Confusion and Failure, my two Frenemies.

" Hey Andres, since you got into MIT and all, can you fix my computer? Can you graph this complex polynomial in your head and tell me the average value? Can you hack into Pandora and get rid of the Pandora fish McBites commercial? Can you bring my bunny back to life? "

Okay so maybe I was exaggerating in the quote above, however, there has been a serious difference since my acceptance to MIT ( Which by the way I am still in shock of, maybe I will get over it when I graduate in four years ). One major difference I have seen is that people believe that I know the answer to everything, which is farrrrrrrrrrrrr from true. Like light years far. Like the distance between you and your remote when laying on the sofa far. Sure, I have worked hard and obtained great grades, however, I have had far more failures and moments of confusion than moments of success. The other day I was contemplating this, and I had flashbacks to MITES 2012. *Set the little flashback cloud*


I was in my dorm room at Simmons working on my electromagnetism and electricity physics p-set. This was early in the MITES program when I thought I could complete a p-set by myself. I looked at the intimidating paper and began to work. And I worked. And I worked. And I failed. Two hours had past and still no progress at all. I went down to the hallway and saw a group of fellow MITES students working on the same p-set and sat down and conversed with them. After working a couple of minutes we had solved the problem I had spent two hours trying to do myself.

Another MITES example, it was during the last day of engineering design. The countdown began and every team was racing to finish their robots for the competition. I was in charge of the hammer mechanism that was meant to smash down on a high striker in order to gain points. The design was sketched out with dimensions and it was time to go to the workshop and cut out the parts. I went to the drill press and drilled a hole in the shaft of the hammer. Oh did I mention I drilled the hole in the wrong side of the hammer shaft? So instead of smashing with the hammer head, the hammer would smash with its side. Brilliance alert here.

One more recent example, I was in my AP chemistry class and decided that my pencil was dull. Went to sharpen said pencil. Failed completely. I didn't pay attention to the side I was sharpening so I ended up putting the eraser side in the sharpener. Again, let me say, I fail a lot.

What is the point of me ridiculing my blunders? I want to say that failure and confusion is an essential part of life. Don't be scared to not know something or to be confused. It happens to everyone, and more importantly failure and confusion are essential to success. I have learned far more from my failures and moments of confusion than from my moments of success. Trust me, I definitely will remember more drilling the hole on the wrong side of the hammer shaft versus remembering the time I understood perfectly Euler's method and Separable Differential Equations. In MITES I failed so much, but I stuck with it. I would learn from my failures and moments of confusion and continue on.

I ended up acing my MITES finals.

So no, I am no super human that knows everything. I am just someone who is constantly confused and who constantly fails but decides to constantly keep at it and learn from these moments of failure. Intelligence is not measured on how much one knows, but on how much one is willing to learn.

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.