Experiences

One memorable experience for me was during CSP last year when I was given the task of Deployment Manager during the second trimester. I remember attending that first deployment meeting and not understanding anything about the process or just how it worked. After that meeting, I went and bought a Raspberry Pi kit so I could deploy my group’s project. Deployment itself was really hard for me because I was not familiar with the idea of it, but with a lot of time and effort put in I was able to figure out the technical ideas of it like port forwarding. During this process, I remember individually asking you for help with the domain name and I had never really liked the idea of asking for help because I was intimidated, but with your help, I was able to deploy the project in time. Now this year in CSA when we were asked to deploy our own individual projects I remember getting an error that I could not figure out and instead of individually asking you I asked on the general channel and was able to fix the problem with their help. Along with that I also remember other people in CSA messaging me and asking me to help them with their deployment as well. Since then we have deployed maybe 2 more times and each time I have had different experiences with different errors but I was able to research and fix the problem myself.

My second memorable experience was during the last trimester when I was the backend developer for my group and we had to make a database for our project. Before this, I was never really considered the ‘backend developer’ of a group, but this time I wanted to challenge myself and also be able to learn more about Java for the AP test. I had struggled with the database for a while and how I was going to implement it with my PBL theme, but eventually I was able to get help from my table group and I researched more about the topic and was able to get it working by Night At The Museum.

Another memorable experience was during CSP last year when we had to do a vocabulary review for all the terms that we had learned until then (last year with Alice as my partner). There were a lot of terms and definitions that we had to format and show our understanding of. I remember I enjoyed having this live review because it was a good review that showed my understanding of the key concepts. This was a good learning experience because I was able to talk about the difficulties of concepts during this review and also establish the idea that I was able to grasp the understanding.

A memorable experience from last year was when we were invited to present the new Del Norte CS courses at the CTE meeting. I was nervous at first when trying to bring parents and their kids in, but after a while, it became easier. It was really fulfilling seeing the children excited to interact with the games displayed, and also the parents being intrigued by what I was saying. I was glad to be able to contribute to the greater idea that computer science can be accessible and engaging for students of all backgrounds. As the event progressed, I noticed that some parents had questions about the courses, while others were curious about the career prospects in computer science. I took the opportunity to engage with them, sharing my personal experiences and in the world of computer science. As the day ended, I felt a sense of accomplishment. Our presentation had not only showcased the exciting new courses but had also ignited a spark of interest and curiosity in both students and parents.

The Algorithmic Dances we did last year was also a memorable experience. At first when you explained the premise I was a little shocked because no one would expect a computer science class to perform dances on a stage; however, after we came up with an idea and rehearsed it, our group was excited to be able to present it. We believed that it was creative and different than what the other groups had decided to do. When we performed on the stage we were disappointed to see that we were not given that high of a score, but we realized that our dance was one that showed our personalities. This experience showed our willingness to step outside our comfort zones and our group’s commitment to presenting something unique. This experience has stayed with me, serving as a reminder to approach challenges with an open mind and to never be afraid to combine creativity with computer science.

Working on the Mario game project both during school and in the summer was also an interesting experience. I had never really done any animation before, so this was a new concept for me. I always liked the design part of our classes a lot, so this was an opportunity to hone those skills and also learn about game design and how to create a functional game. Deconstructing our game during the summer and breaking it into manageable pieces for future students reminded me of my own introduction to computer science and accumulating skills through project-based learning. I was excited to be able to contribute to the learning of other students and share my passion for the game that Nicky and I worked on together.