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Oh The Places Youll Go: Where I Went For My Spring PBL Nicholas S. Portugal West Career and Technical Academy

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To begin, my spring PBL project turned out significantly better than my first semester PBL! Most importantly, I dedicate this to my spectacular group members efforts that helped to assemble this project: Ashley Kim, Stephanie Galang, Savanna Syed, Alyson Nakamura, and Lauren Talavera. Our topic for this particular project was the college application process, which is very important to know when applying for any college or university. We created a Google website called Application Process. To organize our information, we brainstormed our ideas on PowerPoint slides, which allowed us to equally divide up the work amongst our group members. After brainstorming, we added webpages to the website corresponding to each topic that we researched, and applied our information from the slides to the website. We used the numerous tools and resources that were readily available to us in Google Sites, and productively utilizing them, we created a great website that looked very appealing; it even resembled several design aspects and features of an actual colleges application website! We researched several different Internet websites to find some examples of what actual online college application websites appeared to be, and we simply used those same design techniques and research to compile a well-thought out project. During this project, we definitely enjoyed working with one another, as our bonds as friends strengthened and grew while we worked together for two consecutive days on a large school wide assignment. There are several long and short-term goals I have, and many of these are important to getting my dream career. Overall, to be successful in our PBL project, our group needed to implement efficient time management and organizational strategies, utilize effective research skills, and communicate and collaborate with each other as necessary when various challenges arose. While creating our project, we analyzed several aspects that would be involved in the application process such as: what colleges prefer on students college applications, recommended

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grades and SAT/ACT scores, an explanation of the college entrance essay that must be written to be considered for top-notch university admissions, various extra-curricular activities, how to apply, and much more. Furthermore, while attending college, I would like to pursue my dream of becoming a world-class architect. Primarily, I absolutely love constructing and designing structures of all different types. To accomplish this, my long-term goal would be to study at an influential university, preferably, since community colleges dont appear as good on resumes as universities do. Types of universities that I might be interested in applying to would include: Stanford University, Princeton University, MIT, UCLA, etc., specifically for their architectural design programs. The moment I hear that I get accepted to any one of these wonderful schools, I will be most satisfied, since these particular institutions have definitely proven to be both the most prestigious schools to get accepted to and also the most regarded schools to successfully place on my resume when applying for a career! When choosing to pursue this long-term goal, I will need to consider the fact that architecture requires very rigorous training in the concepts and principles of both architectural design and engineering, which is the main reason why Im enrolled in the fabulous engineering program here at West CTA! Moreover, in order to achieve my long-term goals to get my dream career, I must first attend high school, followed by college. I am very grateful and appreciative to be able to attend West CTA, because I am currently enrolled in one of the best programs there is to offer, which is Civil and Environmental Engineering. As I have learned several times throughout my first year in this program, in order to become a successful architect or engineer, one must learn how to construct scale models of the structures that are designed, and be able to write analysis reports of how the projects worked, including its efficiency and basic functionality. To be most prosperous in this especially prestigious career, one must be capable of utilizing the requisite technologies to

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complete an assortment of projects by the managers specified deadlines. These types of technologies include particularly expensive computer software such as AutoCAD and Autodesk Inventor. AutoCAD is a world-renowned program, which stands for computer-aided design, enabling engineers / architects to design drafts for projects with blueprints and sketches, as well as drawing and making the plans concerning how the architect or engineer will design their structure. On the other hand, Autodesk Inventor is like a furniture shop. Once designing a structure in AutoCAD, one can also design specific objects the structure may require to function such as pipes, fixtures, lights, and even furniture! As mentioned, everything designed that should be able to serve a purpose for society is technically engineered. For example, Autodesk Inventor allows users to technologically engineer objects that would be useful in projects. These are just a few of the numerous tools an architect uses to be successful! Being enrolled in the engineering program at West CTA enables me to receive a quality education and instruction most students at regular schools interested in this field arent able to learn or understand until college! Learning about these major concepts and principles of engineering early before college gives us an advantage over other students to have more experience and necessary knowledge, which is incredibly useful when applying to colleges and internships. This advantage provides a greater chance of acceptance over other applicants. Though the curriculum has proven at times to be stressful and difficult, I have always tried to do my best throughout the year and not give up. Engineers must be primarily capable of finding solutions to situations of all types, and being persistent to satisfy clients and assignments is one of many qualities an engineer / architect must possess to be successful in his / her career. My instructor has taught our engineering class on countless occasions that collaboration with other students or engineers and being optimistic is incredibly important in order to succeed in this

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field. Though Ive faced many challenges trying to accomplish these goals, it has certainly set an important foundation for me to continue pursuing this field of study and advance through my four years in high school. Along the way, I hope to achieve several short-term goals among the following: learning to collaborate with new individuals I meet both in my program and around school to enhance my communication skills; take classes essential to engineering and architecture in particular; paying attention to my teachers; taking good notes to learn the most about that subject; using effective time management to stay organized with my tight schedule and assignments to avoid procrastination, and incorporating valuable study habits in order to succeed when studying for tests and examinations. If I stay optimistic and persistent, remember to use good time management, and network with my teammates, it will ensure I earn the best chance to accomplish my long and short-term goals! To summarize, I am very confident I can achieve my goals, however, they will impact many individuals in my life concerned about my future, such as my family and teachers. Striving to become a world-class architect is my dream, and to achieve this, I prefer to attend a university, and then advance towards my dream career. Likewise, my goals will definitely impact my family, my community, country, and even the world at a significant level! The world, especially in the United States, has a shortage of qualified engineers and architects to construct and design our newest structures and communities. Since these careers are constantly in demand, corporations are always looking to hire good architects and engineers to develop and maintain complex machinery and systems. In addition, architects and engineers earn a respectable salary, and get the opportunity to travel all around the world. My family will be incredibly proud of me because they have always supported me from the time I first applied to West CTA, and they will continue to do so throughout high school and college. When I have finally achieved my goals,

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they will know I worked hard to earn a rewarding career and more importantly, I can support myself. Lastly, I believe that my choices will be particularly relevant to the 21 st century for several reasons. Both engineering and architecture careers have taken an enormous toll over the years, transforming the way they work. From manually drawing out all of the blueprints for structural designs by hand, technology has changed all of this, so that blueprint plans are now designed on the computer, using AutoCAD and Autodesk Inventor. Ever since technology has transformed both engineering and architecture, projects have become much more modern and technologically advanced than in years past. As the United States competes with other countries in the global economy, the ability for the U.S. to produce quality engineers becomes even more important. This is the primary reason why I want to become an architect. I want to contribute to helping our society become more self-sufficient and sustainable by solving problems through engineering solutions. As a result of being a part of this PBL project, working together as a team on an important project, brainstorming new ideas to solve the problem posed, collaborating with my peers, I felt like an actual architect!