The Tortoise and the Hare by Maria

The Tortoise and the Hare by Maria - March 2024 Scholarship Essay

Once upon a time, there was a race between a green tortoise and a brown hare. Curious onlookers gathered around for the spectacle, but questioned why there should even be a race when the outcome was already known—the fast one wins and the slow one loses. Unexpectedly, the slow tortoise won, and the lesson of “slow and steady wins the race” was forever ingrained into my brain. However, my practice of this lesson was soon disrupted by a girl who would be described as the hare.

It was the second week of school when my engineering teacher announced that we would be creating autonomous robots that could navigate themselves through a giant wooden maze. My eyes dilated with excitement and only became wider when it was revealed this project was also a competition of whose robot could complete the maze the fastest. Although I wasn’t in a group with my friends, I was determined to communicate with my three assigned teammates to win. When my group mates and I were finished with our introductions, it was time to make a plan. However, before I could suggest my ideas, my groupmate, Ashley, rushed to get the Vex (robotic) parts. At that moment, I realized she was my ‘opponent,’ the hare.

When Ashley came back with the various Vex parts, she immediately attempted to start building the robot. Internally, I was shocked and frustrated because she was diving into the project without a clear plan, a complete 180 compared to how I start projects. I prefer to visualize my plan from start to finish instead of going in blindly. Thus, I decided to slow down her pace by suggesting we make a sketch of the preferred robot model and write down essential Vex parts we would incorporate. Ashley gave me a frustrated sigh, but she complied, and I felt content because we were going at a pace I was comfortable with. Once the sketch was finished, we gathered more Vex parts and began building our assigned parts of the robot. Over the course of two days, our group had a physical robot that we could start coding. As I started creating a base code, I kept hearing a bunch of clanging and banging beside me. Looking to my right, I witnessed Ashley taking apart the robot. Again, frustration was building up inside me because she was doing actions without consultation. Because I wanted to stick to the plan despite the robot being slightly different from before, I suggested using the trial-and-error method before making future changes. Although this method wasn’t consistently implemented, as Ashley still tried just going with the flow, we managed to create our final design and code for the robot.

On the day of the competition, we secured third place against nine other teams. Although we didn’t receive first place, we were proud to be on the podium. However, when looking back at this journey, I realized we obtained a high ranking because Ashley and I had different perspectives. Even though we had various disagreements about the direction of the project, compromises that combined both our ideas for the direction of the project were always made. For instance, since we conjured an idea of the physical structure of the robot, we were able to construct it faster than other groups due to our visual; further, we allowed more time for trial runs. Although I catered to the perspective of ‘slow and steady’ winning the race, I witnessed the benefits of rushing into the project; that benefit being able to physically witness how the Vex parts fit and creating several mini prototypes to reference. It seems that the diversity of perspectives allows room for efficiency and enhanced creativity. Despite only working with Ashley once, her attitude towards projects never left me.

Presently, I’ve noticed I unconsciously combined both of our perspectives and turned them into my own method that I use to approach any assignment assigned to me. For instance, I first grasp the criteria of the assignment and then evaluate the timeline. If I can’t mentally visualize my project from start to finish, I’ll use the slow approach, but If I can mentally visualize the whole project already, I would dive right in without a physical plan. This method has allowed me to excel in all my assignments and make well-rounded decisions.

Not only did my approach to projects change, but so did my attitude towards myself and others. Being a timid child, traveling outside my comfort zone wasn’t appealing, yet the pride I felt when our group achieved third place in our robot competition project eroded that wall. The excitement of adventuring out of my comfort zone has taken over my mindset and allowed me to embrace new ideas and collaborate with my peers. Instead of putting aside other people’s methods, I embrace them.

In the end, I’m ultimately grateful for being partnered with Ashley for our project. My mindset has changed from a fixed to a growth way of thinking, and I definitely plan to continue to have an open mind as I pursue my computer engineering career. After all, engineering does involve new ideas and constant collaboration.