LEGO and dominoes. These two things are what grew my interests in designing and building. With LEGO, once I had tired of following the instructions, I started experimenting with my own ideas. With dominoes, I would stack them and build elaborate towers and buildings. As a child, I was very fortunate to get many LEGO blocks and sets. During Christmas and for my Birthday, I would recieve a lot of LEGO from my relatives. From Architecture and Planes, to Star Wars and Space Shuttles, I loved all the different designs and sets that LEGO would make. One day, in LEGO's monthly newletter, there was a contest for a custom designed dog house. That was the moment I decided to design and build my own creation. I came up with a small, simple shape; I counted the blocks I would need; and I ordered all the required parts with a few extras. Unfortunately, they arrived after the deadline had passed, but that didn't stop my excitement for this idea. I assembled all the pieces just like I had designed. It wasn't much, but it was unique and my own. From that day on, I knew I would love to design and build my own creations and use them to benefit the world. Another major event was during Summer Camp. We were having games time where we could play different board games or take out LEGO blocks. I noticed that the box full of dominoes were not being used so a friend and I took them out and started constructing basic shapes and columns. After some experimentation, we decided we would try to build the Roman Colosseum out of dominoes. We started by laying out the foundation and ground level walls. Then we carefully stack the dominoes vertically with beams connecting across. We would add a layer of support before repeating the previous step. It was long, but very fun. By the time we had to clean up, we had stacked it too a point that the teachers were concerned about someone getting hurt if it collapsed. Everyone in the classroom was amazed and in the end, we threw a block at it and watched it crumble down. It was a very exciting day and it also was a very inspiration day for me as I felt a great enjoyment in building and understanding the engineering behind structures. Throughout my childhood, I would always lean towards challenges that involved designing or building. It high school, I decided to take carpentry so that I could learn even more about structural integrity and masic engineering principals. Taking STEM was an obvious choice for me because I have been learning and enjoying STEM topics since I was a small child. Engineering is my passion and I want to continue that path forward.

Being raised in a British household has given me an exclusive connection to the dry, quick wit of England. Growing up, I would wake up to a British TV show or some British comedy show playing on the television with my Dad laughing his butt off. I wouldn't understand as a child, but now, I too laugh my butt off at the brilliant and clever jokes that are told. Shows like Blackadder were so clever that it took me years to understand the jokes, and shows like Monty Python were so classic that I had heard of the jokes before I know about the show. Although British shows have a special place in my heart, I also find many American shows to have amazing jokes. Shows like Cheers, Friends, and Whose Line Is It Anyway all have great jokes that I rewatch just to laugh. My parents would join me too, sometimes, because they want to hear the jokes and laugh. I was fortunate enough to be raised by parents that loved humour and would use it everyday. I would constantly come home after school to my Mom telling me a new joke she heard. I also love coming up with my own jokes. I have a notebook filled with funny jokes that I thought were amazing when I heard them. I use this list to try to think of new, unique jokes that I could use at school or tell to my parents. I haven't come up with any good ones but I'm still trying. A very important moment in my humourous life happened at the age of six while I was in the car with my Dad. I can't recall what lead to this discussion but my Dad was saying he was well respected around the country as a joke and eventually said he was the "Best in the West". In only a fraction of a second, I replied "And your the Least in the East". It's not the greatest joke ever, but for my age, it was an amazing show of quick wit and a clever comeback. My Dad immediately recognized my quick reply and complimented me. I've never forgotten that moment because it proved to me that I could actually tell jokes effectively and quickly. It was this moment that opened the door to humour in my life. Humour has always held an important place in my life, both as a hobby and as a coping mechanism for highly stressful situations. With my abundant supply of anxiety, jokes and comedy have helped calm my mind and make me smile in difficult times. I can always count on humour to help me.