My name is Tennya Boone and I am 18 years old. One of my favorite things to do in my free time is cook different kinds of meals. I also enjoy different types of art and anything supernatural such as shows, books, and movies. I am a person who enjoys creativity and a challenge. Currently, I am a senior at Hampton High School. As a freshman, I was a part of the Pre-International Baccalaureate Program. Where I started my high school journey with challenging courses. During my sophomore year, I transferred to honors-level courses to find another path more suitable for me. During my junior year, I decided to join the Computational Science strand at New Horizons Governor's School for Science and Technology. New Horizons offers college-level courses in conjunction with Virginia Peninsula Community College for the last 2 years of high school. During these last two years, I gained research, coding, and statistical and mathematical experience which played a major role in declaring my college major. I plan to attend Old Dominion University as a Computer Science major with a minor in Engineering. Along with this, I will be enrolled in the Perry Honors College and will continue my education to earn a Bachelor of Science degree. Hopefully earning my master’s degree soon after. I plan to complete internship work related to my field of study to prepare me for my job after graduation. With this degree, I hope to work for a corporation that can utilize my skills. After graduating from college I plan on joining a job in a science-related field. A few occupations that I am considering are different types of developers or analysts. These jobs consist of options like becoming a software developer, web developer, computer analyst, or information analyst etc. I intend to solely focus on the occupation of my choice for a few years to essentially get my feet on the ground when becoming accustomed to a new environment. After becoming accustomed to that environment and gaining skills that come with time, I plan to extend my occupation to also becoming a mentor for future students of STEM. I will then work in both occupations, ensuring that I learn and grow with the many experiences that are ahead of me. Ever since starting coursework in the computer science strand at New Horizons Governor's School for Science and Technology, I knew that if I continued that I would want to encourage others to do the same. This field is rigorous and time-consuming when starting but pays off in the end. With amazing teachers, mentors, and support similar to what I had, they can accomplish the same degree that I can. Especially since many students like me do not have access to the same resources that New Horizons offers. These occupations will aid in my development as someone who will be fairly new to the field. Essentially building my work portfolio in the field.

Walking in the door every day after school I placed my bag on the floor. The days are on repeat and I’m trying my hardest to stay afloat in this battle between me and my mind. The process of juggling my school and home life was starting to take a huge toll on me. Day after day I would find myself wanting to do less. I constantly felt like I should just relax and worry about things later. I often pushed things off until the very last minute. Day by day I started to feel more drained by the days to come. In school, I would just sit and wait for the time to pass by until it was time to go home. It was easier to not put my best foot forward when I was so frustrated with my schedule. My grades started to reflect on these actions and I fell behind. My teachers would encourage me to complete my missing work when they noticed. However, those grades would sit awhile before I would finally take initiative and complete the missing work. I procrastinated time after time and this would add unnecessary stress to my day. Eventually, I realized that this mindset was not productive. I needed to make a huge change to succeed. I had never felt these feelings before and they caught me by surprise. Being in my final year of high school I had done a great deal so far. I knew that I needed to keep it together and started to think of ways to improve my mindset. The first step was identifying the problem. I took the time to figure out why I was feeling so drained and frustrated after the days that I had. To me, my days started to get overwhelming. I often felt lost and just needed a break. When taking challenging classes I often found myself not taking time off for a mental break. It was a cycle of completing work and trying to stay ahead or up to pace. After Identifying that I needed a break, slowly I started to incorporate better time management into my schedules. Including breaks every now and then to ensure that I would not be burnt out after sitting in a classroom all day and then coming home to complete all my homework. This small change tremendously helped my mindset. With time it started to make my days more bearable. With these breaks, I made sure to try my best to avoid procrastination. Procrastination always feels like a good choice in the heat of the moment. Although it felt like a good choice I learned that it will always triple the amount of stress I experience. Reflecting on when I wanted to procrastinate has helped me understand the importance of completing assignments promptly. Creating goals and a balanced schedule also contributed to the improvement of my typical school day. Some goals that I set for myself consisted of sticking to my intended schedule, completing assignments within a few days after they were assigned, and ensuring that I take some time for myself outside of school-related things. The line between my school and home life soon became more distinct. When sticking to these goals my days were no longer frustrating or draining. At the end of the day, I felt accomplished and happy because I stuck to my plan. My grades went back up to the high scores that I was used to. Overall my academics enhanced with these steps taken and I’m glad that I overcame the burnout.

Sitting in my living room with my pencil I created my first anime sketch. From this point on something sparked in me. I loved showcasing my different thoughts and ideas. Always catering artwork to my style. The more intrigued I was the harder the art became. This small interaction made me realize that I loved anything that allowed me to showcase my creativity. Which later led to my love of cooking. Cooking allowed me to mix and match a variety of flavors and recipes. I could use the resources around me to produce and alter meals. Which grew to be something I looked forward to doing. This experience is similar to my current experience with computer science. At the beginning of my junior year, I had no prior experience with anything STEM. All I knew was that it would challenge me, especially since I could always learn from this field. I took a huge leap and decided to join a computer science strand at a new school. I was stumped at first but eventually learned that being involved in STEM took out-of-the-box thinking. Luckily, I had amazing teachers to encourage me along the way. Specifically, my computational physics teacher, Dr. Bedir. He taught me that there were many ways to get to one solution. Oftentimes one small error could stop a code from running. It involved different worlds of creativity and determination. This strand was rigorous and time-consuming for me when I started but I feel like it paid off by my senior year. Dr. Bedir constantly embedded in us that we could do great things. With this motivation, I found that computer science created a world of constant learning and allowed me to add a twist to my work. These two things were very important to me when discovering my passion. Which heavily influenced my choice when it came to my major. I have two years of experience when continuing my computer science journey. These past years have given me what I would consider an advantage when it comes to the world of STEM. I feel a little more prepared and confident versus if I was to start my STEM journey as a college freshman. A quote that I keep with me is, “You all have great minds.” - Islam Bedir. These five words have been carried with me throughout my computer science journey and I plan to apply them to many other aspects as I open this new college chapter. My goal is to earn my bachelor's degree in computer science. With this degree, I hope to have the opportunity to work from home or be in a hybrid setting for a corporation. Along with my profession, I hope to one day be a mentor and support system for future students pursuing STEM careers. Especially students who are a part of minorities, like myself. I believe things like courses with a variety of learning styles, financial help, and advice can help the future of STEM excel. After building a foundation for myself, I want to aid in starting the foundation for the future workers of STEM similar to how Dr. Bedir did for me.

Walking in the door every day after school I placed my bag on the floor. The days are on repeat and I’m trying my hardest to stay afloat in this battle between me and my mind. The process of juggling my school and home life was starting to take a huge toll on me. Day after day I would find myself wanting to do less. I constantly felt like I should just relax and worry about things later. I often pushed things off until the very last minute. Day by day I started to feel more drained by the days to come. In school, I would just sit and wait for the time to pass by until it was time to go home. I would try my best to stay focused but I typically found myself daydreaming. It was easier to not put my best foot forward when I was so frustrated with my schedule. My grades started to reflect on these actions. My A’s slipped to C’s and I fell behind. My teachers would encourage me to complete my missing work when they noticed. However, those grades would sit awhile before I would finally take initiative and complete the missing work. I procrastinated time after time and this would add unnecessary stress to my day. Eventually, I realized that this mindset was not productive. Being in my final year of high school I had done a great deal so far. I knew that I needed to keep it together and started to think of ways to improve my mindset. The first step was identifying the problem. I took the time to figure out why I was feeling so drained and frustrated after the days that I had. To me, my days started to get overwhelming. I often felt lost and just needed a break. When taking challenging classes I often found myself not taking time off for a mental break. It was a cycle of completing work and trying to stay ahead or up to pace. After Identifying that I needed a break, slowly I started to incorporate better time management into my schedules. Including breaks every now and then to ensure that I would not be burnt out after sitting in a classroom all day and then coming home to complete all my homework. This small change tremendously helped my mindset. With time it started to make my days more bearable. With these breaks, I made sure to try my best to avoid procrastination. Procrastination always feels like a good choice in the heat of the moment. Although it felt like a good choice I learned that it will always triple the amount of stress I experience. Reflecting on when I wanted to procrastinate has helped me understand the importance of completing assignments promptly. The line between my school and home life soon became more distinct. When sticking to these goals my days were no longer frustrating or draining. At the end of the day, I felt accomplished and happy because I stuck to my plan. My grades went back up to the higher scores that I was used to and it became easier to focus in class. This experience taught me that school and home life balance can make or break you depending on how you navigate your time. Putting yourself first sometimes is required to thrive in the end. As well as there is nothing wrong with taking breaks to improve yourself.

Sitting in my math classroom at my backseat desk while wondering what was to come was me starting my middle school years. I would say I was alright at math, not too good and not too bad. Little did I know that in the upcoming years, I would start to have a growing passion for this subject. I started with amazing teachers that catered to my learning styles which only strengthened my growing passion. Slowly I started to enjoy the challenging concepts that I was introduced to. Math is constantly introducing students to problem-solving skills since it is often a process. Sometimes there are multiple ways to the solution and sometimes there is one way to the solution. It could be simple or complex depending on how you approach it. Finding my style to overcome this process has been a journey. This journey has taught me that analytical thinking is a key component that I have carried through life. As well as into my new growing passion for computer science in my high school years. During these past years, I’ve learned that computer science entails a great deal of math. When using C++ and Python I have used many learned math skills to find the errors or solutions to my codes. More often than not the little errors such as percent changes or numerical errors can hurt the entirety of a code. The analytical thinking process that I learned in my younger years plays a huge role in determining what could be the cause of the error when it is not very specific. My two passions came together to form something that I can constantly grow from. I am always in a state of challenge and will never stop learning to better myself and my abilities. Math has always been a part of my educational journey and I plan to carry the skills I received with me throughout earning my degree in the field of computer science!