“I hate plan B” - Arnold Schwartznegger (the actor for Terminator, one of the greatest bodybuilders ever, former governor of California, immigrant from Australia) Never in my life have I had a plan B. I’ve always wholeheartedly pursued one or several things to the best of my ability. One of those things was competitive swimming from when I was 8 years old to the end of senior year of high school, in which I always strived to do my best. I could probably count on my two hands the number of times I did a workout where I didn’t try at all. My whole life was oriented towards swimming; the food I ate, what I drank, how much I slept, what I did on weekends. I made a full commitment. But what if, during that time I started thinking about plan B? Plan B is dangerous, because once you start… doubting yourself, thinking ‘what if I fail’, ‘what if this doesn’t work out’, and being afraid to fail, you start taking energy, planning, and time away from plan A and plan A is more likely to fail because of this. Doubt is very dangerous. This quote is special to me because in life you have to put your best foot forward at all times, there is little room for doubt because doubt leads to fear and fear leads to being too afraid to take risks that can benefit you. I find encouragement, determination, and drive to give my all in whatever I am doing through this quote.

Dimitri Mendeleev, a Russian chemist who is known as the father of the modern periodic table, created a revolutionary way to organize the natural elements. He organized the known elements by their atomic weight and left gaps in the periodic table for undiscovered elements. Mendeleev predicted the unknown elements’ atomic weight and their characteristics, and some of these predictions were fulfilled through the discovery of Boron, Silicon, Aluminum, and Manganese. Moreover these predictions helped predict the properties of Scandium, Gallium, Technetium, and Germanium.

Does not an architect when designing a building consider how much it will cost, what the purpose is, and who will use it? When the architect considers these things the building they design will last and have meaningful purpose in its life. In contrast the architect who only considers designing the building as quickly as possible, with little to no meaningful purpose in mind, without considering who will use it: the building that is built will not last, it will be a sore thumb and people will walk by and say ,”why is this building here, it’s so pointless.” In the same way the leaders of today’s world must consider how what they do today will affect the future. The increasingly more often response in today’s leadership is that it’s too hard to make the needed or necessary changes that can improve our world for future generations, the odds are against us, people won’t like this idea, I should just follow the crowd. A prime example of this in today’s world is Elon Musk. Musk is a forward thinker. He is planning ahead for future generations by intensely pursuing the colonization of Mars, the creation of a global network called Starlink, the innovation of electric vehicles. He is so intent on colonizing Mars that he said he will be disappointed if humans don’t go to and start colonizing Mars in his lifetime. Musk is trying to shift cars from gas power to electric power, and some major car companies are following his lead like Ford, General Motors, Volkswaken, and BMW. Musk is trying to make a more sustainable future for future generations with what he is pursuing. In contrast the period in United States History from 1870-1890 known as the Gilded Age was a period of time where the business owners and leaders only thought of how much money they could make, how cheaply could they make their products to barely satisfy consumers. This was a period where businesses didn’t care if you worked 10 hours a day 6 days a week for scraps in a poorly lit sweatshop, where if you got seriously injured it was over and you couldn’t receive any reasonable compensation, and where an 8 year old child would work 10 hours a day. As a result of the business leader’s lack of consideration, this period of time didn’t last very long, the working class rebelled, unions were formed, people went on strike to protest the unreasonable working conditions, aniti-trust laws were passed, safety regulation was put into place. We can see the effects of the change today, there are minimum working age requirements, minimum wage set by the Federal Government, safety precautions, retirement plans, paid leave, and more. We would be wise to think of how we can make the future better for future generations.

Memes have a strange way of conveying one complex if not multiple complex ideas or issues in a single picture or short phrase. That is part of today’s culture. I saw this particular meme around the time the 2020 presidential election took place. The meme is funny because it takes an already familiar phrase and rephrasing it to bring to light the uncertainty, seemingly dishonest, two faced politicians (“it ain’t honest”) in today’s world in a funny way. Some politicians are being supposedly dishonest and shrewd while reaping a large pay (“but it’s much) check at the same time which doesn’t make many people happy. It’s again, very humorous, and deserves a couple knee slaps.

Being intentionally consistent is the key to long term success. As a freshman in high school I didn’t have any concrete and solid long term goals. Now as a senior in high school I have done a lot of growth, soul searching, and goal setting over the years. My vision of the future is clearer— my goals realistic and achievable, my determination renewed. Achieving financial independence by age 30 is one of the goals I am committed to pursuing now and while I journey through college and early adult life. In senior year of high school I came by this hunger to be independent from others financially so I can work on myself in spare time, spend time with my future wife and kids, be involved in volunteering activities, and invest money into those whom I care about. I know this goal is ambitious and seemingly impossible in today’s world, but with hard work, intentional action, and determination I know I can achieve it. Growing through elementary and high school I know that it was preparation for me to face the mental, physical, and financial challenges challenges of adult life. Not that those times were particularly “eventful”, but full of their own challenges. I am looking forward to meeting life’s challenges with bravery and determination to overcome them. One event in life being... marriage. The future is full of possibilities and uncertainties. It is certain that life will be uncertain, and I manifest my future in the present. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that doing volunteer work whether for a church, a non profit organization out of the overflow of my heart I want to do something that makes a difference— it gives me energy... even if I don’t get a thank you, I have received my reward in full. As part of my growth in that area I plan to do volunteer work as mentioned in the future.

I’m currently waiting on being accepted to college, I will be perusing a bachelors degree in computer science. If possible before I go to college I would like to take an online course over cyber security or coding in says Java Script so I can get myself acquainted with cyber security or Java Script before I get started with college. This would allow me to have a better understanding of whatever I took the online course in so that I can be ahead of my colleagues in the college class. The time I would spend learning in the college class I can spend learning new skills and techniques in computer science or cyber security.

As a growing high schooler my vision on what field of work or study was unclear and full of uncertainty. Each year I was picking certain classes I thought would be interesting, "feeling" them out if you will. What I've found that the most prospective field of study is Computer Science in general, not Computer Engineering. Coding as a general term is like a puzzle, there are several different ways to solve that puzzle, there is no one right way to do it, and people can collaborate together to solve the puzzle. I find a certain enjoyment out of making a solution for a particular problem from scratch, it's enjoyable to solve the issue or problem knowing you did it, and I want to do the best job I can to solve the problem in the most efficient. I gets a certain sense ownership from making something myself, as well as a certain level of pride in what I've done. What I hope to do with this is pursue at least a bachelors degree in Computer Science at Texas A&M University College Station and apply what I learn in college to get into a job that pays $90,000+/year, while simultaneously building passive income sources.

What helps give me motivation, confidence, determination, steadfastness, even stress relief is the Bible verse Proverbs 3:5-6 which says "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." What this verse does is it reminds me to trust God because the world is full of unknowns, variables that can drastically change the future, and so many things I don't understand. Thinking about these things too much makes me very stressed about how I'm going to get to where I want to get to in say 2 years, and giving that stress up to God relieves me of that stress and frees up focus to take on the challenges of the present and near future in such a way as to help determine my future in the present.

My everything is someone that I’m willing to put my trust in, that I’m willing to trust with my future, my stresses, my everything. That everything is Jesus Christ. Thank God I am not the man I used to be. I can tell you with 100% certainty that without Him in my life I would be a total wreck, lost, misguided, struggling to find my purpose in life... My life was darker without Him as a prominent figure in my, but my life has been transformed by Him when I put my trust in him. He has made me into someone I can be proud of. He has given me the power to grow myself as a person so that I can be a light (example) that other people can follow—Looking back on my life... I can say that He orchestrated everything in my life to grow me, refine me, shape me, and ultimately make me who I am today. To Him goes all the credit for everything.

Studying something one wants is a sure way to see the journey through. Ive never really known or had an idea of what I want to study in college, I hadn’t discovered anything I was very passionate, or good at to consider it something I want to peruse higher education in. I took my first high school Computer Science class 3 years ago, it was something totally new to me, I struggled the whole year to make good grades constantly asking for help and insight from my teacher and other students who knew better than me. I can away from the class not thirsty to learn anymore on the subject. But this year I decided to take my second class in Computer Science, this time I had some prior information and knowledge on coding to ease my transition into the class. The class has now become more enjoyable and a better learning experience. I enjoy doing the new assignments; they are puzzles that you can solve different ways, they aren’t too hard that you get frustrated or it takes too long to code everything. It is something that I am more curious about to learn more of in college.