Reflection and graduation is a life-long assignment.

I graduated June 2021 with a B.S. in Computer Science. I still haven't took my graduation photos, but I will update this page's background when I do. :) For now, I think it is alright to have the graduation photo from when I graduated the STARS Engineering Program at UW. I'm pictured with the Director of the STARS Program, Sonya Cunningham. She has been not only an excellent director, but a great mentor to me during my college career. She gave me words of encouragement when I had to pick myself up, and made sure I got things done -- like this portfolio.

Growing up with my motto of life-long learning, I've encountered many failures along the way, but there can always be improvement from these failures with reflection. My academic career at the UW has not been the smoothest. I've had various health issues that have delayed my academics several times. Despite hardships, the various programs and activities I have been a part of at UW have always been on the journey with me. I may not have always earned the perfect 4.0s in my courses, but I have always remembered to focus on the learning. I've learned to prioritize my health first to achieve a work-life balance. With this portfolio, I am planning to cover the materials from both my coursework and activities I have been a part of. The quarter-system at UW is quite fast-paced, and this will allow me to not only review what I have learned, but teach and share with you as well!

As I will not focus much on pre-college details, I would like to acknowledge previous experiences I have been a part of in my first post. As the first-generation to be born and grow up in the US to my Chinese immigrant parents, and the first in my family to attend college, almost every educational opportunity is a new experience. Heck, I laugh about it now. Could you believe that I didn't know that the definition of "code" extended to beyond the meaning of a password for a locker combination? Now, I love to "code" -- to write a program talking to the computer. My high school teacher and Girls Who Code have played such a role in opening this world of tech for me.

This was little me, my junior year of high school, in the 7-week Summer Immersion Program with Girls Who Code @ Amazon Seattle presenting my team's final project. This experience, when I had a young child try our game, made me realize that I loved creating innovative products for consumers to interact with. In this case, the target audience were children with the purpose of educating them on coding and protecting the environment. Initially, I wanted to be an education software engineer. As I've progressed through my college career and learned all the facets of Computer Science and the makings, I want to be able to work on various projects with different roles -- more as a flexible team member with an emphasis on frontend work. I want to create many innovative products to impact a wide-range of clients!

Currently, I am still job-hunting. I'm taking my time to polish up and refresh on the skills I've learned in my coursework. Above all, I think of this portfolio as a fun way to reflect. As I am reflecting, I can't help but become nostalgic of all the people who have been involved in my life. I am thankful. To conclude on this note, this is my high school mentor from the College Success Foundation who I'm looking to meet up with soon! They helped me a lot with the college process (and life advice)--all of which was a thrilling first-time. I'm excited. I think this blogging experience helps me not only realize the importance of my hard work and growth, but to not forget anyone along the way.