All of December: My Life This Month! ☃️
reflections as we step into 2024. . .
Hi there, dear reader! I’m Emma, a 14 year old who loves to learn about all things science-y — especially genes & cancer research! Whether this is the first newsletter of mine you read, or if you’re a returning subscriber, welcome, or welcome back! 🤭
This newsletter series is not only a reflection of my learnings each month, but also a collection of my appreciation to all the lovely and supportive people around me. Here’s a glimpse into my December appreciations & highlights! :-)
ARTIST REC OF THE MONTH — SZA ! 🎧
If you’ve read my previous newsletters, you know what this is about ;) but if its your first time here, hi there!! Every month, I like to feature an artist I like at the start of my newsletter. I find that having music running in the background as I work makes me so much more focused and prevents me from getting distracted by other things. If you’d like, listen along as you read this newsletter! This month, I’d like to introduce you to SZA! 😽
Now that we’ve gotten the introductions done and the music running, let’s get into it! I can’t wait to share the fun things that happened this month with you!
TKS FALL SPRINT CHALLENGE 💥
The biggest project I tackled this month (by FAR!!) was the TKS fall sprint challenge! In the span of just two-and-a-half weeks,
, , , Soren, and I worked on a solution to Google’s problem statement:“How can Google keep its employees informed to use an ever-expanding product portfolio?"
Let’s run it back!
I’m not even sure where to begin. This was our first challenge of the year, and all the challenges we came across were invaluable learning experiences. However, despite our struggles, we ended up with a finished product that (I, personally think) turned out really nicely! At the very least, nice, for our first challenge :’-)
If I had to say what our biggest setback was, it would be time management. Although we set up a notion page with both do-dates and due-dates, we just couldn’t predict just how work-heavy the second phase of the challenge would be: the actual creation of the slide deck and getting all the information together. I think we definitely, severely underestimated how long it would take to produce a good slide deck with actually valuable information. 😰
After completing the fall sprint challenge, I definitely have a lot to take away, and a ton that I’d do differently for the spring challenge.
Create a more balanced workload completion schedule. One of the biggest issues we faced came down to having an imbalanced distribution of tasks. During the first week, our main priority was research. We chose to explore the company structure of both Google itself and other big tech companies, leaving actual solution research to finalize on the day before the session. Looking back now, a lot of the research I worked on really wasn’t that relevant. If I could do it again, I’d start our slide deck design much sooner. This would’ve also made our second week of the challenge much less stressful. There was a clear uneveness between how much we worked on in the first and second week. All in all, I’d much rather work for a 2-3 hours everyday, than save the work for a 6 hour working session towards the end. 🥴
Establish a stronger work ethic. Although the second week of the challenge itself was inarguably more difficult, there were things I could’ve done better myself still. I found that I didn’t exactly have a “system” I followed when it came down to clearing out time to work on the slide deck. Instead, all I did was immediately prioritize the challenge and end up hurting my ability to complete other important tasks as well. I’d end up spending hours at a time sitting working on this deck, and burnout. What sucks, though, is that I want to spend more time on the challenge because I want to see good results. But, I couldn’t give the amount of time that I wanted and needed to make something I’d be proud of seeing. With a system, though, I’d know exactly when I need to work on the challenge without sacrificing the time I’d need to allot to other assignments, too.
Identifying loopholes and weak points. In all honesty, where we failed was being able to make the idea look and feel real. Being able to address the social and financial impacts properly, going into numbers as detailed as possible, and developing a tangible prototype are all super important. I think we reeeaaalllyyy could’ve bumped up our work towards this aspect, so it’s definitely something I’ll look out for in the next challenge!
Being more intentional with reachouts. Our group ended up waiting until the second week to start outreach emails and DM’s, which we disappointingly found was much too late to make it work well. The action item? Get started earlier.
But honestly? I’d have to say that this challenge was a success. Maybe not in the sense of our finished product, but I got the opportunity to work along with some really, really cool people and get to know them better throughout the process. If you’re interesting in seeing how our finished product turned out, I’ve linked it below. Let me know what you think! 😁
Check out our completed slide deck and solution here :)
GETTING ADDICTED TO LEARNING 🧠
On the last day of school, I had the privilege of flying out to Mazatlán, Mexico, and enjoying an 8 day vacation. It was super nice to take a break off from working all the time, and I’m incredibly grateful that I was able to enjoy Christmas in such a warm and lively place :-)
However, I soon realized that something felt amiss. It felt weird that I wasn’t doing anything. I know it was supposed to be a break, but it was so uncomfortable! It was like my brain just wouldn’t shut up about all the things it wanted to read, learn, and work on. Soaking in information and simply learning about new things is just so fun. I’ve come to accept that I am an absolute nerd when it comes to things I’m interested in, and it’s not something I’m ashamed of. After all, it’s led me to meet so many talented and interesting people that I’m glad I get to call my friends. 💗
PODCASTS
Whether I know it or not, my brain is constantly feeding on information in one way or another. When I’m not working on a project, I like to tune in to podcasts to stay updated even when I’m taking a break! 😽😽
One of my favourite podcasts so far is the All-In podcast. Through this podcast, I get to stay updated with all the biggest (mis)happenings in the world each week. Give it a listen!
MINDSET 🙇♀️
“Vulnerability allows us to be seen.”
I like to think that with everyone I meet, I take away a bit of them, and they keep a little bit of me. Surrounding yourself with an abundance of amazing people does wonders, whether thats people that you can trust to fall back on, talk about whatever’s on your mind, or to grow together.
I see so much beauty in the act of connecting with the people around me. Meeting, getting comfortable, and becomingfriends with so many people is such a warm and comforting feeling, and I’m so glad I was able to connect with so many people this year. To everyone who’s become part of my life this year, you’ve made it just a little bit better! 😺
4 2024.. 🌃🎆
Here’s what I plan on working on until my January update !!
Starting my club season, getting ready to meet new friends & teammates, and seeing improvement 🏐
Making progress on my focus and starting my next project
Finishing up my science fair summary report & posterboard for judging on the 22nd
Making sure that I start the new year strong, and commit to things that help me grow as a person 💆♀️
GRATITUDES
In December, I’ve been able to connect with so many people, and spend time with both my family & friends. And of course, each of them deserves a shoutout! c:
To
, for being such a sweet and energetic bundle of joy. You always bring out the energy in all of our squad syncs, and you have always been such a fun person to be around. I’ll miss you in our velocity syncs, but I’m sure we’ll stay close through other projects & calls! Thanks for being one of the first people I got to know this TKS year, and I’m glad you’re one of the people I get to enter 2024 with 💗To
, for being a really cool friend and velocity buddy! I’m so glad I was able to meet you this year, and I can’t ask for a better hackathon partner, friend, or velocity squad buddy. Again, thank you for being one of the first people I became friends with in TKS, and I look forward to helping each other grow in the coming months 🫶To
, for inviting me to your challenge group when I wasn’t able to attend the introductory session! You were an awesome PM too :-)To the rest of my challenge group,
, , and Soren, thanks for making the fall challenge such an enjoyable experience. I couldn’t ask for a better, more hardworking team, and I’d love to tackle another project with all of you again ‼️To
, , Jerry Yao, and everyone else that I’ve been able to connect with for being the coolest and funniest people ever. I loved meeting all of you, and you guys are all super rad :)And to all of my friends, family, teachers, and peers, thank you for making 2023 such an incredible and memorable year. Lots of love to all of you! 💕
As 2023 comes to an end, I’m so, so grateful that I’m stepping into the next year with the best friends and mentors I could ever ask for.
It’s been so nice catching up with you, and thanks for sticking around. Until next month — or technically, next year! — take care! ^_^
Love, love, love it. Happy 2024!!