"What specific experiences in the past year have had the most impact on your personal, academic, or professional goals and life trajectory? Which future experiences will further encourage this growth? Please articulate specific academic and/or professional goals for the next year."

This past year, I got in touch with my creative side.

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The catalyst for this new love for self-expression came during my first co-op session. In the Fall, I went to Indianapolis, IN to work a office job at the engineering project firm Cornerstone Controls. Due to the last remnants of COVID, the co-op entailed less work than expected, but was still a very positive experience.

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What shocked me most was not the job itself, but what came afterwards. Or to be more precise; the lack of what came afterwards. After my eight hours of work were completed, I had nothing I needed to do. No clubs, classes, homework, or demands of any kind. Besides having to feed myself and keep things tidy, every moment of my time was entirely at my disposal. It was pure, unadulterated freedom.

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I decided to spend my time doing what most people my age do, consuming media. I watched, read, and experienced as much as possible, and it was incredibly fulfilling. After a while, I had noticed changes in my thought process while doing these things. Times I would stop reading and explain to myself: "If I were writing this, I think I would take the plotline this direction instead," or pause a video and mutter "If this were my script, I would have worded it this way." The more I saw, and the more invested I became in 'appraising' the creative works I consumed, the more I seemed to have my own original ideas. After four months of working all day and reading all night, it was finally Spring, and time for me to return to UC for an academic semester.

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As a result of all the time spent alone in Indianapolis, I was excited to be back with my peer group and surrounded by lots of things to do. Classes were obviously my largest focus, and I discovered that my schedule had two classes where creativity played a major role in one's performance: Technical Writing (taught by Bob Hyland) and Materials and Energy Balances (taught by Carlos Co). Professor Hyland's Tech Writing centered around a full-length research paper to be written throughout the course of the class, and Professor Co's MEB checked competency through the submission of live video-recordings explaining and solving class material.

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Throughout the year, I found myself actively looking forward to these classes' homework assignments. I was itching to inject my personality into these projects, and eager to make something that was creative in nature. I am a perfectionist at heart, and deadlines usually leave me feeling unsatisfied with my submissions, but I always left these assignments feeling like I had perfectly done what I had set out to do. Make something of my own. There exists no greater satisfaction than seeing an idea you created be brought to life by your own efforts.

I am very proud of the work I produced for these two classes, and would like to share them with you - not as homework, but rather - as knowledge in the form of art.