Ever since I can remember, I’ve always enjoyed solving puzzles. Jigsaw, crossword, word searches, Sudoku, Rush Hour – if it looked like a puzzle, I was doing it. Working to figure out the correct slot for some letter, number, or piece and the sense of satisfaction and accomplishment when the final piece is in place is indescribable.
However, my joy for puzzle solving isn’t just limited to the satisfaction of “winning.” The joy comes from the entire process – deciphering how all of these individual pieces relate to each other to form one big picture.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned that this characteristic about myself isn’t only limited to puzzles for enjoyment. For my first undergraduate degree, I majored in Urban Studies and I chose to study the city that I live in, NYC, focusing on how its residents are impacted by the various systems that they interact with daily and areas for improvement, with a focus on housing, policing, and education.
Not to get too meta about things, but it’s almost like people, places, and things serve as individual puzzle pieces that all fit together to form a bigger picture that then goes on the form even bigger pictures. As one might expect, this abstraction has become even more relevant in my current educational journey at Oregon State.
This quarter, my Capstone Project gives me the opportunity to work on a project that aims to improve broadband access for Americans living in under-serviced communities. I’m excited to have a chance to work on a project that could potentially help to improve people’s lives and will be using this blog as a space to document different aspects of the problem-solving process. I plan to focus primarily on roadblocks a may encounter along the way, and the steps I took the overcome them. Thanks for following along!
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