Month: April 2016

Year In Review

I feel as though I have grown a lot since the beginning of the year. When first coming to OSU I was not very independent. I hadn’t lived without my parents aid. Towards the end of the summer I was scrambling trying to learn how to do my own laundry. Granted I still take my laundry home to my parents fairly often, but that’s not the point. I felt I wasn’t prepared for the college life. I thought I would be lost in this new environment I was being thrown into. Luckily that didn’t happen. I was in the OWL program so I was able to move in early. This was one of the best decisions I made, because it allowed me sometime to adjust to the new living style. I was able to be toured around campus way before classes started so I could get a feel for where everything was. I was even able to make a few friends that gave me some nice tips to start out the year. The OWL program was a great thing because it gave me more time to prepare and get acclimated.

My first semester wasn’t the best. Coming off of a very light course load senior year did not help me prepare for the intense math and physics courses that are 1151 and 1250. Seeing as though I had never taken a physics class at all, this was a very intense class for me. Nor had I taken a math class that moved so fast, or was that intense. These classes were a wake up call for me. College courses were not something to be taken lightly. Thankfully I had my Engineering and CSE classes under control so that I could focus most of my time on the other classes. But this was another concept I struggled with. I found it hard to split my time between studying and doing activities with friends. STEM scholars allowed me to have a more productive outlet when it came to relaxing. The events offered a nice break from schoolwork yet also informed us about classes and other STEM related news. Overall I think of this semester as a learning experience. It showed me that my old way of studying was not going to cut it for college, and that something was going to have to change.

Second semester was a bit more of a success for me, I feel. I still had a few challenging courses that would take a lot of effort, but I also took some general education courses to lighten the course load. I cut out some of the less productive and more pleasure based activities that occupied a lot of my time first semester. One of these being Buckeyelan, a club that planned video game tournaments on campus. I feel as though I was able to focus more, and get help when I needed it this semester. I went to office hours when it was needed, and I even got a tutor to help me while I was struggling with Math 1172. I didn’t want to make the same mistakes I did first semester. Although I still struggle with time management, I’m am not nearly as bad as I was first semester. I have realized my mistakes and I am learning from them. STEM has helped keep me on the right path. The events continue to be a productive and fun way to use my free time. Volunteering at CPA is usually a nice experience that I am happy to spend my time at. STEM has given me a great group of students and friends that have similar interests as me, and that help me grow academically and socially.

G.O.A.L.S. Essay

All of G.O.A.L.S is important to my career but a few stick out to be more important than the others. Academic Enrichment and Original Inquiry are the two that are more popular. Academic Enrichment is an extremely important to any CSE major. A 3.2 is required to get into the major, which is the second highest requirement for engineers. Not only good grades are important but also the classes that are taken. CSE pre-majors follow a fairly strict guide of what classes to take, most semesters requiring 17 credit hours. Academic enrichment is the core of any major. It is what allows students to continue learning important topics. Even after college, I will be continuing to learn more about CSE and other aspects of engineering and mathematics through internships and job experience. CSE is such a wide and encompassing field that there is almost always more to learn and discover. Technology is ever advancing and we will have to keep our minds sharp if we want to keep up with it. I would also enjoying eventually teaching some of what I learned to the younger generation. It is important to teach students and young kids about coding. The academic aspects CSE majors require high concentration and discipline when it comes to academics.

There are a multiple different fields you can specialize in for CSE. These can range from video game design which can focus on building environments and actions for players to interact with, to data-basing which focuses on storing, sorting and finding trends in data, to AI development which focus on the creation and foundations of simple AI, and Security and Networking which involves creating secure areas where people can store data and use applications without worry of being hacked. Based on all these different variations of CSE you are able to specialize to something that really peaks your interest. I will be specializing in Security and Networking because I am very interested in learning how to create software to protect peoples personal computers and data. I will also be taking a few classes in AI, just because I find the concept of Artificial Intelligence fascinating and I an very curious to learn more about it.  Original Inquiry is what fuels creativity. It is what sets learning into motion. Inquiry motivates us to continue researching and continue advancing technology. The first time I ever tried coding was because I was curious how it worked. Now I continue wanting to learn how to do more with coding. Original Inquiry makes me want to keep learning more about coding. Original Inquiry doesn’t only influence my want to learn more about just coding though. I always enjoy watching and learning more about movies and making movies. When movies get tied into concepts that I’m learning in coding classes, it makes the learning experience that much more enjoyable. For example I watched the movie “Ex-Machina” which involves the analysis and ethics of creating conscious AI. It was very interesting to see such a well created movie cover a concept that I am considering working on later in my career. Original Inquiry helps make you interested in what you are doing and drives you to continue learning more about what interests you.

TV 11

High school was not the most interesting time in my life. I had the same classes as most kids, I was in band, and in general just an average guy. I would have been just another generic high school student if it wasn’t for my involvement in TV 11.

TV 11 was the video productions program at my school. It was far from begin just another Gen-Ed class. Using various resources and connections in the video and media industry, Tom Wilson, the teacher and head of TV 11, built a state of the art production studio with a fully functioning set, control room, and over 30 editing stations. Wilson gave students an almost limitless amount of resources to allow them to create any type of video or show, should they choose to do so. The students in the class are assigned jobs working at the station throughout the week. My job was director of the show “Up to Date”. Working oh this project every week greatly impacted me in many ways that could be described using some of the STEM EE G.O.A.L.S. “Up to Date” was a global news show that covered recent events around the world. This show influenced global awareness and leadership development. I was able to stay in-the-loop with many issues facing the world at the time, and even influenced the scripts for the selected stories because of this. Being the director of the show, I was in-charge of the cameramen, sound, and all the other various “behind-the-scenes” aspects of the show. This taught me hold to delegate work and have accurate communication with my peers. Overall this show greatly influenced me and my high school career.

Critical Reflection

Through the STEM Scholars program I have learned many organization and time management skills. These skills have aided me in my time here at OSU and will continue to help me later on in life. The STEM events have strengthened my relationship will my peers and also enhanced my academic experiences here at OSU. The volunteering has opened my eyes to some of the struggles of inner city schools, but also given me great memories and an experience that I will always remember.