My mom often told me about me handing out candy on my birthday in kindergarten: hands and plate stretched far out, and my head turned around because I was afraid to look at people. Being the center of attention frightens me. It’s an irrational fear, but a fear nonetheless.

The fear isn’t gone, but what helped cope with it were the weekly class presentations at graphic design school & art academy, the client presentations from working four years in the advertising industry, and numerous talks on marketing events.

But my biggest mountain yet to climb was join a debate. The motion was ‘University isn’t worth it’, which we (Grace and me) were against. There are simply so many arguments in our favor: universities provide social mobility, higher income and a longer, healthier and more intellectual life. It provides economies with growth and humanity as a whole with inventions such as vaccines and solar panels. But our competition held two native English speakers who had experience on campaigning against tuition fees. Grace and me both never held a debate like this before.

Hands & voice trembling at the start quickly became calm. We prepared extremely well and convinced the audience with both statistics and moral appeals. We had predicted so well what the competition would say, and it made all the difference; we won the debate with 23 to 1. I’m a proud cookie, and hopeful my hands will shake a little bit less next time.