The threat of online school may be gone, but it doesn't mean the chaos caused by COVID or by college life is. With change like this comes the requirement to let go to move on to better things.
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Classes:
• ENGR 202, the first-ever first-year workshop class taught by me and more than a dozen other Engineering Design Coaches!
• M E 331, an introduction to convection, conduction, and radiation heat transfer in engineering materials
• M E 356, how to design (and design with) gears, belts, and other mechanical components
• M E 374, "everything is an electrical circuit if you think about it hard enough" Part 2: Electric Boogaloo
oh no
April 6, 2022 | subverted perspectives
It took around 8 or 9 close exposures and 3 vaccine doses, but "I will definitely never get COVID!" turned into "I have COVID!" after a close contact at a birthday party. I had to let go of not only the all-powerful status of my immune system up until that point, but also the FOMO ("fear of missing out") that had pervaded my consciousness for my entire life — missing parties, interactions, events on campus, classes, etc. In a way, getting COVID helped my psyche.
To rub salt into the wound, the day after the positive test was the only 70-degree day until Week 9. For the following 10 days, I was miserable, and it's safe to say that it knocked me off my game for the rest of the quarter.
Look closely at the T line. VERY closely.
leaving the cradle
May 22, 2022 | subverted perspectives
For the last three years, one of my closest friends and I have been separated by the Cascade Range, the Columbia River, and a 4.5-hour drive on I-90, I-82, and Highway 12. After we graduated from the same IB program at a high school in the Seattle Eastside, he took a gamble in matriculating into the Combined Plan program at Whitman College, and after visiting him for the first time in March, I got to hitch a ride with some friends to see his graduation ceremony this year.
Seeing someone who I've been close friends with since 4th grade walk the stage in front of the "Mem" building reminded me of my own journey — the fact that I'm close to finishing college — and of the fleeting nature of present moments. I knew that I was going to have to let go of being able to drive 30 minutes (let alone 4.5 hours) to visit him, as starting in August, he's going to be a six-hour flight away from me... at Columbia University. (Yes, THAT Columbia. The Ivy League one.)
All smiles approximately 30 minutes post-stage walk
imperfectionism
April-June 2022 | interdisciplinary design
This quarter, I pursued my second Honors ad hoc project, in M E 356 (Machine Design Analysis), by trying to design and 3D print a to-scale mechanical replacement aortic valve. The "letting go" portion of this project involved letting go of the need to be perfect with this project's execution — as the quarter went on, I became busier and busier with other commitments, so this project was re-scoped to the point where I wasn't matching my initial expectations for myself. Additionally, prints on the newer liquid vat polymerization printers at the MILL kept failing. In this project, I learned to embrace failure and imperfection as part of the learning and iteration process.
The print resolution got a lot better as I progressed (and then it got a lot worse...)
perfectly balanced... as all things should be
June 8, 2022 | interdisciplinary design
CREATE's first-ever Community Day and Research Showcase included five HuskyADAPT Design Teams project posters, representing the culmination of my first year as a HuskyADAPT Design Chair. While I think I had a lot of success in spearheading a restructuring of the Design Teams program, adding biweekly workshops, academic/corporate lab tours, and more structure to the program, I recognize that I had significant failures as well, especially in delivering projects to the clients successfully... which is the most important part of the position. While one of my teams was closer to crashing and burning without a working prototype, I jumped into much more involvement with my other team after it experienced significant attrition to help them finalize their prototype. As I return to this position for the next academic year, I know I will have to let go of my failures to learn from both them and my successes and make sure that I'm a better leader.
Post-showcase adrenaline