The first time I saw my parents send an iMessage, I asked my mom, “How did the message go to the other person, and how is it there when you come back?” My parents and brother, a computer science major, explained to me the basics of cloud computing and storage. That day, my computer science journey began.
With this knowledge, I created a chatting application that allowed users to send messages and save them for later retrieval. After learning the basics, I designed the user interface with sketches and programmed the application using free databases such as Google’s Firebase. This experience changed the way I think and made me want to learn more about the world’s technologies. This experience taught me to slow down and understand the little things we use every day, ranging from phones to consoles, and wonder how they function.
Computer Science is a wide range of topics and ideas that can be combined to make anything that the programmer, developer, client, etc wants! Projects can be made solo or with a team. This year, two of my friends and I competed in the Congressional App Challenge, where we developed FocusAI, a Chrome extension with a companion website and AI chatbot. We have struggled to focus due to online distractions and decided to solve our problem. I programmed the extension, which blocks websites that the user chooses, and my teammates worked on the AI and website. We had frequent meetings to work and share progress to ensure all components were integrated seamlessly. One of the biggest challenges we faced during development was that our project scope kept growing, forcing us to prioritize and compromise. We developed until the deadline, and it was surprising how well we worked while under pressure and stress. The end result was something we are proud of and use every day to stay focused. We are proud of what we accomplished together, and we continue to use FocusAI today.
Looking back at my experiences with computer science, it feels different from when I first opened Code.org and Scratch. I was always trying to find the answers to the questions I had, like how a message shows up and stays on a device. As I grew and learned more languages and aspects of computer science, it made me take a step further. I let my curiosity guide me to the answers to the questions that puzzled me. Working on projects like my messaging app and FocusAI led me to realize that computer science is about making mistakes and figuring things out when there is no clear answer. These were the moments I felt pushed to grow.
Computer Science has taught me to slow down and think carefully about the things around us, and keep going even when programming becomes tough. As I continue to grow as a coder and a student, I want to keep building things that solve real problems and stay curious about how the tools we rely on truly work. That is computer science to me.