My Origin Story with Computer Science by ALEX

My Origin Story with Computer Science by ALEX - February 2024 Scholarship Essay

As a skinny, quiet, and curious ten-year-old boy in the fifth grade, I was desperate to solve a Rubik’s Cube. I twisted and turned that cube endlessly in all directions, but it was no help. I was never going to solve that cube by chance.

Since I was always interested in learning how things work, I found a step-by-step guide on how to solve the cube and realized it was just a sequence of algorithms. I followed them, memorized them, and eagerly demonstrated what I learned to my parents and little brother. It felt exhilarating to mix the colored squares on the cube, solve the cube as quickly as I could, and mix them up again. My parents were amazed that I found a way to solve it.

In 2019, I had the opportunity to attend a 6-week virtual summer program through the Duke University Talent Identification Program (Duke TIP). This program was incredibly rewarding because I learned fundamentals that I use today when solving problems. I collaborated with students from around the country to find solutions to different problems using a Raspberry Pi, a credit card-sized computer. During this program, my class partner and I developed a video surveillance system we could access in real-time through a private network we created.

Wordle was getting increasingly popular in early 2022, and I became a huge follower. It was a stimulating exercise for me to solve daily, and I realized that solving the puzzle could be automated using code. I spent the next few nights writing a program that could autonomously complete Wordle puzzles. Thinking other puzzle solvers would appreciate it, I published my code to GitHub, a code hosting platform, and received responses from users who were as excited about it as I was.

I realized my problem-solving skills and curiosity had practical applications that could be used to help myself and others. I decided to join my school’s robotics club as the lead programmer. I applied my digital skills on a physical level when our school participated in team-built FIRST Robotics competitions against other teams in Florida. As my programming and leadership skills evolved further, I shared them with the rest of the robotics team. It greatly improved their morale and skills to help us all succeed. I learned that building a robot isn’t a one-person job, so getting as many hands-on participants as possible is incredibly important to increase efficiency and productivity. For instance, I worked with our build team to develop a robotic arm to gather rubber ducks scattered around a competition arena. Experiences like these stimulated a socially rewarding environment for all of us nerds.

As a graduating senior, I won’t be returning to the robotics team next year, so I feel it’s important to make sure that there is someone to mentor others and encourage them to continue with coding. To this end, I started teaching programming to two freshmen this year. My passion for code that I am sharing with these students will hopefully lead them to share it with others. It’s an impact that lasts a lifetime when it succeeds.

My past selves shaped who I am today: the curious fifth grader who solved the Rubik’s Cube, the problem-solving middle schooler, and the competitive high schooler. My interest in understanding how things work has been constant throughout my life and has led me to pursue computer science in college.