Post-MITES Personal Reflection

Hello Everyone! I'm a new blogger on this page. Hopefully you'll get to know me better as I post more. Here's a small something to start with. I've undergone many changes since MITES, and here is one that I noticed recently. I hope you enjoy this personal reflection:

 I was in a damn hurry. I had lost my schedule and reprinted it, wasting valuable time I could've spent working out at the gym. As I rushed to the gate by the 700 building*, I was angry at myself and everyone around me because of my tardiness. But as I walked in the 700 building, I saw three girls wave hi to me. I didn't know them, but waved back politely. 

 As I got closer, one of them gave me this heart warming look, a look you only get from your younger sister, as if pleading me to talk to her. She extended her hand out to me, and asked me, "You're my friend right?"

 I replied "Of course I'm your friend!", And shook her hand amiably. 

 As I walked past she giggled and told her friends she had met her new best friend.

 All my anger was flushed somehow. When I reached the gate by the football stadium it had already been closed. I walked away gracefully however, not having the same frustration as before. 

 The girl I met left an incredible mark on me. In that short interaction she made me teary eyed with the way she gazed at me and asked for my friendship. I might have a 4.0 and this and that, but I learned something very special from that beautiful girl in the special education program. In that brief moment I saw the value in taking your time to be kind to others and not getting angry over the most trivial things. 

 The shortest "hi" can make a difference in your life. I encourage you to be more friendlier with everyone around you. No groups. We're all one. We all need to get along.

MITES 2012

-Miguel A. Garcia

*700 building is the building used for career counseling, drama class, and special education at Robert A. Millikan High School in Long Beach, California.

So many have been asking me how life has been after MITES. Here is a quick description of this Colombian's life so far!

So many have been asking me how life has been after MITES. Here is a quick description of this Colombian's life so far! 

        Time flies and I can't even believe it has been more than two months since I left MIT on that very depressing bus ride to the airport. (On a side note of the airport: I still can't believe they let me take that hammer on my carry on. I guess wearing a suit and having a diploma with the MIT logo makes it all okay.)
Senior year has been interesting to say the least. Well, most of it. My AP classes are not too bad. Sure AP literature makes me want to crawl in a hole, but at least the hole has pillows! Calculus has been such a breeze thanks to the amazing teachings of Mr. Craiginski at MITES. I am taking it online and my teacher gets annoyed at the speed I finish her lessons. I am just like " what can I say, I got the skills and I am not afraid to derive." Statistics hasn't been bad, just z-scoring every day you know? And then comes Chemistry. Lets not discuss Chemistry ( still doing good though ). But enough of Academics. I have been really busy with Cross-Country and my school's Beta Club.  I have been running miles upon miles daily since the day I got back from MITES. My shoes have the mileage of car now. This year we had a lot of new runners come in and I am happy to say that I have seen every single one of those runners grow. I remember in the beginning of the season when they all were like " 5 miles? Um my leg just exploded. Can't do it." Now they are all running the courses without stopping! I can't explain how happy it makes me to know that these new runners are now completing these distance courses. Originally I would have to run next to them and encourage them to run. They would stop of course, but as persistent ( and annoying ) as I am I would push them from behind and tell them that they can complete it. Now I see a transformation in these runners, not just in their running skills. They are now having confidence in their own abilities and they have built up their determination. Knowing that they are all growing is what makes this Captain position so worth it. Recently I was put in charge of a fund raiser for the American Heart Association for my school's National Beta Club. At first the fund raiser was going slow and we were making little to no process, but then we started to pick up the pace ( after a well played motivational pep talk) and we even managed to raise close to five hundred dollars! Needless to say it felt great to be able to donate money for a good cause. Lately I have been really busy tutoring and helping friends with their work. For some reason I am always drawn to help my fellow classmates even though my own homework resembles the rocky mountains. Let me just clarify, however, that I do not give my classmates the answer. I teach them the process to get the answer. I am basically teaching them one of the great MITES principles. On top of all these club activities, sports, and homework I have also been working my job at Red Lobster. Yes, I do "sea" food differently. Work isn't exactly the funnest thing in the world. I run more cleaning tables on one shift than I do at two cross-country practices. My co-workers are all at least double my age and I am the "baby" in the restaurant. Let's just say sometimes these conversations get weird. Now to the last part of my long post MITES story, college applications. I just recently finished my MIT essays and now I am revising and soon I shall click the suspenseful "submit" button. I have my hopes high, but I am applying to other good engineering schools as well just in case. These essays, however, are basically as demanding as another AP class. Alright, so what was the point of this long blog besides giving an insight on my life? Point is that MITES is basically in every part of my life. My coaches, co-workers, classmates, and friends all know about my MITES experience. I am constantly talking about it. I can't help it. I want to spread the great things I learned at MITES and try to inspire my friends to dream big and work hard. I have grown from it and now I am applying what I have learned to help my community. For now, that is the update on this Colombian's life.

RISE Above the Norm

I was sitting in the couch in the living room, looking forward to the typical Saturday morning for me. I signed into my email as I usually do, and there it was. I could barely believe it - I was reading an email

from an actual Google employee and it was addressed to me.

I've heard of the Google RISE Awards and how the grants are intended to promote STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and CS (Computer Science) outreach programs. All the recipients, staff and other professionals were to come together to discuss current company projects and share information/ideas so that the attendees could improve their programs at the 2012 Google RISE Summit in New York City. Google was asking me to be one of the four students on their panel discussion; Google wanted to hear my thoughts and MIT's OEOP office thought I would do a good job representing the MITES program. The first time I read the email, I ran straight over the words and jumped out of my seat, running to my mom, shouting "Can I go? Mom, can I go please?!" and forgetting that she knew nothing of what I was asking. As soon as I read the email to my parents and sister, my family responded with a supportive "Let's do this." The door to an opportunity to speak before business professionals and network had been opened to me and I was not going to let it slide past me.

Around 6 am on the second day of the conference, September 14, my mother and I boarded the train to Penn Station (which was exciting in itself as it was my first time on a train). We finally arrived at the station between 8 and 9 am, grabbed some Dunkin' Donuts, and joined the long line of others waiting for a New York taxi. Wasn't that an experience! We eventually grabbed a ride and made our way to the Google NY building. If we had more foresight then, we might have just walked the distance instead of waited. When I arrived, the building was busy and people were everywhere, and I began to feel intimidated by the fact that these people were able to inspire so many others through their own dreams. After the last session finished the workshops, all eight of the panelists - one student and one professional for each program - took their places. In the beginning, all the students, including myself, were quiet and allowed the adults to address questions, but, after we received an invitation to share our thoughts, we instantly expressed the significance of our experiences.

One thing that MITES taught me is that you don't have to be "the best" to succeed. When a question about admitting students with potential versus students with developed skills in STEM, I had to speak up: even though I may not have the perfect SAT score or the highest GPA in my class, I am not defined by a few shortcomings. I would have never discovered how much I can become if someone didn't give me the opportunity to not "be the best" but to "do my best." I clearly remember the night of orientation, when I was informed - rather forewarned - that my successes would not carry me through MITES. I appreciate that aspect of MITES. If we only focus on igniting inspiration on those that would appear to become the most successful, we minimize the power of inspiration and alienate an entire world of possibility and of progress. There are plenty of teenagers like myself in this country who could have more drive, more obstacles or even more potential than I have, but, because someone could not think outside of the box and allow them the chance to develop themselves, it is possible that they may never fully experience their talents.

"Igniting Inspiration" is a challenge that I hope I helped fulfill at the conference. These professionals wanted to hear from the students in order to learn how to better their program, and I wanted to make sure that I shared what became most important to me. While I've already explained how someone's "risk" influenced me and others students so greatly, I cannot deny the importance of diversity and exposure, both of which go hand-in-hand with what I've stated. By taking a risk on a student who may not fit the norm, I believe the level of each student's experience is heightened. Why? It follows the statement "hard work beats talent, when talent doesn't work hard.." At MITES, we were all placed in environment where we couldn't rely on our own experiences from home, because the situation was entirely different. Where some of us succeeded in areas, others who were used to achievement did not, and, where some of us foresaw a struggle and despair in weaknesses, others found a strength where they had least expected it. We were all faced with academic and social diversity as well as an exposure to new ideas and new paths. Without someone taking the chance to "shake things up." how else would anyone discover that magnitude of success? We can only grow when we are forced to reach new heights; learning how to jump high means learning how to fall. I hope this inspired you.

Came out motivated to do greater things to "ignite inspiration"