Ainsley's Portfolio

Critical thinking:

The one task I spent most time on was robotics. Our team encountered like a billion problems in robotics, for instance we couldn’t make the intake system work right, or the bot couldn’t walk straight, etc. Some are easy to solve but the others required a lot of time and effort. The way our team used to solve those problems is we will look at the varsity’s robot, look for inspirations and see if there are any parts that we can blend into our robot’s design, but we would also need to adjust parts based on our needs, despite the limiting materials and limited access to the maker space. This entire time I spent in robotics really helped me learn how to solve problems without much outside help, and I think my robotics skills improved by a lot after this semester. I am very impressed by my own growth and I’m happy that I can finally build a good functioning robot without any help from the coaches. Even though we are still a bit inexperienced, and our last competition wasn’t ideal, but I believe that with all the skills that we’ve learned and acquired so far, we will be able to go further next year.

Collaboration:

Solving Murder Mystery with Amberlyn was a really fun experience and helped me realized how important collaboration is. During that short 30 minutes, we managed to first organize all the given information, then determine each’s motive, at last solve the murder mystery. We didn’t talk for this entire process, but instead we used hand gestures to communicate. My role in this activity was to organize all the cards and sort them chronologically with different locations, suspects, and weapons, while Amberlyn’s job was to process all the information and solve the mystery. I think we did a really good job on collaborating, and we have clear work distribution, which is the key of making this successful. We all contributed equally, and everyone did the thing they are better at. At the same time, we know each other to a certain point so that also made our communication easier. Overall, it was an interesting and funny time spent with my friend working on this task, and it also taught me how important equal work distribution is in a group.

Creativity:

I personally don’t consider myself as a creative person, so when I saw my classmates’ t-shirt designs, I was impressed by how innovative they were and wondered how they made up with those ideas. Compared to their design, my design was just a copycat version of the resilience icon with some minor changes. I realized that I need to learn to be more creative and I cannot always rely on existed designs. So, when there was a theater project that we had to make our own set design, I tried to be more innovative but not just rely on the original scene. I adjusted the scene by totally flipping the original teenager school life background to an adultish background. The set design I made was also based on a bar instead of a high school classroom. Even though it’s not something big compared to composing your own song or design your own website, I am still proud of myself for being able to make my own edition to the story and be “innovative”.

Communication:

Middle school to me was a nightmare. I was new to this school when there were a ton of big projects coming all together, starting from speech unit to passion project, then to poetry slam and last shark tank. All of those required to stand in front of a group of people and present your ideas, however, I wasn’t confident enough to be brave and clearly express my ideas, so I screwed up almost everything, even now, when I think of it, it’s still feels disastrous. I was so unconfident that I was even too scared to talk to my current friends. I thought I was going to stay like that until the end of high school. However, when I finally get into highschool, I suddenly become more confident and more willing to open myself in front of others. I’ve learned how to clearly express my ideas in front of a class without my legs shaking or my voice trembling.

Resilience:

I am really proud of my 198-day Duolingo streak. This journey has taught me a lot about resilience. There were days when I didn’t feel like studying or when I was super busy, but I kept going because I was determined to maintain my streak and beat my mom. This experience showed me that resilience means not just getting through hard times but also enjoying the journey and celebrating my progress.

Big project:

Extracurricular: