Well, I just got finished writing this thing for HNRS 1023, and, despite my best efforts, I think it will make Batts happy. But then, it also makes me happy, so I'm going to post it to make you happy.
------
My sophomore year in high school was a time full of change for me, as it was for many of my friends, and probably is for many people. At summer camp the previous July, I had re-dedicated my life, and so my life was changing particularly rapidly. My English teacher was very intent on getting all of his students to grow inwardly and discover who they really were (in addition to learning how to write essays and practicing penmanship). He had us read Annie Dillard's Essay, "Living Like Weasels" and write our own essay in response to it, and that essay helped me realize that life is only rewarding when we do that which we are called to do.
With this in mind, I was going through my year, trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I was planning on studying history and becoming a professor of history specializing in Ireland in the Dark Ages. Then my computer science teacher, Brian Everett, asked me to be a member on one of the teams in the programming contest that was going to come up in February. I agreed. My brother was already going, and I was going to be on a team with two of my friends, so even if we did not do well, we would still have fun.
Well, as three first-year computer science students, we did not do well at all. If I remember correctly, we did not get a single point. (My brother's team, on the other hand, placed third with fifty-six points.) But even so, I had had fun trying to solve these problems, even if I had been completely unsuccessful. It was then that I realized that while studying history was fun, it was not as rewarding as being able to solve a problem by having complete power over a computer. Thus began my interest in computer science.
But why, if I was so interested in history and English, did I agree to go to the competition in the first place? Brian also my youth minister at the time, and so I knew that he would make the trip enjoyable if nothing else. Also, there was no one else in the class capable enough or interested enough in going to the contest in the first place. I had also been talking to my brother John about computer science and mathematics and academia in general, and I realized that he had entirely too much fun solving problems like this. So my curiosity got the better of me and I agreed to go to the competition.
This was the initial event that sparked my interest in computer science and math. My love of programming came many months before my love of math. At some point, I decided that I would like to be able to program computer games [I even got one working], and in order to make a successful three-dimensional computer game, one must know all kinds of advanced linear algebra and other upper-level math concepts. At this point, I decided that it would be prudent to cultivate an interest in math, because I knew I would be studying it all through college. I was blessed with four excellent math teachers in high school, all of whom were teachers by vocation. My math teachers, Ms. Rivoire, Mrs. Britton, Ms. Butler, and Mrs. Garrett, were four of the best teachers that I have ever had, because all of them could explain the concepts in their classes with amazing clarity. So I found it incredibly easy to love math.
Sometime during Mrs. Garrett's calculus course, I realized that solving math problems was just as much fun as solving programming problems. Also, my brother and I had been talking about school again, and he had switched his major from computer science to a double major in computer science and math to a straight mathematics major. He was pleased that I realized that math was rewarding in and of itself, and I found myself loving math for the sake of math more and more. At some point, I gave up on wanting to program games and have since gone back to wanting to teach at a university. The study of algorithms and finding more efficient ways to do anything fascinates me, and would be a good application of both computer science and mathematics.
By the time I arrived at LeTourneau, I had decided to major in the combined computer science and math degree, because it suits me so well. I remember that I began this course because of one programming contest my sophomore year. Ever since, I have been living like a weasel, "yielding at every moment to the perfect freedom of single necessity." The single necessity that I have discovered is to do that which most stimulates my mind and my spirit.
------
Right, so that last paragraph reeks of cheese. Particularly that last sentence. But then, "Living Like Weasels" is just a really cool essay. Rather ironic that an essay we read in English helped point me to the non-fuzz of computer science.
Posted by Gallagher at February 5, 2004 02:19 AM