Selected as one of five students to represent my school at this national symposium, I co-authored a paper titled “A Positive Psychology Analysis of The Shawshank Redemption.” Drawing on the PERMA Model and the Broaden-and-Build Theory, I explored how hope and resilience shape human flourishing. I also delivered a short address on “Inclusion,” examining how belonging and shared purpose serve as pillars of psychological well-being.
I created a three-minute educational video that dramatised how social media and everyday conversation distort memory accuracy. Using a scripted dialogue between myself and my grandmother, the video unpacked Bartlett’s Reconstructive Memory Theory and the misinformation effect, supported by detailed findings from Frenda et al. (2013). By linking psychological science to real-world examples like the Depp–Heard trial, I illustrated how repetition, bias, and emotional language reinforce false beliefs. My entry emphasized practical, research-based interventions such as debunking, prebunking, media literacy, and accuracy nudges to combat misinformation and strengthen collective critical thinking.
In my essay responding to Eleanor Roosevelt’s assertion “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent,” I examined whether inferiority truly arises from personal choice or from forces beyond conscious control. Drawing on Bandura’s Self-Efficacy Theory, Rotter’s Locus of Control, and Seligman’s Learned Optimism, I argued that psychological agency enables individuals to reinterpret adversity and resist internalising inadequacy. Yet I contrasted this with Festinger’s Social Comparison Theory and modern research on digital comparison, demonstrating how algorithmic exposure, systemic inequities, and learned helplessness erode self-worth long before consent can occur.
Through an integration of cognitive, behavioural, and sociocultural perspectives, my essay contended that self-esteem is shaped by the intersection of personal resilience and external narratives. I concluded that Roosevelt’s claim, while empowering, oversimplifies the psychological and structural realities that define self-perception—raising the question of whether one ever truly chooses to feel inferior.