Self-Aware Individual

Ever since I started my research project, I didn't feel confident in my knowledge. I knew that I had a head start on some topics, but I felt like I barely knew anything necessary for me to actually do this project. However, after having conversations with my Capstone advisor and a few other people, I realized that basically everyone was in the same boat as I am. I realized that we all start with close to knowing nothing about the topic, and we learn more (in this case, by reading scholarly articles), so I shouldn't feel insecure about not having a clear foundation of knowledge about the topic(s) I was interested in. In addition, as I was moving forward in my research project and started drafting my research paper, I was worried that my information is incorrect in some shape or form. Nonetheless, after re-processing the scholarly articles to ensure the correctness of my facts, and meeting with community contacts, I was ensured that I clearly understood the topic and was confident in what I was talking about.

In the process of working on my research project, I have realized that it would be beneficial for me to talk to professionals in the field and attend some conferences that are related to my research project. However, I was met with an obstacle of the fact that the vast majority of conferences and summits were for professionals and not for high schoolers. This is where my connection with GenCyber Agent Academy came in handy. As I would contact the professors and professionals in the field that I met through the camp, I was very happy when I would see the email from them, being excited to meet with me to discuss my project. As I was meeting with all of my community contacts, I would express gratitude towards them and them, willing to take the time out of their day to meet with me - both verbally, as we would wrap up our call, and digitally, by sending them a thank you email. Meeting them was a crucial part of my project for many reasons and I appreciate the opportunities that came with them.