A Fork in the Road
25 Jan 2024
Moving onward?
Growing up, I had a habit of gaining interests and hobbies with lots of things. I often tried to improve on them by putting in effort and practicing. This was a simple cycle: learn, practice, repeat. An issue here is that there’s a limit to the number of items on a plate before a person gives in to the sensation of being full.
Though I’ve retained some of these passions, others have been dropped and forgotten along the path of time. As a child, I had a passion for building with LEGOs. I enjoyed creating things. However, it wasn’t only the variety of bricks, figures, and sets that could be configured that gave me happiness. I liked the sense of accomplishment and pride that came with my creations. Looking back now, they were most likely not that impressive, but the joy on my parents’ faces once I had completed them gave me all the priceless satisfaction I needed. As I grew older and the significance of academia became increasingly apparent, I knew I needed to have an ultimate goal - I strove to become… a civil engineer.
A fresh start and stagnation
In a small Philippines district, many diligent people work tirelessly in various occupations as crowds fill the bustling streets. They finish their days in exhaustion, all while getting wages that barely pay for a week’s worth of provision for themselves and their families. With years worth of savings, my family and I moved to Hawaii. I knew that success was paramount. After all, I witnessed my parents’ struggles to shoulder my brother and I. I started assimilating into life in a different place with a newly acquired language. I put all my effort into getting good grades from elementary through high school and received several achievements.
Although I was taking different courses in civil engineering, I took an introductory class to CS during my sophomore year. My decision was simply out of curiosity and a desire to get a glimpse of what goes in behind the scenes of programs. I was excited to learn how programs, websites, and games were designed. It was all intriguing to me. As the class rolled on, my passion for programming continued to grow. I started to pay more attention to my CS assignments more so than my engineering coursework. Things were going well.
However, in March 2020 during the second semester of my junior year, this progress was stifled and stagnated. The COVID-19 pandemic put the world on hold. Following this, Zoom meetings replaced the familiar learning environment of in-person classes. Having virtual classes on Zoom with frequent technical difficulties, no cameras and no microphones was unfamiliar territory. Being home made it easier to lose focus. I convinced myself that I could do the work later and comfortably within the four walls of my bedroom. In turn, I began to lose self-discipline. Days quickly turned to years 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 quickly went by, all while I struggled to develop momentum to catch up. I fell behind and into a narrow, bottomless pit with which I attempted to claw my way out.
Unlike high school, I found it difficult to keep my focus and thought my freshman year to be slightly overwhelming. Fortunately, summer break came. I was able to gradually ease myself back to what we learned in the two previous semesters. In future undertakings, I hope to continue honing my coding abilities to secure a job in the field of computer science.