Seizing Opportunity!

Opportunity is like a leap year. Whenever it arrives everyone is excited for it and everyone points it out, but it doesn’t last forever. When a great opportunity arrives you have to grab it while it’s there or else you may never get the chance to see it again. Two years ago I had the opportunity of a lifetime and I am glad that I did not let it pass me up.

My dream is to become a software developer. I love coding and building things, so it is the perfect job for me. My AVID teachers always put up flyers for all sorts of academic opportunities and one day in class I saw one that was perfect for me. It was a one week camp at UT Austin about coding. Not only was it at my dream college, it was about the thing I loved most. I didn’t waste any time signing up and applying for the camp. The application process itself was very easy, but the waiting was tiresome. There was a limit to how many students could come to the program so everyday I would check my email to see if I got a response back from them. When I finally got the email I was so nervous that I could hardly breathe. When I actually got to reading the email I was so excited that I was accepted that I almost dropped my computer.

I waited three months for summer to start with growing anticipation everyday. My entire family was excited for me as well. They kept asking me what I thought would happen and where I would go. Every night before bed I would imagine everything I would do and everything I would learn. My pent up energy was at its highest on the night before I went to camp. I could hardly sleep that night! The next morning I woke up extra early, double checked that I had everything packed, and was ready before everyone else was. The drive to UT was as boring as you would think it was, but I didn’t even notice. My wait was finally over when we parked inside of the parking garage near UT. I had finally arrived at the opportunity of my lifetime.

The first thing we did at the program was get initiated. The program leaders talked to all of our parents about what we would be doing the entire week and put the camp goers into groups. The most surreal part of the entire experience was when I had to put my luggage into the college dorm where we were staying. Even though my mom was there I felt so independent. I felt like I was taking a step forward in my personal journey.

The first day of the program all we did was get to know each other and get settled into the dorms. At first I was disappointed because I thought we would be doing something exciting and fun. Then we were told that we would be going to UT underground. UT underground is a place on campus where you could hang out with other students on campus. It had bowling, pool, a snack bar, and arcade games. We were there for hours and I learned a lot about the other campers and the camp counselors.

The second day we actually did some work. We went to the Texas Advanced Computing Center and got a tour of the place. It was also where we would be learning coding. That day we got our Raspberry Pis, which is a small computer. We learned how to set them up and we even got to build one. It was also revealed to us that day that we would be working with self driving cars. We didn’t do any coding that day, but it was an important step for the program. After our two hour work session we went into Austin and visited a place called B8ta where we got to see projects that were all about innovation.

The rest of the week was just like the second day. We worked on our projects for hours and then went to the city visiting places that were tech related. My favorite thing we did on that trip was take a tour inside of Google. It really set into perspective what I wanted to do with my life. My dream job is to work at Google because I loved seeing how the company was run and I liked how the employees were treated.

Going to this program was eye opening. I got to meet a lot of new people who were interested in the same thing as me and I got to visit so many cool places. Another highlight was that we went to a lot of good restaurants including Flemings Steakhouse. Going to that camp was the best decision I made in my life. It gave me purpose, direction, and motivation for life.