, I’m not proud of my performance. Then again, I’m an advocate not an actor.

We also talked a lot about the future. What’s in store next after Tasty? 

I do have a plan. The thing is, how will I carry it out? More to come. 😉

The one thing I’m certain about is that I want to be an organ donation advocate, not really a healthing eating advocate.

August 23, 2019 – Telling Amy About Tasty

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Amy. Is. Awesome.

She’s the best. She was like, “Oh wow Justin, you’re doing so great. I can’t wait to see what happens and stuff like that.”

Okay, stop. Hold up, back up.

So today at lunch I was doing homework at the library when I decided to talk to Amy about Tasty. 

“Do you know about Tasty?”

“No, what’s that?”

I showed her some random video I pulled up and she was like, “Wait, I do know it!”

We talked a lot about going to LA, how cool it was that I had my first ever Hollywood experience, how it was shooting, and overall how cool this opportunity was.

Most importantly, we talked about the importance of Tasty.

Tasty has a huge audience. 1 million followers on Twitter, 15 million subscribers on YouTube, 32.1 million followers on Instagram, and 85 million followers on Facebook.

I cannot emphasize how tremendous of a leap it is to go on something like Tasty to talk about organ donation.

Amy says she would be surprised if the video doesn’t take off. But, how do I know? I’m still insecure about that fact. I guess I’ll have to talk with her about that.

But overall, Amy told me she’s not a social media person but the fact that she knows the video format means Tasty’s reach is HUGE.

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