SANJITA SRINATH

On January 2nd of 2022, I posted my very first post here. How the time has flown and we’re at 2023 today. This past year has been amazing and I’m so glad I got to share a lot of it on my blog. This past year, I’ve had so many unique and special opportunities and experiences.

So much has changed since January 2nd, 2022 but at the same time, I’m the same person I was back then. My 2022 resolution was to be active on this blog consistently and keep it updated and full of information about me. I think I can proudly announce that I’ve kept faithful to my resolution!

Me in January of 2022 and me in January of 2023

This year my resolution is even more! I want to and will commit to writing (and publishing 😌) way more posts!

Over the last year, there have been so many exciting things, which I’d love to share with you below!

January

1. I started this blog! (January 2nd, 2022 🤭)
2. I applied to the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics Online Program!
3. My robotics team made it to the state championship, held in February!

February

1. It was my 16th birthday! 🎂
2. I went to the FIRST Tech Challenge State Championship
3. (And won the Inspire Award, the highest ranked award, and was on the winning alliance of the championship. On our way to Worlds in April!) 🥳
4. I went to the North Carolina Career Development Conference for DECA
5. (And placed third overall in my event (Automotive Services Marketing)! On my way to the International Career Development Conference also in April! 🥳)

My February! (From top left clockwise: our states robot, holding our Inspire Award trophy as well as our Winning Alliance trophy, the team posing with our robot and our sponsor Dr. Atalla from Collins Aerospace, my friends and I before competing in the first day of the NC CDC, winning third place in my event, all medalists from Weddington High School)

March

1. Kept my Wordle streak up 😌
2. Spent basically all of my time preparing for the World Championship for robotics
3. Prepared for the International Career Development Conference

April (AKA the BEST month)

1. There is so much to say about this month, I’m not even too sure where to start
2. But, we’ll start chronologically! The beginning of April was spent studying hard for the upcoming AP exams because I would be in Atlanta and Houston for the respective competitions, but that part comes later.
3. So the beginning of April was AP season as well as working tirelessly on our robot for Worlds, and working on my presentation and speaking skills for ICDC!
4. But, before that, came my results from my January application to the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. I applied to the Online Program and was overjoyed to get into it on April 4!
5. And then it was time! We flew to Houston with the rest of the team and it was go time! We assembled our pit in what felt like 30 seconds and then it was mingling time. I met so many wonderful teams from around the world and from around the United States. That floor of the George R. Brown Convention Center was the host of many of the best memories I’ve made. The thrill lasts even today, the feeling of preparing and rehearsing our presentation before judging and running between our pit and the competition floor to represent our team in the heart-pounding robot game. And the absolutely thrilling conclusion when we won the Innovate Award sponsored by Raytheon Technologies. I would like to thank Raytheon Technology and its executives for meeting with us separately and giving us the opportunity to get to know them. (Check out the video they posted of us here!) I would also like to thank Collins Aerospace for funding us so that we could attend Worlds! Now, I could go on and on about Worlds, but I’d like to highlight some of the struggles I’ve had before it, so check out my post about that here!
6. Because of flight schedules and overlapping competitions, I watched my team win the Innovate Award from an extremely laggy iPhone in the Houston airport and I celebrated with my dad right before taking off to go to the next adventure! The International Career Development Conference! I checked into the Marriot Marquis the next morning and received my amazing DECA swag bag. I received a North Carolina t-shirt, bucket hat, and pins, and also received my check-in information for testing and roleplays. On the first day, our delegation from Weddington walked up to the Georgia Convention Center and was awed at our surroundings from the breathtaking hotel we were lucky enough to be given by the association, the imposing Mercedes-Benz stadium, and of course the beautiful convention center. We then split up to go to our respective testing sessions and while there, I met many wonderful people with different experiences I got to talk to a lot of them about their DECA experience and their career goals and aspirations. I can go on and on about ICDC but instead, I’ll direct you to my blog post about it, here’s the link!
7. Oh and one more thing, I was named a Finalist (top 20) and was part of the Champions (top 10)! 6th place!! Thank you so much to my wonderful advisors, Mrs. Simmons, and Mrs. Kowalo for helping me prepare and of course to North Carolina DECA for taking us on this wonderful trip

From top left corner (our team pit, #FIRSTLikeAGirl with another team, our team fixing the robot before a match, our robot after flying home, preparing for a judging interview, meeting Raytheon executives, winning a medal at ICDC, going to the Georgia Aquarium courtesy of North Carolina DECA and DECA Inc., meeting other North Carolina Association members, posing with Finalist medals with my friend and North Carolina VP from Weddington High School, preparing for the Grand Awards Session with my chapter)

May

1. And now… it’s AP season properly
2. On May 3rd, I took two of my AP exams, the Environmental Science one and the Psychology one later that afternoon. My hard work paid off and I thoroughly enjoyed taking these tests. Unfortunately, the happiness with how those exams eroded by the time I got home. The atmosphere in my house was grim and I was to find out the reason why that midnight.
3. I got the news that my uncle was in the ICU and we were being called to see him for the last time that next morning, we rushed to the airport in tears and hastily packed bags, to visit Folsom, California, my second home for my entire life to see my favorite family member for the last time. It was odd driving down that oh-so-familiar highway and instead of going home, straight to the hospital but it was what it was. I don’t remember the following days wonderfully, but I remember feeling so touched by the number of people who were there for me and my family in those terrible days ahead. The person who rushed me to the hospital to say goodbye, the person who hugged me tight, thank you. Those days passed simultaneously in slow motion and at speeds too fast to comprehend, and I barely took notice as the days ticked by and the two AP exams I had been studying for in April passed by without me being able to take them. My school counselors rallied around me and helped me sign up for the make-up exams, and I’m grateful to all my teachers for understanding my absence from school and giving me quiet support while I was going through a really dark and sad period.

June

1. The story gets happier here, don’t worry! I saw some of my best friends graduate from high school in June, and I went to India to meet my grandparents, all while studying data science through Coursera.

July

1. We came home from India, and my first class from the NCSSM Online Program began. It was Scholar Development, a 3-week mini-research experience to get acclimated to the environment of NCSSM. You can check out my team’s project here!

August (slipped away into a moment of time 🎵)

1. The start of the school season. But first, orientation to NCSSM. I met some amazing people on campus all of whom would be with me in the online program for the next two years! I also met my junior year, fall semester instructor, Mr. Gotwals. Mr. Gotwals was my computational science instructor and has introduced so many interesting and intriguing topics during our weekly webinars and labs and I have thoroughly enjoyed his class. I’m so grateful that that was my first NCSSM class because it genuinely was one of the best classes I’ve taken.
2. This was also the month when I changed from my previous role of VP of Community Service for our chapter to DECA to my current role of the VP of Competition, where I host weekly study sessions and prepare our 170+ member chapter for competition.
3. Robotics work amped up as we neared the end of our off-season and started preparing more for the upcoming season
4. I also presented my off-season project, a tournament sized chess-board built to collapse in CAD.

September

1. By this time, school has been in full swing! I was enjoying (and am still enjoying) all of my classes: Spanish, Human Geography, Art Appreciation, English, and Computational Science.
2. The game was revealed for the FIRST Tech Challenge 2022-2023 season reveal at the Kickoff. Our team attended and led many seminars and got to meet a lot of new teams.
3. It was grind time for FIRST robotics and we started the ever-changing design evolution of our bot.
4. I joined the VEX robotics team at my school and helped mentor our team toward getting a high score at the regional competition later in the year.
5. I got named as the secretary for our school’s chapter of Science Olympiad

Attending Kickoff with my team!

October

1. I received a trophy for getting 3 scores of Superior in the NFMC Piano Festival and Evaluation over the past three years.
2. I applied for summer research at NCSSM over the summer. My top choice was the M1 program where a research mentor from the Triangle area will either help me create my own independent research project or integrate me into their ongoing research project.
3. I celebrated Diwali with my family and friends!

November

1. I got the chance to visit Pittsburgh to see Carnegie Mellon, and I absolutely loved the campus! It was amazing meeting with Dr. Janusz Szczypula from Heinz College. He taught my dad when my dad was attending Carnegie Mellon and gave me some really interesting insights. I am so grateful for the opportunity to meet him and he gave me a very interesting book to read on the car ride home. I highly recommend the read as it kept me intrigued and was very informative. (Link to book)
2. Continued preparing for the FIRST robotics competition which will be held in January.
3. Attended the VEX regional competition with the team I mentor 🙂
4. Celebrated Thanksgiving with my friends and family, and reflected on how grateful I am for the many opportunities that I’ve gotten over the past year

And Last But Not Least … December!

1. It’s the most wonderful time of the year again!
2. One of the first things I did in December was volunteer at the FIRST LEGO League Challenge Competition at the Cannon School. FLL raised me and introduced me to robotics so I was very excited to referee at the competition and meet the next generation of future innovators. I participated in setting up fields, refereeing practice matches, refereeing competition matches, and cleaning up after.
3. And a week later, it was time for the DECA Districts competition. I received a roleplay medal and advanced to states!
4. I also completed my Computational Science course through NCSSM and did my very first research paper. You can check it out here!
5. And last but not least, just as the year was wrapping up, I got the news that I got into Mentorship for the summer of 2023!

And with that, 2022 was over!

Thank you so much to everyone who has been a part of my year and thank you so much for the opportunities I have gotten. I look forward to this upcoming year and I am excited to up my blogging as a part of my New Year’s resolution!

See you soon!

Sanjita