For most of my life, as a normal little kid, I thought little of what I wanted to do with

my life. I was never especially outgoing, still, most of my time, thought, and energy
was devoted to play and the small amounts of homework they gave us in primary
school. People have always loved to ask children what they want to be when they
grow up. Due to my fascination with science fiction (especially Artificial Intelligence
and Aliens), my standard answer until I reached the end of middle school was
something along the lines of making robots.
Before beginning the seventh grade, I had the opportunity to test into an Academic
Center program that was just starting at Lane Tech(LTAC). I had never considered
leaving my old school and old friends, but I had always been fairly shy anyway.
Besides, a handful of my classmates were already planning to go. I wouldnt be
alone, and despite my withdrawn nature, I valued adventure. At Lane Tech, I took
my first real computer science class. My previous school had a Computer class, but
all we ever learned was how to type and make acrostic poems in Microsoft Publisher.
Mr. Law had been teaching at Lane for about ten years at that point, and at that
point made up pretty much the entire Computer Science department. At times, I
reflect on my experiences with Lane Tech. I started there at a perfect time. I got to
be a part of the very first LTAC class, and from the programs establishment in 2011
up until now, Ive watched Mr. Law build one of the best Computer Science
programs in CPS. When I think about it, other than those who raised me, by the time
I graduate from Highschool or even College, Mr. Law will probably have had the
most impact on my life out of anyone Ive ever met. After taking my first two
Computer Science classes in 7th and 8th grade, I became the first freshman to take
AP Computer Science, again with Mr. Law. I experienced a kind of education then
that I never had before. I was so wholly engrossed in the material that I came to see
the path it started me on. After each project I felt accomplished as if I had made the
last stroke of a painting or finished a novel. Except this could DO something, it was
complicated and logic based. Programming felt like art and science and music and
infinite possibilities.
This year, based on Mr. Laws suggestions I joined the FIRST Robotics team that he
co-coached, and the newest experimental Computer Science class at Lane,
Innovation and Creation (Twitter@LTMakers). These let me experience the same
euphoria of making something, magnified tenfold by the introduction of a tangible
element to what, to me, has always been purely digital.
Although my love for Computer Science will never fade, I fear Lane Tech still may
have been ill-equipped to deal with the later years of the first LTAC class. Having
finished APCS in my first year of highschool, the next couple years leave too much
space to forget what Ive learned. The only logical step forward is to seek Computer
Science education beyond my highschool.
At this point Ive exceeded the prompted 500 word limit, however, I still find all of
the preceding information vital to my narrative. To conclude, I would like to establish
the ultimate dreams of researching and developing AI (In accordance with my early
childhood fascinations) or working the software end of Physical research in some
sort of Hadron Collider-esque lab. And although my fascinations will always be

changing, I do believe my projected career path will be forever Computer Sciencecentric.

On the almost three-dimensional spectrum of Computer Science educational

possibilities are two extremes I would love to experience. One class would be on
Artificial Intelligence and would be based on almost a game. For example, a class
based around the ever growing in popularity, RoboCup. RoboCup is a a project that
hopes to, by 2050, develop a team of full-sized humanoid robots that can compete,
and win, a game of Soccer against the FIFA World Cup Champions. Currently,
organizers hold tournaments in which teams of bots compete, fully autonomously,
against one another in relatively slow-paced miniature games of soccer. As I've
learned so far, computer science can involve a surprising amount of teamwork. A
possible lesson or group assessment could be based on the concept of giving a
team a limited amount of time to coordinate ideas, then allowing each member to
program an individual robot, then assessing the team's ability to work together, as
is one of the biggest hurdles in the RoboCup project as a whole. This class would be
based largely on experimentation, allowing students to learn how unreliable realworld applications of programming can be.

The other extreme class would focus on the theoretical side of Computer Science. It
would be mostly based on algorithmic programming. Perhaps it would teach ideas of
quantum computing and Physical simulation. Its difficult to design even a basic idea
of what this curriculum would be like because I know little about the subject. This
however, is also why I would most desire such a class. While I've been able to learn
the basics of Computer Science, and then experience how it can come join with a
tangible project, these are topics I know little to nothing about, which fuels the
already burning curiosity I and many students harbor.