How have you grown as a developing professional within your field or fields of interest in the past year? Consider skills such as communication, collaboration, critical thinking, leadership, professionalism, or navigating different perspectives. Using specific examples, how have your experiences (academic, co-curricular, work, research, etc.) contributed to this growth? What strengths have you continued to build, and what areas would you like to develop further over the upcoming year?
In the past year, I have recognized various aspects of my professional life that grew through my time at UC and the working world. Everything from the courses I took, the people I met, and the activities I joined in all had their own part of readying myself for post-graduate life.
Before the school year started, I had my first professional internship, where I could finally put the knowledge learned from my coursework to the test. Here, I gained hands-on experience in supply chain operations by working in a warehouse setting. I helped identify inefficiencies in warehouse processes through observation, data collection, and analysis. On the flip side, I collaborated with a team to design and implement a production planning tool leveraging historical data and multilinear regression to forecast headcount needs. This experience gave me the perfect opportunity to develop skills in data analysis, process improvement, teamwork, and professional communication in a corporate logistics environment. To end the summer, I helped present my team’s project findings and solutions to upper management, highlighting actionable improvements to operational efficiency.
While at school, I decided to take tutoring more seriously. I had always tried to make myself available to friends and family with regards a nagging homework question or a daunting exam. However, this past school year is when I really put my tutoring skills to the test, as I took on multiple UC students under my wing who I had not previously known. This unfamiliarity forced me to adapt to each students’ study habits and goals, fostering a needed imaprovement in my ability to convey complex subjects in a more digestible manner. In addition, I also had to balance my own studies with theirs, so I further developed my time-management skills to adequately address both my needs and my students’.
My coursework also added to my professional development. In the spring, I was tasked with a semester-long capstone project for my mathematics degree, where I had to take what I learned in a previous course and dive deeper into a certain area. I decided to use my real analysis and linear algebra knowledge to explore the connections between the Fibonacci sequence and the Golden Ratio. This allowed me to build upon my research skills, as I had to find sources that would smoothly bridge my prior knowledge to more advanced findings and material. At the end of the semester, I presented my research to a host of professors and students interested in my work.
All in all, this past year has given me plenty of opportunities to grow and expand my skillset in relation to the professional world. I hope to one day apply these skills to make a positive impact wherever I may end up.