Interests and Skills

Week Accomplishments : AWS server completion, watched Yale Video and reflected, completed lesson on booleans Goals : Try to finish everything before the weekend because I have vacation and will not be able to complete other than during the week

Interests: CS (Likely front end, or game development), Biomed, Nursing ( Anesthesiology, or smthn else )

Skills: CS - Python, CSS, Java (beginner), JavaScript Biomed - Concussion certification, know most muscles and bones, can identify certain tumors Nursing - I have parents that are good at it

Yale Video

Laurie Santos’s speach on her new course in Yale Psychology and the Good Life talks about a lot of the mental struggles and stress that students both in college and even in high school, middle schools, and elementary schools face as a result of the pressures of placed upon them by themselves, their parents, their teachers, and even society’s norms and expectations.

Here at Del Norte, almost all of the teacher I know complain in one form or another that student culture is very pushy towards taking APs and high level academic classes. Lot’s of times, just as Santos surveyed, I find that I, and many of my other peers, struggle to actually effectively learn other arguably more important skills and overly burden ourselves. This comes in the form of practical struggles which we’ll face in our adulthood such as independence, communication, and mental coping. In turn, we also over look many of the arguably more happier and fulfilling aspects of our lives.

In my opinion, much of this stress in high school is the result of expectations of going to college. Look at Europe for instance, although it’s cliche to compare American and European institutions, it is undeniable that most European students are relatively far more laxed in getting into university and studying in university. The rigor and academic load is still relatively the same but most of the students find themselves far less pressured than their American counterparts.

To achieve and recognize some of this happiness, learning and applying the methods to make one happy is essential. Letting go of some excessive or unnecessary expectations can often go a long way towards seeing the fulfilling aspects of our lives.

Among some really important practices she lists are: adequate sleep, time to appreciate and acknowledge gratitude (both self and outside), meditation, exercise, breaks. All of these are practices that can go a long way towards creating a healthier and ultimately more fulfilling life.

There’s definitely a lot more especially her insights regarding her course material and how to live fulfilling lives but I think that can be something I blog another time and watch in my own time to let sink in.

Goals in coding

Applying the mindset that Santos’s speach sort of brings to light, I think as I code, I definitely want to keep in mind that I shouldn’t be coding for the sake of a grade but rather I should be coding to develop my interest within the field and seeing its applications as a powerful tool in my life and society. The most important goal I have is being able to use CSA as a way not only to learn AP CSA material for the AP Exam, but also the best practices of coding, how to become a good programmer, and developing my creativity as one. This especially ties into the Alumni panel, where even if I don’t go into a CS related major, it will still be in good interest to do good in this class.