Ways To Grow

Share story

Hey guys. I’ve been thinking a lot recently about what I want to do with my life, and how I want to make that happen. I worry, probably a bit too often, all things considered, about falling behind my peers, because I see a lot of people around me with a certain… Drive to get things done, on their own, on top of all the school stuff that they’ve got going. To structure their time and learning themselves. I’ve never been great at that, and I know a lot of other people have issues with it, too.

A map of the 7C's

A map of the 7C’s

However, I’ve found that Mudd, and the resources provided by the surrounding colleges, can give opportunities to express yourself, build on skills, and do projects that you may feel are missing from core and your major requirements. You may or may not know this, but Mudd is part of a group of 7 colleges (5 undergrad, 2 grad), the Claremont Consortium, so even though Mudd is small, many social and education opportunities can arise from the shared environment, facilities, and courses of all of these schools. So today in my blog, I’m going to spend some time talking about some of the opportunities that my friends and I have taken advantage of, or want to take advantage of, either off-campus, or beyond our major requirements.

slide1

First I want to talk a little bit about what made me want to write this blog. One of the grad schools, CGU, sent out an email yesterday informing students from the 7C’s about a game lab, open to undergrad and graduate students. A group of students will work together under the tutelage of game industry professionals to make a game in Roblox using the scripting language Lua.

screenshot_146

Roblox is generally known as a kid’s game- A sandbox building experience that could be seen as appearing as part of the genre’s growing popularity due to the success of Minecraft. However, there’s actually a lot more to it! There’s a significant community of people online who use Lua, a scripting language, to make all sorts of games in Roblox. You can honestly see some really cool stuff, and considering all of the objects textures can get switched out for new graphics, a massive range of things are possible! I don’t have a lot of experience with it, other than teaching a student who was interested in it and learning about it at my job over the summer. I’m going to apply for this lab, and I really hope I get to be a part of it.

The Ninth Street Hooligans, before I was a member. We're bad at having pictures.

The Ninth Street Hooligans, before I was a member. We’re bad at having pictures.

Something that I really enjoy doing off-campus and beyond my academics is a capella, with my group the Ninth Street Hooligans. I love to sing, and I’m currently in choir right now, but due to the credit requirements I have, I may not be able to continue being in choir for my whole time at Mudd. However, I’ll always be able to sing as part of a capella. It’ll always be not only an artistic outlet for me, but a social one, and an environment where I can go and do something constructive around people I care about.

BLAM members at a conference in Boston!

BLAM at NSBE last year!

Lastly, clubs and school funded projects are a very good way for Mudders to get support from the school to do fun and constructive things beyond the curriculum. As I’ve said before, I’m part of BLAM, and we get money to do fun things as a group, and last year we were even able to fundraise to go the conference for the National Society of Black Engineers in Boston. I think of the people I know, though, my roommate Luis has probably utilized this resource more than anyone.

Last year my friend Luis put a lot of work, and night beneath the stars, getting people to sign up for astronomy club, so they could get funding from ASHMC (Associated students of Harvey Mudd College). They got their funding, and now astronomy club has a brand new telescope!

Mudder's are big fan of rockets.

Mudder’s are big fans of rockets.

On top of that, Luis is also participating in a student project where they’ll be building a liquid-fuel propelled rocket, all themselves. It will be advised by Prof Lyzenga, and is supposed to be ready to launch in May.

What I hope that people get out of this blog is that, even if you don’t feel like you’re entirely fulfilled in all parts of your life by Mudd’s curriculum, there are a lot of options and opportunities to do more, and find ways to do the things that you enjoy here. But it’s also important to know that you don’t need to do everything. The fact that you can just get through the course load, and the major requirements, says so much already. If you feel that you need to grow more ways than the “Mudd Way”, there are options, but you don’t NEED to tell yourself that you should do more, that just surviving isn’t good enough, because sometimes it is. And you definitely don’t need to compare where you are with where others are. When you’re ready to grow, opportunities will be there, and hopefully you can grow your way, not someone else’s.

Until next time, take care of yourselves.