LET’S SOLVE PROBLEMS. by Marco

LET’S SOLVE PROBLEMS. by Marco - September 2019 Scholarship Essay

Since elementary school, math has been my favorite subject. The process of manipulating numbers to give a truly meaningful answer has always been rewarding. The most interesting problems are the most challenging because they require fluid intelligence by connecting concepts of many mathematical topics into one problem. Early experiences and success with math laid the foundation for my confidence and intrigue in a STEM career. However, my career destination was not certain until my sophomore year when I was introduced to computer science. It combined creativity with logical thinking, which I found extremely inviting, and it utilized math in new ways. Aside from enjoying it and its parallelism to math, I found that the field provided many appealing opportunities. Particularly, one guest lecturer for a computer science course I took last summer solidified my choice. Out of all of his advice, I most resonated with the notion that we should help others. He showed ways to use what we learned in the course for social good. This moment solidified my passion for computer science since it makes for a perfect pairing to combine programming with community service, which has been a major aspect of my life.

Junior Year, after enrolling in AP Computer Science, I entered with the naive mindset to prove that I was the greatest. However, my teacher insistently spoke about how we are all in this together, and that we succeed as a class, not as an individual. For the first marking period, we took all of our exams with a partner. At first, I was unfavorable to the idea because I did not want to give away free answers, but I soon found out that helping other students understand programming was beneficial to our entire class system. As more of my peers understood concepts, the entire room was able to collaborate on problems and projects. Widespread collaboration allowed for different and beneficial perspectives that I may have never experienced so I was able to learn a lot from my peers. Consequently, I never found myself in my own seat during class, as I would venture around the room working with different students. Having this environment made programming alone seem significantly less productive and engaging, and many students would find themselves waiting all day to team up in class.

Along with that, attaining a larger community of programmers in my school became both an academic and a personal goal of mine. An academic goal because of the larger diversity of ideas and mindsets for solving problems and creating; a personal goal because of the new friendships, and the peers that can be helped through this field of study.

Light bulb idea: why not start a computer science club to accommodate this? As co-founder of this club, an important goal would be to introduce new students to programming. It can be an intimidating venture to jump into a class that is totally new. I could bring students who did not know anything about programming to the club and teach them in an engaging way. Additionally, I could tutor students enrolled in the college-level AP course and bug-fix and mentor students in the lower level project-based courses. Also, at the core of many programmer’s passion, is the ability to create and share outstanding self-made projects. The club could bring together a slew of peers to play a game or marvel over an algorithm. Having someone’s eyes on your program could inspire an idea or provide helpful feedback to improve a project’s foundation. Also, this club could help to instill confidence in those that have had a more formal classroom introduction to computer science. A computer science club could open up doors for the students in our school. STEM degrees are said to have great value in today’s technologically-dependent society due to the massive impact those with the knowledge set can have on a business. Science lays the foundation for understanding known interactions and for discovering new ones that can give a business a revolutionary idea. Technology allows a business to operate more efficiently and on a larger scale than ever before. Engineers create and design the groundbreaking, useful tools and projects to aid a business in production. Mathematics helps each aforementioned discipline as it explains the patterns that contribute to the laws they follow. The business world finds significant value in STEM because STEM has had a significantly positive impact on their operations. Therefore, a computer science club seems like a good addition to any high school!