Embedded Files
The mentorship program was an integral part of my junior year. By this time, I knew that I wanted to integrate art and engineering into my future career someday, but it was rare to find like-minded students in the academy. Fortunately, I was paired with Mr. Matthew LaRocca (left) who was originally working as a computer scientist at Unity, a game design company, and moved to Pixar, my dream company, during the second semester. My other mentor, Mrs. Gouri Gupta, was a project manager at a large company. As an immigrant herself, she always encouraged me not to take it so hard that my programming skills were not where I wanted them to be, as she did her computer science degree at UC Davis with no prior programming experience. Both of my mentors truly impacted how I saw my education. They helped me be more grateful for the opportunities I had but to also recognize the difficulty of the school I was in. They encouraged me to celebrate all the victories, no matter how small. Beyond our monthly meetings, we also had many events with other mentors such as career fairs and networking events. We had a particular college panel that allowed me to ask this vast panel of speakers where I could find the program of my dreams, a combination of arts and engineering. These mentors helped me look into many of the programs that I ended up applying for during the first semester of my senior year.
Throughout the mentorship program, I was encouraged to use my engineering skills beyond the classroom, and I followed their advice when I created a piece for my AP Art class in my senior year using the laser cutting skills I'd learned in my Computer Integrated Manufacturing Class.
The mentorship program consisted of more than these monthly meetings. During our free period every week, we would work on many crucial skills required in the workplace, such as resume building and interviewing. We did several mock interviews and built elevator pitches and gained many skills in networking and presentation throughout this course. Our counselor, Ms. Kim Halket, gave us many presentations on colleges, and interesting programs, and helped us make our applications shine.
This program taught me so much about an industry I was previously quite unfamiliar with but I now have the skills to take advantage of all the opportunities that come my way, and this program helped me get into a wonderful university's engineering school.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse