When I registered for my first semester of classes, I was sure of what I wanted to do. It wasn’t majoring in computer science. I had made up my mind that I was going to be an electrical engineer. I was still in the navy at this time and it made sense to me that if I was going to go to college, I should get a degree that’s the most similar to what I already work as – an electronics technician. I didn’t know what interested me about electrical engineering other than that an electrical engineer designed the radios I was repairing, and I liked repairing radios so I’ll probably like making them. It wasn’t for over two years that I would decide to change my plans and pursue a degree in something I actually loved doing.
The first semester was rough. Although I had been through some schooling while in the navy, it had been almost 10 years since I had been in a classroom that wasn’t hands-on. I found myself studying the same math that I took in high school, only this time it was more difficult. But with the help of some amazing teachers at San Diego Mesa College, I was starting to learn how to learn.
By the time I was studying calculus, I felt like I was really getting the ball rolling. While I was studying in San Diego, I mostly focused on core classes like math, writing, biology and chemistry. I always intended to transfer to a university, but I wanted to keep my options open as to where I would go. I decided to go to Oregon State University because I loved the idea of being near the mountains. Although I wasn’t planning it at this time, I also liked the idea that I could change my major easily.
Two months before I was planning to make my move to Oregon, the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic. It was safe to say that I was feeling a little anxiety over making the thousand mile trip. I didn’t let that stop me, though. I moved from San Diego, California to Albany, Oregon and began classes at OSU in the fall of 2020.
My first term at OSU was similar to my first semester in San Diego. This time I was struggling with Intro to Computer Science II. I was taking electrical engineering classes now, but I also had to take some computer science classes. I thought this would be easy because I had taken a course that was equivalent to Intro to Computer Science I my last semester in San Diego. That class was easy – because it was disrupted by the announcement of a global pandemic. I withdrew from Intro to Computer Science II. I felt like I hated computer science. Why was C++ so hard for me? I decided that I wasn’t going to let this stop me from achieving my dream to be an electrical engineer. So I immersed myself in coding. I watched hundreds of YouTube tutorials. I read free books online. I handled the coding portion of an Arduino project in one of my electrical engineering classes. Then the next semester I took Computer Science II again.
By the fall term of 2021, I had changed my major to computer science. I learned that I didn’t want to pursue a degree in electrical engineering just because it seemed like the logical next step from being an electronics technician. I wanted to pursue a career that would be fulfilling for me. Now I am starting my Senior Capstone Project on Engineering Simulations with Game Development Tools. I couldn’t be more happy with the capstone project I will be working on and I’m excited to see where this will take me.
