Blog #1: Summer Vacation and The Upcoming School Year

Hello everyone!

Over the summer, I continued my research internship at UCLA where I experimented with heat exchangers primarily for use in hybrid electric aircraft engines. I developed a multitude of heat transfer models to predict heat transfer properties and I helped design and run experiments. One of my passions is developing environmentally-friendly aircraft, so I was really excited to contribute to the future development of greener airplanes.

I also began to write my MIT application. After taking a tour, I realized that MIT is absolutely my

top choice university, mostly because of it "work hard, play hard" culture and its emphasis on producing practical solutions to the world's most pressing problems (much like the PLTW program!). I find writing really hard, so it was important for me to start the process early, especially because their application is separate from the Common App.

For this engineering class in particular, I am really excited for competing in the JPL Invention Challenge and completing the capstone project. I've never had a class that focuses more on group projects as opposed to rote lectures and note-taking. I hope my work has some sort of real positive impact on my community. And I'm looking forward to building close friendships with my fellow PLTW classmates!

In general, my focus during the first semester of my senior year is college applications. Frankly, I just look forward to getting all of my essays done and not having to worry about it anymore. During my second semester, I look forward to focusing more on myself and enjoying my last semester at SAMOHI before college. I will also appreciate the massive weight being taken off my shoulders due to the completion of college apps. Maybe I will take a fun SMC class or hang out with my friends more.