A Fork in the Road
25 Jan 2024
Moving Onward?
Growing up, I had plenty of hobbies - drawing, writing stories, playing basketball and games competitively among several things. More often than not, I put effort into practicing and getting better at each of these pastimes. It became a cycle of: discovery, interest, practice, fascination. One by one these interests would slowly overtake each other and replace what hobbies I was once previously completely preoccupied by.
As a kid, I had a passion for building with LEGOs. I enjoyed creating things. I wanted to be a civil engineer when I grew up. Looking back, it wasn’t just the different varieties of bricks, figures, and building sets that gave me joy. I was most happy by the sense of accomplishment I got after completing something. In retrospect, those LEGO builds were most likely not that impressive - but the joy of seeing my parents display my completed set of the Star Wars X-Wing Starfighter on top of our living room shelf gave me much priceless satisfaction.
A Fresh Start
In one barangay in the Philippines, the hard-working parents of two children work tirelessly in the city as noisy crowds fill the bustling streets. Both finish their days in exhaustion, working to provide a comfortable life for themselves and their children. With years worth of their savings and efforts, they move to the island of Oahu in the state of Hawaii.
At an early age, my parents taught me the enduring value of having an education. Career success was rooted in discipline and effort. After all, I witnessed my parents’ struggles and tireless days to shoulder my brother and I through our academic lives. Knowing that academia would lead me to finding important career pathways, I was motivated then, as I am now to strive for success as a means of supporting my family as they have supported me.
Before I became an undergraduate pursuing a BS in Computer Science at UH Mānoa, I was set on becoming a civil engineer and planned to take the relevant courses for this path. But, during my second year of high school, one decision out of curiosity to sign up for an intro CS class changed my career outlook.
I was excited to learn how apps, websites, and games were made. As the class rolled on, I realized my passion for learning about computer science continued to grow. Throughout the year, I gradually started to pay more attention to my CS homework more so than my engineering assignments.
During the second semester of my junior year in March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic put the world on hold. Subsequently, Zoom meetings replaced the familiar learning environment of in-person classes. It was an unfamiliar territory - frequent technical difficulties, students with no cameras or microphones and all assignments being completely online. I was initially overjoyed by the prospect of working from home, but it eventually made me realize that it was easier to lose focus. I convinced myself that I could do the work later and that I could comfortably do it within the four walls of my bedroom. In turn, I began to lose self-discipline and was less attentive. Days quickly turned to a year and a half as the start of my undergraduate career would begin.
Future Endeavors
A memorable high school experience was enough to solidify my choice to major in CS at UH Mānoa. Although university would be a major step to earning the success I aimed for, I had little motivation in the first semester. Assignments and due dates went by, all while I struggled to develop momentum to catch up. I fell behind and into a narrow, seemingly-bottomless pit with which I frantically attempted to claw my way out.
Unlike high school, I found it difficult to keep my focus. Though it was just my freshman year, I was already overwhelmed. Fortunately, summer break came. Gradually, I was able to ease myself back into and improve my understanding of the previous two semesters’ core content. As a future BS CS graduate, I hope to reflect back on my days as a student and have the confidence to say that I made the right choice regarding the career path I took.