Personal Narrative: My AP Computer Science

My AP Physics C classroom is filled with whiteboards. You can start writing a problem on one board, circle around the room, and find the answer right next to where you started. With a small class of just eight students, application of physics and calculus to real world scenarios is gripping. I remember contemplating during the MLB World Series fervor how long batters had to react to a pitch. My physics class and I were intrigued. We all grabbed Expo Markers and began solving for velocity, acceleration, impulse, all the while keeping in mind cross-sectional area of the ball, the stride of the pitcher, and other minor variables. I modified the problem by asking the class to use Aroldis Chapman (the fastest pitcher) as the pitcher. We spent hours

As a proud feminist, I was thrilled to discover that Columbia Engineering is a 47% women, and that the Dean of Engineering, Mary Boyce, is a woman. My AP Physics C class is heavily males and almost all the girls sit together in the back corner. When I sat front and center in the classroom, boys surrounded me because no other girls braved the front row. At Columbia, I know that I will be in an environment with enough women that we can all sit proudly wherever we feel comfortable, and if women are outnumbered, they will work together to have their voices heard just as loudly.

When one enrolls into an honors or advanced English class, there are many worries that come to mind. These worries create thoughts such as ‘Am I a good writer?’, ‘Will I pass?’, or ‘How do I even start a paper?’. My teachers never specifically taught me to write. My teacher that I had for 9th grade English and my 10th grade honors English class always gave good grades. Once I got into my first AP English class, I felt as though my writing was inferior. In my distress, I went to the internet and I found that you do not have to be gifted in academic writing to get good grades on your essays, I found that organization is the key to writing a powerful essay.

“Crunch, Crunch,” I heard as I walked towards the shiny blue portal. It was dark, hazy, and cold. I heard “grr” behind me get louder and louder. I turned around, I lifted my arms, and pulled the trigger. I couldn’t tell what shooked more, my arms from being scared, or the vibration of the gun. I thought the zombie died and it was all over, until I turned around and three more zombies appeared. I pulled the trigger as fast as a jackhammer but it was no use. Game over.

Prior to attending Algonquin college for my first year in the practical nursing program, I had a rather large break from my academic studies. Being out of school for over five years, I can’t say I remember the entirety of my experiences in English courses. What I do remember, and what stands true to this point, is that I am not very fond of English classes. From as far back as I can remember, I always struggled with spelling and grammar. Throughout elementary, secondary, and post-secondary school, English was always the one subject that I just couldn’t ace. English courses make me feel overwhelmed and anxious, as I know I am being critiqued on the one thing I am not good at.

Last year as a junior, my AP Calculus class and I received the opportunity to paint a mural on a wall to demonstrate our hard work throughout the year. The one catch, however, was we had to design and paint it all within fifteen days. My class and I were very motivated and began work as soon as possible. We brainstormed ideas for the design of the mural to incorporate as many calculus concepts as possible while also combining it with hidden messages that had special meaning to our class. At the same time, our goal was to make the mural fun and appealing to all by-passers. Now it was time to take our concepts, and begin the process of painting the mural. Initially, we had roughly seventeen students who could paint and help out but that number

Junior year was the year I had been awaiting. It was the year I would finally be in AP Computer Science after almost three years of waiting. Whether it was counselors or teachers, they all informed me that computer science would not be offered sophomore year of my high school because they did not have enough students. Junior year… it was also the year they were attempting to modify the daily schedule, and change it into a block setting. I was curious to see how well it would work especially after changing from eight periods a day to only four. I walked in, got my schedule for the year and my eyes ferociously scanned the page left, right, up, down, and center to try and find the glorious line that said “AP Computer Science.” It was safe to say that I was frustrated yet content. I

As an Agriculture Science major with minors in Animal Science and Agronomy, I have learned that my future could to a variety of career paths. From education to applied research Agriculture is an industry that is need of students with a passion and foundation to feed the world. That also means that we need a good solid foundation of core concepts that make us sustainable and effective in our chosen careers. Technical writing I have found has been overlooked and not applied in the way that it fully could be to make students better rounded and viable in a competitive job market. I would like to apply the lessons that I have learned over the last three months and apply these skills. We will be looking at three technical documents that are commonly used in the Agriculture science industry and those being, Pamphlets or programs, emails, and Informative documents that help educate producers. These documents are the most widely used and will be most commonly seen and dealt with by Agricultural Professionals.

A personal quality that I have is that I will never give up. During my first year of college, I took an Advanced Algebra class. I wasn’t doing very well, I tried my hardest in trying to get a C. I went to the tutoring center a lot more and I stayed at school for longer hours to study. I ended up not passing the class. When I went to talk to my professor to see what was the best course of action to take, she told me that maybe higher level math wasn’t for me and suggested that I take a business math class. Business Math consists of simple arithmetic. I had to prove to her that I could be good at math. When it was time to register for classes again, I proceeded to take another Advance Algebra class. My advanced algebra class started at 7AM everyday,

My schedule for next year will be AP Physics C, AP Chemistry, Multivariable Calculus & Linear Algebra, AP Great Books, AP Spanish 6, and AP Computer Science. While it seems like a lot, it should be manageable considering I will enter AP Physics C, AP Computer Science, Linear Algebra, and AP Spanish 6 with previous experience (hovercraft, astronomy/astrophysics, Physics Olympiad, the summer science program, a decade of Spanish). Outside of the classroom, my other clubs include BinaryHeart, math team, and computer science club, but the time commitment from them are marginal and rarely pass an hour a week. Even with my intense schedule this year, with the same clubs and 6 APs, I have been able to dedicate significant amount of time Science Olympiad.

Computer usage has evolved significantly from just browsing, to using it on a daily basis. Acquiring knowledge to contribute to this field has been my greatest motivation. It is evident that a person should never stop learning and here I am wanting to pursue the same, and contribute to the field that makes our life a lot easier. I want to keep up with constantly evolving trends. Finding answers to the most intriguing questions gave me the passion to seriously consider taking this subject as major in my undergrad studies.

During the first semester of my grade 11 year, when I completed Advanced Functions for the first time, I had some personal issues that I dealt with. I was being pressured by my peers and because of this my grades from my grade 11 year changed drastically. It was only when I was about to finish grade 11 and was feeling better was when I had realized that my Advanced Function marks would affect me greatly. So, I decided to redo it in summer school.

When I took my first programming class, I was enamored. A new friend started teaching me about cybersecurity, and as I realized what it meant, what it was doing, I knew what I wanted to do with my life. Since technology has changed my life -- it allowed me to make friends and build connections in ways I could never have before -- I can imagine a future where kids like me won't always feel alone. A future where moving doesn’t have to mean starting over. A future where being a Tesla coil doesn’t make it nearly impossible to build friendships. And a future where classes can work for the students, and not the other way around. Technology is making all of this possible, and I hope that one day, nobody will have to feel the way I have

“Ring” did you hear that.That was the bell. Second semester started, The first semester went by fast. The first semester was hard I got bad grades.My Goals for this semeser are to do better in my classes.

Norman Ralph Augustine once said “One of the most feared expressions in modern times is 'The computer is down’.” I personally like this quote because it explains some of my past experiences with computers. I can remember when I got my first computer on Christmas; it was from “Santa”. I was at that age when I had a suspicion that Santa wasn’t real. From that day I wanted to learn everything I could about computers. My parents were very excited for me because of my willingness to learn everything I could about my newest interest. So the very next day I installed all of the software and hardware so that I could finally get on my new computer. One of my favorite things that I did on the computer was play video games. One day I got busted playing games by my parents and I was grounded from the computer for a week. So after that my parents would give me time to use my computer for gaming and time to do homework. Over time I found that there were many different things you can do with computers and you can learn many new concepts. The three main concepts that I think everyone should know about computers are how a computer runs, how to get rid of viruses, and troubleshooting. Most people that have grown up in the technological world know how to do these three main concepts already, but the older generations who are just coming into this technologically advanced world need to learn these three main concepts in order to use a computer efficiently and effectively.