Hold On (11/09-11/15)

This week was a fairly rough one for me, especially because of extracurricular activities that demanded more time from me than usual. My biggest regret this week was that I was not able to spend more time on my original work and learning about spacecraft design. Although we only had to complete an assessment and record a research speech this week, I feel that the effort which I put into those two assignments was of a quality unbefitting the standards I held myself to, primarily due to the smaller amount of time I dedicated towards them. I am at a critical phase of my life, and if I do not seek to overcome my laziness, my experience in the Independent Study and Mentorship program will be negatively impacted. Despite feeling relatively pressured, I still found myself looking forward to enhancing my speech skills as I rehearsed my research speech. As someone who holds self-growth in high regard, I could not easily pass up the opportunity to test my courage and record a formal speech about my passion. I feel that I was successful in imparting my experience with researching spacecraft design in my research speech, because I talked about my learnings and the growth of my passion rather extensively. For speeches in the future, I still need to work on my pronunciation and fluent speaking skills to become a proficient speaker. Communication is an important skill to engineers, so if I hone my interpersonal skills starting now, I will be a step ahead of the average aspiring engineer. As for my progress with mentorship, I am still seeking out as many individuals on LinkedIn specializing in spacecraft design as possible. The deadline for selecting a mentor is approaching rapidly, so I must put forth effort like I never have before to acquire one that is ideally suited to my passion. I feel that I gain a better understanding of spacecraft design from my research interviews rather than my independent research because I hear advice straight from experienced aerospace engineers. In addition to building my network, I have the opportunity to improve my speaking skills when interviewing professionals. Going forward, I need to start committing myself to improving my time management so that I can produce an original work that I take pride in.