Creative Learner
With creative learning, I used my skills I learned from Physical Computing and Design Technology to laser cut a piece of wood to make it into a custom keychain for my friend for her birthday. I didn’t want to make an ordinary keychain, so I was a creative learner as not only did I make the keychain, but I used all the things I knew about her and the memories we had together to make all the symbols on it mean something. From her favorite animal to words she says a lot. Additionally, I have learned to apply being a creative learner in a lot of different things in life. Being creative in art was one thing, but another thing could be needing to solve a math equation. Which needs me to be creative and think of different equations I need to use to solve it, or different numbers there are that can be used.
Critical Thinker
For Critical thinking specifically, it was something that I have learned all throughout my 11 years at SAS. From being able to think outside of the box when there is something given that wasn’t what I expected, to learning how to apply my ideas into the real world and have them come to life. For example, in the Learning Lab I used a wheelbarrow, umbrella, and glasses to get a cat out of a tree! In drawing of course. I was a critical thinker and used glasses to shine a light into the cat’s eye, making it jump, where it would fall into the umbrella that is on the wheelbarrow for a softer landing! This showed my critical thinking as I used very odd objects to get a cat out of a tree in the way I thought out, which could be different from everyone else as the ideas are endless!
Resilience
Resilience was most likely the hardest thing for me to go through, but it did allow me to slow down and see what I needed to push through, and what was going on around me that required me to be resilience. The biggest thing, the one thing that I will always talk about when it comes to resilience, will be my coding project I did for my course Physical Computing. It was my favorite project I did, and it was super fun to do, and I loved my end product. But! Learning how to code and organize wires and draw out each function was challenging. Not because I failed more times than I could count, but rather because I didn’t know why I was failing. This required me to be resilient, to not just go and copy something online to works, but rather to learn why it works and how, then apply and stitch it into my code. This overall taught me to be resilient, and to know how to push through and look towards my goal rather than just stopping and doing everything the “easy” way.
Skillful Communicator
Being a skillful communicator taught me the most and was the most important in my opinion. As everything falls into needing that good communication. I’ve learned that if things aren’t said well or clearly, then a lot of things could go wrong. However, if things are articulated well and clearly, everything tends to go smoothly, and it becomes fun. Another thing I’ve learned is that being a skillful communicator means more than just using words; it also involves actions and understanding. For example, I went to 浙江 to play volleyball, and with there being a significant language barrier, it was challenging to rely solely on words to communicate effectively. So, we learned to use a translator app and show physical gestures. It was odd at first, but in the end, it became enjoyable, and I realized how a language barrier isn’t a wall but rather an opportunity for creative expression.
Effective Collaborator
One thing I learned about being an effective collaborator was definitely learning how to combine everyone’s idea so everyone’s voices were heard. One major example was an ASA I ran with some of my classmates that taught middle school students about sociology. Through this I was able to not only collaborate with my peers by organizing time slots but also bringing different ideas to life that helped run the ASA smoothly! What I learned from this specifically was how important it is to do your part when in a group. From doing different PPT to showing up to teach the ASA in general. The difference I saw between working alone and working with others is, if one does not do their part, it will not only affect the entire plan and timing. This shifted my perspective on how to be patient and clear to others, as well as understand the importance of not acting fast, but rather acting when the entire group is ready, and everything is good and clear to go.
Extra-Curricular
Volleyball is a sport that requires a lot of coordination and collaboration with your team, as well as resilience for overcoming obstacles. When I played in the APAC tournament, I made a lot of mistakes but was able to overcome those obstacles by not letting them affect my gameplay afterwards. Additionally, serving also requires a lot of resilience- sometimes the ball goes over the net, and sometimes it doesn’t, but not letting those failed attempts affect me is something I had to learn after my three years of volleyball training. Rallies in volleyball are when the ball somehow keeps on staying alive and off the floor, which takes a lot of time and a lot of coordination with your team- letting the ball come to the setter in the perfect place, coordinating defense, attack options, the sport really does require a lot of collaboration, which is why I find the sport extremely fun. Even if we do make mistakes, its a team sport, and that’s why having each other as teammates is amazing, we help each other get back up and hype each other up!
Big Project
The science project about cars and physics has really tested my collaboration and grit. My partners whom both of which I am not familiar with. I wasn’t really sure of what work they enjoyed, or what balances they would like, which was really a challenge at the beginning of the project. After all, the physics drag race seemed fun, but it would get a bit confusing with the twist including random partners, putting me outside of my comfort level. However, I was already slightly familiar with the names due to them being in my science class (yay!), so all was not lost (for now…). At the beginning, we had to divide the tasks involved in our lab report and experiment equally- we had to decide on what way we would take notes, how we would hold each other accountable- everything included collaboration of some sorts. Additionally, due to us having to choose three main criterions to work on and focus on, I was able to compromise with their demands and what they wanted out of the project. I think the project ultimately tested my resilience and my collaboration, which was kind of cool.
For my elective, Physical Computing, we were asked to create a box that has special components. I planned to create a box that is coded with different LED patterns.
I spent hours trying to figure out how to code where theres both a servo motor and an LED. This made me recognize how I was following the resilience TTG.
Instead of giving up and searching the ANSWER on chatGPT, I asked chatGPT to explain my code to me, and why it didn’t work. I’ve progressed over time to having my code work, but it still isn’t what I want. But, I’m making progress!
This weekend, for Thanksgiving, me and my team went to 长兴浙江 to play against a local sports school, and I believe that during this trip I was a skillful communicate.
To elaborate, we had a language barrier, but I used hand signals and translators to help communicate. We got to see their daily schedule, and what they do to get that good. It was really eye opening to see how much work they put in, and what we could do. I asked about their specific trainings, how tall they were, how they balanced school, etc.
In learning lab, we learned all about mental health and the importance to care about it. So for one of the tasks, me and two of my other friends, went on a mindfulness walk.
We went out around the cafeteria, and looked at the small things we never paid attention to before.
Short, but meaningful task!
