My Personal CSP Journey

The very first coding class I took was in middle school. It was a class provided by the school known as “exploratory”. This basically meant that for one trimester of the year, teacher would teach the class on the basics of coding. AKA Scratch. I had to dig pretty far back to find some old projects. Here is the result of my search:

Pretty revolutionary.

My next experience in computer science was when I joined Cyberpatriot. Cyberpatriot is essentially a competition where thousands of teams compete to secure different operating systems. Along the way, I learned how to configure different security settings on a computer, how to use powershell and cmd, and even a little bit of coding. Here’s a photo of my first year doing CyberPatriot, dating all the way back to 2018 when I was a itty bitty 7th grader.

Now, fast forward to 2022. Here I am taking AP Computer Science Principles with very little knowledge on coding. Thankfully this class forces me to take the time to sit down and understand everything. Since its also a fast paced class, I have learned how to use GitHub, how to code with python, bash, javascript, etc, and how to collaborate all within the span of a couple weeks.

Psychology Takeaways

  • Vivian: I learned that things like your salary or your job aren’t what necessarily make you happy, rather data shows that people who spend more time engaging in social activities feel more happy overall. This goes along with being time affluent and avoiding burnout.
  • Amay: A student’s life is mostly centered around learning. A student will need to show evidence of their learning in almost every lesson they attend. Concentrating on their work and employing effective study techniques are two approaches to assist students in learning. We must value our time, as Laurie Santos discussed in her address. If we value our time, we have more of it and may use it to enhance our mental health. There are various ways we may make the most of our time. For instance, we may efficiently spend our time by concentrating on our task, doing it quickly, and avoiding rushing it at the last minute. In accordance with Laurie Santos’s discourse, we should also exercise self-control and develop healthy routines.When you have the opportunity to work hard and have a break from your responsibilities, you should do so. These actions would improve your academic performance as well as your general wellbeing since they would reduce the amount of homework you have to complete at home.
  • Sarah:
  • Emma: My biggest takeaway is to focus on what I can control. If I were to not win a lottery, I should realize that it was up to chance and there was nothing I could do to make me win, I shouldn’t spend any negative emotions on a situation I have no control over. However, when it comes to pursuing happiness, I do need to take effort to do things that bring me joy and surround myself with people I love. In this way, we won’t tie our self worth to our salary, where we live, etc. because we can be content with our life in any circumstance