Creation and Construction

My passion throughout my whole life has been making and working on things. When I was about 6 I made cardboard missiles out of wrapping paper tubes and duct tape. I used rubber bands tied together to make slingshots to launch them. As I got slightly older my cardboard and duct tape creations were replaced by nerf guns. However, I was never pleased with how weak they were. So I opened them up and removed parts, adding more springs to the mechanism and doing anything I could to make them more powerful. It was at this time that I started using small hand tools like pliers and my tool obsession that has continued for the rest of my life began. My dad was extremely supportive of my want to build projects and helped me bring some of my crazy ideas to life. Some of these included a large catapult that used bungee cords to launch rocks, and a compressed air cannon made out of PVC. Towards fifth grade, my father and I built some small rocket kits and launched them at the local park. That was entertaining enough that we decided to go to a local club, after watching some of the large rockets launched there, we were hooked. By age 15 I was Jr Level 1 certified, allowing me to build and launch high power rockets like the one below.

After getting Jr Level 1 certified I began building rockets from scratch using simulation software like Open Rocket to model my designs. I was experimenting with non-pyrotechnic methods of deployment for parachutes and built a successful system for deploying a parachute electronically. Ever since I was little computers had always fascinated me, because of how magical their functionality seemed to be. I used to browse computer hardware forums like Toms Hardware for fun and I slowly learned more about how computers functioned. I eventually decided that I wanted to build myself a gaming computer. After disassembling and reassembling my laptop much to the dismay of my parents, they decided to buy me the computer parts on my Christmas list. Building my first computer was extremely gratifying and part of what pushed me to the path of majoring in computer science. In high school, I took all of the shop classes I could and began filling my parent’s garage with power tools. I started doing woodworking projects in my free time and building things for friends (such as the nightstand below).

I also took AP computer science and stayed after school almost every day with the teacher, learning how to program. I loved the idea of knowing the language of computers and having control over what they do. Combining my skills in creating both physical and virtual, I joined my high school’s robotics team, and that year was the first year they ever won. My knowledge of rocket construction, materials, and power tools helped us build extraordinarily effective robots. Sophomore year I applied to the software and game development class at ATC, an academy on T.C.C. campus. I was accepted and there half of my high school day was spent coding and having fun. I competed in competitions, worked on projects and felt some of the college experience early on. This programming experience and my love of creating things has pushed me to pursue a degree in computer science and become a programmer.