FIRST Alumni: How's College Going?

[gixxy]

I graduated High School in the Spring of 2013. In High School I worked to help found my Robotics Team, 3946 Tiger Robotics, which I'm proud to say has since flourished and ultimately changed the culture and mindset of STEM at my High School. Now, I'm currently going into my 4th year at Louisiana Tech University, majoring in Computer Science Major with a concentration in Cyber Security.

My Freshmen year I volunteered with 3468 MAGNATech for the 2013-2014 Season since i otherwise had the time. Unfortunately because of increasing responsibilities I've pulled back from FIRST since and become more an observer, keeping up with what I can from my Father (GeeTwo on CD) who is still a Mentor for 3946.

I have been participating in a 2-year "Mentorship" program since April 2015 for an IT consulting firm called Fenway Group. I currently work as an Associate Consultant in DevOps for Southwest Airlines as a Contractor. Its a wonderful opportunity as those you interact with outside of Fenway don't know you're a student, and as such you are treated the same as anyone else, learning and taking on more responsibility than a regular Internship. Networking, Developing Skills, Potential certifications, and benefits galore.

At Louisiana Tech I have also taken on several roles in clubs close to me. Currently I am an officer in the following:

• President for The Association of Cyber Engineers
• Secretary for the Episcopal Canterbury Association
• Praetor of Tabletop Games for the Conclave of Sci-fi and Fantasy

I have participated in various events has they have come up, granted some were required for classes, including:

• Cyber Storm, A day-long hacking competition as a final exam for Intro to Network Security, where my Team, Forge, worked together to achieve 1st place.
  
• Engineering Design project for the Freshman Engineering Program (I used to be In LaTech's Cyber Engineering Major) where our team turned professors heads with a phone GPS controlled rotating directional Wi-Fi dish to allow you to get reception at ranges of 1-mile+. For the glory of a Fast-Food gift card.
  
• The IEEEXtreme 24-hour programming competition where my team did reasonably well, and had a blast working on challenges and finally understanding the need for measuring complexity in our code.
  
• The Louisiana Tech Robotics Competition were my team's best-design entry of a Camera targeting Nerf Sentry won 1st place after many tired nights of dealing with servos, fly-wheels, and OpenCV python.
  
• The 2014 Major League Hacking, Nation-wide Hack Day at LaTech, where I implemented joystick accessibility and assignment for the DriverStation.js application (Cross Platform Open-Source FRC DriverStation), which later turns into paid contract work for 221robotics' OpenRobot platform DriverStation (whom I unfortunately have been unable to work with since due to time constraints with my current job and classes)

At this point, I know I seem like I'm being egotistical (And to some extent I am. I am proud of my achievements and the time I put into them.), however, I do have a point with all those "extras" I listed out.

When it comes to University in the last 10-15 years, I believe that three things matter most:

1. Health
2. Development
3. Grades

I'm sure the order on the last two would be debated by others, but I feel confident in my listing. My GPA isn't the best (2.98). I make sure I am doing good in my classes and working hard to get my degree, but University has turned into so much more than just coursework and a degree. I've seen companies turn someone with a 3.8 GPA down in favor of another with a 2.8 GPA because the latter showed teamwork, leadership, and creativity in their extra-curricular activities. They mean something on top of just having the degree, and do wonders for keeping what little sanity you will feel you have left in check...

Granted, in order for the extra-curriculars to matter, you do in fact need to EARN THE DEGREE. Don't let yourself get too over-whelmed, but make sure you are having fun and developing yourself, not just learning.