Hello, and welcome to my portfolio. One of the great (and often unrealized) advantages of being at New Technology High School is that it prepares students for the real world, and this portfolio is one of the tools that will help represent myself. On this site, you can see some of the things that I've learned in this unique learning environment, but this school has taught me much more than I can express in a portfolio.

Ill share my basic information with you: I was born in beautiful Napa Valley and have lived here ever since. I started my schooling at Browns Valley Elementary and later moved to River Middle School. I then spent two years at Napa High School but I decided to switch to Tech, thankfully, because I saw how it would prepare me for my life ahead much more effectively.

I love how New Technology High School uses so much Technology (as ironic as it sounds.) I have been using computers since I was just a little kid because my brother spent so much time on them and I, being the little brother, naturally followed suite. I pursued programming languages such as C and Visual Basic during the 9th grade and have enjoyed spending some time with them ever since. Upon attending Tech, I have been trying to direct more attention into the arts of computers, such as Photoshop,Flash, and websites. I am no artist, but I do enjoy drawing and animating on the computer.

The switch to Tech was a big change in teaching methods. I was put into a completely project-based environment, where collaboration was essential to my success. Additionally, teachers did not nag me to have good study skills—they simply set certain deadlines for assignments and expected me to complete them at the given time, without any notice or discretion toward my actions. All of the pressure that was taken off my back resulted in both good and bad consequences. Because I was previously trained to only follow verbatim instructions given by strict instructors, it took me a long time to adapt to the idea of having responsibility. I later discovered that this is what the 8 learning outcomes were for: they gave my work direction, a blueprint for success. Most students complained about following rubrics (myself included), but when I forced myself to comply with the learning outcomes, I really did end up with good-quality work.

I think the best thing that I can do for myself in the next several years is keep up on my education. I'm beginning to realize the importance of discipline and practice, and if I want to get into a computer-science related career, I'm going to need to work hard. After all, laziness does not equate to true happiness.