Module 1

After watching this video, I have a greater understanding of what puts certain people on top and why others do not seem to do the best, even if they are extremely experienced and talented. Angela Lee Duckworth’s explanation of grit’s role in success was both relieving and exciting. Her talk about how successful people have greater grit better answered a question I have asked myself often: what defines smart? Truth is, when people say I am smart, while I am smart in some ways, it is never in the context they are thinking about. Sure, I have a great memory and I can pull out an A on a test, and I can also take the right classes and create a higher GPA for myself, but that does not explain how I am successful in school. After hearing her remarks about grit though, I realized (thankfully) that I possess those high levels of grit, which help me memorize those harder facts and get through those tougher courses. I found that grit can be applied to anyone who wants it and having that grit can be taken everywhere, whether it is in school or out in the work world. Also, Ms. Duckworth brought up the interesting point of what if schools didn’t measure everything in IQ? What if they measured growth and bounce back from failure? If that were so, I do not feel like everyone in today’s world would be so afraid of failure, but rather embrace it. Imagine, a world run by innovation and invention, where people were not afraid to explore. Failure is a necessary component of growth but it takes grit to recover from failure also. We must be resilient yet adaptable to change, for this will help us rise from failure. Learning from your mistakes is smart and learning from your mistakes takes grit, therefore, being smart has an element of grit built into it.

This project, or rather this “experience,” has genuinely been a learning stretch for me. I have improved in certain skills which I hated before, such as communication and phone calls. I hated phone calls until I needed to find an internship over the summer and now I don’t mind phone calls nearly as much. I found it true that many companies appreciate those that do phone calls and in-person meetings because it shows you have confidence, communication skills, and a professional posture (either physically or vocally). Some strengths I have brought to this experience to make it move along are determination, research, and time management. I also had some background information in my field of study, so I did not just jump in blindly. These skills have helped my project look neat, efficient, and pleasing to the eye. It has also helped me formulate my thoughts on these journals and other writings and make them sound knowledgeable (Although I am not saying that they are not knowledgeable). Some weaknesses I bring to this experience though are patience, flexibility, and a wide perspective on ideas and tasks, or rather the lack thereof. These have made my project a bit of a learning stretch and it has caused my schedule to be a bit more flexible and open, rather than stocking it up with lots of tasks for the day. While my strengths are already being put to use, my weaknesses are still needing some working on. To overcome these weaknesses, I need to keep on working on them, step by step. By learning how to gain more patience, create more flexible plans, and develop a wider perspective on life, I can gain valuable soft life skills that I need not only for the project or college but also in the working world. I can also put my strengths to use by using my determination to increase patience or to use my research to discover how to broaden my scope. I could also use my time-management skills to directly oppose my lack of flexibility (funny how it seems to be both a strength and a weakness).

Days 2 and 3 of my internship were much more loaded than my first day. We talked about various things, ranging from a further explanation of how heat transfer works to different civil engineering designs and software used by the company. One person I talked to that works with Mr. D’Alù gave me very insightful building designs that can benefit my project. One of such is a “green wall;” This wall is essentially covered in plants, providing users adequate amounts of oxygen and low levels of carbon dioxide. It was also an all-natural option for good air quality. Another idea we talked about is how the shape and size of a building are determined one way through wind speed and drag. Drag is how much resistance the building puts on the wind (from moving forward). With specific rounded shapes, there is less drag, and therefore a more stable building. Anyways, these ideas I found interesting and was able to understand better. We also talked about the difference between a civil engineer and an architect. I realized that both careers had what I wanted, but I want something more in the middle of the two. I want to be designing the buildings but also be on the field participating in the construction project. This internship has allowed me to gain a better understanding of what career field I want to pursue, and now knowing that I want somewhere in between, I will have to look into different fields that offer these qualities. Also, now focusing on SETTY’s software programs, I found that the information they gave me was a lot. They had somewhere around for software programs they used for a single project, and these were also very detailed and intricate, making the system hard to navigate. Altogether, this has been a mostly productive and beneficial week for me and my project.