I have never been good at art. I used to put as many colors on the paper as possible, with no rhyme or reason. Not once have I made a piece of art that followed all the certain rules or made any coherent sense. Luckily, where I lack talent in visual art, I make up for it with musical talent. From a very young age, I became enthralled with music. It was always on in my home, whether it was The Beatles Anthology, Led Zepplin concert tapes, or my dad playing guitar in the basement. He was always playing guitar or drums and started teaching me at a very young age. I started with drums because it was easier as a child to start playing. I'd spend hours upon hours playing in the basement, making up whatever comes to mind and trying to copy what my dad played. After drums, I started picking up the guitar which still is easily my favorite instrument to play. Then when I started middle school, I chose to play the clarinet for the concert band. I stuck with clarinet all through middle and high school, and have played clarinet and guitar in almost every school band extracurricular offered, which includes marching band, jazz band, musical orchestra, Tri-M music honor society, winter winds which is a facet of marching band, and many more. Playing music has been such an important and integral part of my life, but listening to and appreciating music has had almost as big of an effect on me. Picking a certain piece is a difficult task, I can name multiple outstanding performances from all of my influences, but picking one that stands out is nearly impossible. Having to choose between artists like The Beatles, Led Zepplin, Queen, Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, and Pink Floyd is a tough task, but if I had to choose, I would choose Jeff Beck, Cause We've Ended As Lovers. The song is a beautiful mix of guitar excellence and peace, which is such a hard thing to demonstrate. Keeping a song calming and beautiful while showing insane technical skill on an instrument is a hard thing to accomplish, but Beck does it masterfully. No matter how many times I have listened to that song, I never seem to get tired of it. It's so calming and soothing, and it brings back nostalgic memories from my childhood. I luckily got to see Jeff Beck in concert in August, which was one of my favorite concerts ever. Being a guitar player made me appreciate him in concert more than ever. I couldn't understand half of the sounds that he made from his guitar, yet he used each one with such ease. Unfortunately, he has recently passed away at 78 years old in January which was a hard loss to cope with. He was such a big influence on my life, but I'm just glad I got to see him in concert before he passed. Music in general has been the absolute most important and biggest facet of my life. It has affected everything in my life and it has shaped me to be who I am today. I'm glad I was raised with music all around and brought up with it because I would not be where I am without it. I would always trade any talent in visual art for musical talent.

A lot of kids have the dream of making video games. It sounds like the perfect job as a kid: You get to play the video games you make, you can change whatever you would like to about the game to make it your own, and you get to work with computers. Most kids grow out of this phase of wanting to create video games, but I never got that memo. I started taking classes that would better my skills when it comes to programming video games. I took classes like Python Programming 1 and 2, AP Computer Science Principles, and AP Computer Science A. Since then, I've done some independent work in Computer Science and Engineering, including making my own version of Blackjack, learning how Arduino and Raspberry Pi works, and other ventures. The way that I truly want to impact the community is to make my own video game. I would need to have a great idea for a game, planning, team building, and funding. Being able to create something that I am proud of would be my best use of higher education and training. It would take years to develop, and years of experience in jobs and internships to even come close to creating my own video game, but it is an accomplishable goal. I am looking forward to getting some experience even through extracurricular activities and groups in college. Clubs are some of the best ways to learn more about a certain topic, or to meet people with similar experience and opportunities and learn off of them. Getting to know people in the community would be a great way to start finding internship and job opportunities when it comes to video game development. Of course, a degree is the single most important aspect when it comes to finding a job in the computer science industry, but smaller, more personal experiences are what separate people based on their passion in the industry. All of the extracurricular activities outside of the actual classes will be what separates me from the rest and it will inch me closer and closer to achieving my goal of being able to publish my own work. Making something that is out for the public to use and play would be my impact to the community, and I can't make my work public without the proper schooling, training, and preparations. All I can do now is to work hard, let creativity flow, and hope that I missed the memo for a good reason.