2/22/2021

I celebrated my 16th birthday yesterday! I know, I know, I need to get going on getting my driver’s permit and then I can finally get my driver’s license; but I have to take a driver’s education class first… I think I’ll save that for this summer… I’m having too much fun building up this website. There’s a lot more I can do to spruce this up, but I’m pleased with what I have so far…

3/13/2021

Spring Break is here!!! I can really use this time to put the finishing touches on this website, and maybe have time leftover to get my ducks in the row to get the non-profit going.

3/28/2021

First, let me say how great it feels to have finally finished building this website!!! I have learned so much along the way, and I’m sure there are a lot more that I don’t know yet.

4/11/2021

I’ve been researching about how to form an Arizona Nonprofit Corporation. There are basically seven steps, and I’m on step two at the moment. It’s going to take a little bit longer than I expected…

5/2/2021

Come to find out, the hardest part, thus far, to form an Arizona Nonprofit Corporation is finding people who are willing to be Directors and Officers of this organization. I have to think with this COVID-19 pandemic, there are less people interested in taking part in extracurricular activities… But I’m not giving up yet…

5/30/2021

The semester is over! I can’t believe I’m going to be a junior next year!!! I have LOTS to get done this summer. I’ve signed up for a driver’s education class. I’m in need of one more person who’s willing to be an Officer for my non-profit. And I plan to put together a chess lesson plan that anyone can download for free, to provide a strong introduction to chess. That’s going to be so much fun to put that lesson plan together.

6/20/2021

I am thrilled to have found one more person who’s interested in being an Officer for my non-profit. I can proceed with the application with the Arizona Corporation Commission to officially establish the non-profit.

7/11/2021

I’m happy to say that my chess lesson plan is going well. And I have completed all but one more driver’s education class, and basically the very last class is to take the driving exam with the instructor. Wish me luck! And I can’t believe school starts next Wednesday. Where did my summer break go?

8/1/2021

I have completed my first draft of the lesson plan. It is available for download, for free. Now I need to contact some local after-school organizations, church youth groups, maybe some rural elementary schools to offer them this free lesson plan. And by the way, I passed my driver’s test, and I officially have a driver’s license.

8/22/2021

I have reached out to the Boys and Girls club of Easy Valley, and a few local church youth groups to promote my free lesson plans. That process actually took a lot of time. I now have a better appreciation for advertisement done by any business.

9/26/2021

My non-profit corporation is officially approved! I have been notified by the Arizona Corporation Commission that chess64forkids.org is now an active non-profit business for the sole purpose of Educational Services. I cannot tell you how happy I am!!!

10/17/2021

My mom had this great suggestion of reaching out to some Native Tribal schools for promoting my chess lesson plan. Most of those kids don’t have the opportunities or the resources to be exposed to chess. Now the question is how to find those schools and whom to contact.

11/7/2021

I heard back from couple of Native Tribal school’s principal that they are interested in incorporating my free chess lesson plan into their curriculum. I am thrilled!!!

11/28/2021

I’m getting some much needed rest during the Thanksgiving break. It also gave me an opportunity to spruce up my chess lesson plan. I added a few more details to help explain some of the concepts.

12/19/2021

I can’t believe it’s near the end of the year. I must say, I feel that it’s been a VERY productive year for me, and for my non-profit organization. I couldn’t have done it without the support from my friend Nick Thompson, and my high school chemistry teacher and chess team coach Craig May.

1/22/2022

Wow, what a great turnout today!!! I was really pumped to help out with the first tournament of the year. This was a fundraising chess tournament in partnership with ASU Chess Club. I also played in this tournament and this was my first USCF tournament in a while. I won 2 games and drew 2 games.

2/6/2022

Volunteering as a tournament director at Unity Chess Club is so much fun. I get to meet and encourage young children to keep studying chess and keep playing. I hope they get to experience the same joy that I had when I was at that age.

2/27/2022

I’m learning more about how to resolve disputes and conflicts during a tournament. Part of my job as a tournament director is to not only know the rules of how the game is played, but also the rules of conduct and etiquettes.

3/13/2022

Again I volunteered as a tournament director for Unity Chess Club. I think I’m really starting to get the hang of how tournaments are run. I’m getting more familiar with the SwissSys, a software program used to create pairings for each round of the tournament. And thanks to Coach Pedram, I’m also learning the process of how to export the tournament results and report information to the United State Chess Federation, so that each player’s rating is calculated and updated after each tournament.

3/19/2022

Today I had the opportunity to help run a fundraising chess tournament in partnership with ASU Chess Club. That was a great turnout! We had kids as young as five, and adults as experienced as 70s.

4/3/2022

I’ve made more refinements to my free chess lesson plan. I’m really pleased with how it turned out.

4/23/2022

Another great turnout today! We had a record number of participants! I was very pleased to be part of this fundraising chess tournament in partnership with ASU Chess Club.

5/29/2022

Another school year has gone by. I can’t believe I’m going to be a senior in couple of months. This summer, I’ll be interning at Grand Canyon University’s Engineering College, doing independent research.

6/19/2022

The internship at Grand Canyon University is turning out to be a lot of fun. We are training our model cars’ machine learning algorithm to improve their performance around the track. Debugging software is very time consuming, but it’s particularly rewarding.

7/3/2022

Today, I had the chance to help organize and volunteer as a tournament director again for Unity Chess Club. It’s always nice to see young kids taking an interest in this fascinating game.

7/24/2022

My senior year officially started on July 20th. Seven weeks of summer break went by so fast… Today I volunteered as a tournament director for Unity Chess Club. It was nice to see more kids back in town getting ready for the new school year.

8/21/2022

Yesterday my high school chess team competed at the first AIA tournament of the season. We have a very STRONG team this year. I’m eager to see how we will do at the end of the season…

9/11/2022

It has been an especially busy school year. Both chess and golf are during the fall this year. Since I have golf practice with the team everyday after school, I’m having less time devoted to studying and play chess. But I still try to keep up with games on chess.com…

10/02/2022

October break is finally here… I can really use the next two weeks to start doing research on colleges and begin filling out the application for college admissions and financial aid…

10/23/2022

Two and a half weeks of October break went by way too fast… I didn’t get nearly as much done as I wanted to in terms of college application. Luckily they are not due until the beginning of January.

11/06/2022

The last two days I spent battling for the title of Arizona State Chess Team Champion. Everyone on my team pulled their weight; we won every single game, and was the clear first place winner. We made Mr. May proud.

11/20/2022

The last two days I spent in Flagstaff, competing in the State Individual Chess Championship. I’m happy to report that I won six out of six games, and claimed the 1st place trophy. My teammates also finished 2nd and 4th place. So all in all, it was a good tournament, and much thanks to Mr. May for driving us to Flagstaff.