As a kid, my parents threw me into everything from basketball to Tamil school, with the hope that that one of things I tried would stick. I would watch as my parents proudly announced to their friends that I’ve been with the same sport or class for 5 to 10 years. I know it would mean a lot to them to see me in a place where I would flourish among a community of people who I’ve bonded with for years.
I’ve always been jealous of the people who found exactly what they wanted to stick with on their very first try. Although I am still grateful that I have had the opportunity to try all the things I have, I look forward to trying more. Trying so many different activities has helped me feel connected to a larger group and discover different parts of myself.
It wasn’t until the seventh grade that I found something that I thought might be my thing: robotics. My friend had suggested that I join with her, telling me that it was a great thing to get into STEM. Even though I know now that I’m not too interested in anything STEM-related, at the time I didn’t really know what I liked so it seemed like a great way to get closer with my friend while trying something out. With the small, tight-knit groups and the exciting competitions, robotics seemed like something that I could finally stick with. Up until that point, I never had any strong connections in my other extracurriculars like basketball or dance, mainly because no one on the teams went to the same school I did. As a software engineer himself, my dad was really supportive of this so it made me feel like I was getting closer to him while gaining a better understanding of the things he did on a day-to-day basis. When eighth grade came to an end, so did my career in the middle-school robotics program.
When I decided to join Westview’s Option 16, a much more intense and time-consuming activity, it took me longer than it should’ve to realize that nostalgia was all robotics was to me, it was just something to look back on fondly, but not something I could picture in my future. Robotics turned out to be something that I viewed as a chance to socialize. I was never interested in the actual building part of it.
I’m grateful for all the opportunities I was given through my time with Robotics. I got to hear from professionals in the STEM industry, I learned so much about leadership and collaboration, and I learned even more about engineering in general.
Because of robotics, I’ve learned a lot about myself and what I want to do in the future. It made me reflect about whether enjoying the learning process of it or having friends in the extracurricular meant more to me.
During my time in Robotics, I was also trying to balance NJROTC. It was nothing like anything I had ever tried before. I wasn’t familiar with anything related to the Navy but that was a big part of why I joined: out of pure curiosity.
I had heard about the NJROTC program before, remembering when I was younger and starstruck when older students from a nearby high school came and demonstrated their own routines. I was thinking about how cool it would be if I could do something like that in the future, drawing my own stares from kids who used to be me.
Another one of the biggest reasons I decided to join was to get out of my comfort zone. Everything about the class felt foreign to me, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t adapt to it. From the way I had to speak to others to the routines we had throughout class, most parts of it were highly structured. Normally I’d rather spend my days doing things spontaneously, but as someone who doesn’t live a lot of their life planned out, it felt like a good change of pace for me.
Once I joined the class, I started doing my own research on the program. I looked into how the uniforms worked and how precise some of the routines could be. It was all a little daunting at first, but the more I looked into it, the more excited I was about getting to do the things I researched.
NJROTC brought out a side of me I never really got to see. The class felt like a team. It made me think about how I could improve my organization and what it takes to be a leader. But most importantly, it taught me how to be a better teammate.
From NJROTC I learned that doing things out of my comfort zone has made me more open to doing things I wouldn’t originally consider as something I would see myself in.
At the beginning of this semester, I joined The Nexus. After months of my friend praising the class for its activities and the people in it, I knew it would be a good place for me to improve myself and my writing.
On my very first day in class, I saw people finishing the final edits for the newspaper and I felt the same sense of curiosity I had as when I started any new elective. But this time, it came with the joy of being surrounded by people who were just as passionate about writing as I was.
I had heard a lot about the class from a friend of mine but learning how to write articles and edit pages were things I had fun doing. Getting into the groove of the publication cycles was a little tricky the first few times but over a few cycles, I’ve started to feel more comfortable with them.
The more time I spend in The Nexus, the more I realize my goal is to find an extracurricular that I look forward to each day. Whether that be because of the amazing friends I have there or the exciting activities we do.
With all of the extracurriculars I’ve taken, I’m grateful for all of the opportunities I’ve been given and the bonds I cherish. I’ve grown in so many ways because of everything I’ve taken, each one making me better in their own way.
Throughout my next three years at Westview I hope I can find something that sticks with me, whether that’s with The Nexus or with any of the other wonderful communities we have on campus.
