My Story
I spend a lot of time wondering how family and friends would narrate my story, so I am going to tell you what I believe makes me, well, me. Growing up I enjoyed playing with hot wheels, rc cars, and barbies that were doctors and firefighters. I did ballet at a young age, and then basketball. I did not enjoy ballet, but basketball continues to be something I enjoy playing; in fact, I play every week. The majority of my after school childhood and teenage years were spent on a basketball court that we also used as an (American) football field, and a place to play dodgeball. My school activity of choice was band, I play trumpet. I did marching band in high school, and it was some of the best learning experiences I could have had at that age.
Two of the lessons learned were to “Discipline yourself before others do it for you.” and “whether you think you can or you can’t either way you are right.” the latter is a Henry Ford quote, the former was said by my director my freshman year of high school. During high school I met my best friends, we know we can count on each other no matter the distance, and its always a great time when we reunite.
Navigating Career Choices
Going into college I wanted to be a music engineer with either a computer engineering or computer science degree, however I did not get into the school I wanted, so I decided to go for comp sci degree. Although I did not pursue music as a career, I chose to continue doing my favorite activity, marching band, also getting to go to college games for free! This new pursuit was difficult. I had to retake some classes, at times while doing homework I would feel defeated. During times of defeat, when I started thinking I couldn’t, I went back to the Henry Ford quote, and I also had the football field as a remedy. Fortunately, I was able to make friends who helped me with homework, and also helped with studying for tests. I joined the wonderful organization of Tau Beta Sigma, and then Kappa Kappa Psi as an associate member, both offered me the opportunity to serve the band and to do community service.
I discovered puns during college, and found a friend who enjoyed them just as much as I did, in fact at some point my friend tried to annoy me with bird puns but toucan play that game.
THE “WHAT AM I GOING TO DO AFTER COLLEGE?!!!” PANIC
Last year I set out to achieve 3 goals:
- Get an internship
- Run a 5k
- graduate with a job offer
It was my last year in college, so I did everything I could to gain skills that would make me a good candidate for an internship. I built my website using html, css, and bootstrap, I took software testing and engineering, I learned JUnit, as well as different architectures. Some days I just coded away on hacker rank, I also bought the book cracking the coding interview. I applied to amazon and disney, and attended a career fair, I talked to different companies but only two interested me, I interviewed with all the companies I wanted to intern with, but only got far with one.
I felt ecstatic! Goal numero uno was completed! At this point running was an on and off thing, I had started the C25K program about 2 times by this point, and always stopped at around week 3 or 4. During the internship I met someone who was super into running, and every once in a while I would join. I would quickly run out of breath and thats when I said to myself “I WILL RUN PAST WEEK 4!!” I was so angry at my bodies inability to do this. In the mean time at the work place I aquired skills in angular2, which by default I learned typescript, which is superset of javascript, In addition I learned agile and extreme programming (XP). At the end of the internship I recieved a full time offer! GUESS WHAT?! Goal three was KOed!
It was now August of 2016 and I still could not, for the life of me, run 3 miles. August meant my last semester was starting, and Monday, Wednesday, and Friday rehearsals were a thing until November, because football season ends with marching band season. So November was my deadline. I was determined to complete the last goal on thanksgiving morning, this way I could feast at dinner. oddly enough November was 3 months away. It is important to mention that I absolutely love running, it is my cardio of choice. I started the C25K program a third time, at the time I also had a gym membership so I started doing some weights as well. I had to repeat some days, on week 4 I signed up for the 5K turkey trot and now I had to run no matter what! Thanksgiving morning came around and I completed the 3.1 miles in a little over 30 minutes. With this goal completed I am pretty sure I have inspired some of my friends to join me in my love for running. 2016 was a good year for me, I learned that I can accomplish things I set my mind to.
THE CALM
After all the struggles both in school and out, I graduated with a comp sci degree with the ability to run 3.1 miles as well as play and hold an instrument while marching.
Now that marching band is not a thing I can do, I found hiking, photography and volunteering are a great substitute! also gym and running. Recently I completed my first hike on my own, it was 4 miles and lead to one of the most breath taking views I have ever seen. Photography is something new that I just started picking up and I still have a lot to learn about that art, I definitely appreciate those who do it professionally a lot more. Mostly I have been taking pictures when I go on hikes, but want to dive into other subject matters.
Through all of my life my parents were my biggest cheerleaders and I am forever greatful to them. My story has not ended but I guess I am now venturing in the art of writing. I hope you enjoyed.
