Cas Zaye

02/22/2022
CLC Block C
Academic & Personal Achievement Write-Up
Description
In the first semester of 12th grade, I was set up to take Mr. O’Hara’s senior electronics class. I
had taken engineering last year, so I knew how Mr. O’Hara ran his class, and I did well in that
class, so I decided to try my hand at electronics. I had never done electronics before, and I
found myself struggling to grasp the concepts at the beginning but as soon as I realized that I
could use some of my knowledge from engineering, it got easier to understand and I began to
excel. By the end of the semester, I was at the highest grade I have ever been at in any class
throughout my entire high school career.
Personal Relevancy
Getting this grade was significant to me because it honestly allowed me to feel confident in my
ability to step outside my comfort zone for what felt like the first time ever. Throughout high
school, I have stayed away from trades related courses because I never saw how they would be-
nefit me, and I never felt like I would be any good at them. Since taking this course, I feel; like I
can finally say that I am capable of taking trades courses and even excelling at them. I was the
only girl in the senior electronics course last semester, and there were times where I felt like I
didn’t belong and that maybe I shouldn’t have taken that course. I know it is a very common
thing amidst girls in STEM classes to feel the same way, because it is usually viewed as a “guys
course” which isn’t true by any means. Taking this course and succeeding the way that I did
makes me feel like a defied some odd, that maybe I can do things that I didn’t think I could do
and I feel like maybe I can be an example for younger female students when it comes to
whether or not they take courses such as electronics, and engineering.
Skill Development
Over the duration of this course, I improved my ability to problem solve, and trouble shoot pro-
jects. I did, however, learn how to improve my ideas and projects based off of what I discovered
during the trouble shooting process. There were a lot of hard skills that I learned during this
course that led me to get a 99%, such as building a properly functioning circuit, and building an
autonomous robot, but a lot of soft skills also came from electronics. I learned how to work with
a partner or a group in a productive, open environment, as well as how to work even better in-
dependently on projects without falling behind. I don’t know which set of skills is more valuable
to me personally, but both are overall important.
Self Awareness
There are a multitude of things that I learned about myself, which seems unbelievable to me be-
cause I surely wasn’t expecting to have the take away that I did. I learned that I don’t have a
reason to be scared of things I don’t understand in full. For example, I have always been scared
of STEM classes because I felt like since I struggle with numbers, then I wouldn’t be cut out to do
things like engineering or electronics because they would obviously involve math. News flash,
they don’t. It became very obvious to me that, yes you do have to deal with numbers when it
comes to coding and figuring out OHM’s sometimes, but a lot of the time it is laid out in front of
you. The reason behind this being that you aren’t in a math class, you are there to program, and
build. So that being said, why would you be doing complex math equations?
Future Connections
I am still not entirely sure how this achievement will come in handy for my future, as I don’t in-
tend on being an engineering, or competing in Battle Bots. The hard skills I learned are good for
daily life, but the soft skills are what will benefit me on my path to being a writer. Writing is a
tedious process, and often times you will hit a road block, and sometimes it is hard to find a way
around it, so troubleshooting is a very important component in the editing process. This
achievement is opening new doors to me in a way that doesn’t change my current dream, but it
allows a back up plan. Worst case scenario; I use engineering or electronics as a back up plan in
the case that writing doesn’t work out.