My name is Akshat Bisht. I have always been fascinated with computers as well as breaking computers. As a child when I was first introduced to a computer I was instantly hooked on it. The ability to manipulate software as I wish is really comforting due to the fact that computers are effectively rocks that we’re coerced into thinking. My goals are focused on developing my skills as a developer as well as maintaining a sense of responsibility towards my community and environment.
As a child I was constantly moving countries, hence I was immersed within new friend circles. I use skype to communicate with all my friends from all my schools and hence am frequently on the computer which has caused for me to gain an interest in computing. I also found myself frequently trying to do things on the computer for which programs didn’t exist and hence I had to build my own. This allowed me to further involve myself within the computer world. In my old school, I was pushed by my peers to pursue computing when I could easily fix problems they were having due to my experiences with computers.
In order to move closer to my goals, I have enrolled myself within a really eclectic collection of courses ranging from programming to solar energy. These range from online courses to services and activities within our school. I thoroughly researched my activities in order to ensure they are edifying and help me develop as a person. Tech tinkerers is a service I found out about recently. They repair electronic goods and send them to people in need. I found that this service both fulfils my needs from a technical perspective, as well as fitting with my personal values, allowing me to develop my skills in the area of computer science whilst also giving back to my community. I am also currently part of a service called Urban Gardening. We focus on growing plants locally to reduce the amount of vegetables and fruits our school buys from external sources. This holds value as a practical skill since gardening is a tool which everyone should possess. Additionally it focuses on sustainability and looks into the future since the carbon footprint of something as large as a school is quite significant and anything to help reduce that will be helping our community and the environment.
From my perspective, I’ve been a bit frivolous this past year. I’ve really been trying to enjoy the last year of my life that I have left stress-free. Nevertheless I believe this has still been a useful experience as I have been able to teach myself skills that school will be unable to provide such as the persistent mentality of a programmer as well as involve myself in gardening, a skill that I would never have thought to learn in my own time. Looking to the future, I have created a set of deadlines upon which I will be marking my growth and development. From now on I will be more rigorous in recording my advancements and setbacks in order to help me see what I can do to improve myself to help me reach my goals.
-A.B