Today, we will do something a bit different.

In the Great Gatsby, we brushed up the topic of the green light. At the end of the book of The Great Gatsby, we see this quote: “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us.  It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther….And one fine morning— So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (Fitzgerald 180).  Gatsby’s green light originally represents his hopes and dreams to reunite with Daisy. However, like the book, progress, it was soon revealed that his green light was unreachable. From how I interpret green light, it means the hopes and dreams for the future. In this blog post, I will be discussing my green light.

Park, South. “Green Light Spinning.” Giphy. https://giphy.com/gifs/beach-gear-bag-3oKIPDf1E4qKYRJ6oM

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Since pre-school, people have always asked me, “What do you want to do when you grow up?”.  As a clueless juvenile, I used to be, I replied, “I don’t know” or some random occupation. During back than, I really had no idea what I wanted to do in the future.

It was during my junior year when I had my first taste of computer science and also when I found my passion, or “green light”.  In the class registration sheet for juniors, I found the option “computer science”.  My personal interest in video games combined with the mystery around “computer science” guided me to pick that course. This course helped me realize that computer science is my “real green light”.

Reddit. “Funny Cat Gif.” Giphy. https://giphy.com/gifs/beach-gear-bag-3oKIPDf1E4qKYRJ6oMhttps://giphy.com/gifs/JIX9t2j0ZTN9S

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Let me tell you about my experience during the course. Throughout the whole course, we grasped two main topics: Graphic design and programming. For design, we used a software called Inkscape to create models of various objects and illustrations. Not going to lie, in my opinion, graphic design was one of the more boring aspects of the course. Programming, however, was the area that got me immersed in computer science. This is where I realized computer science is challenging yet dynamic. It requires us to plan and think logically. It sparked my interest after seeing what I can do with just a few lines of code. Despite the many hours that I’ve spent pondering how to solve a particular problem, the satisfaction of completing a task excites me and a motivation for me to keep on. During the course, I was first introduced to a website called Codeacademy, which is a platform that offers free coding classes for many different languages. It was here that I have introduced to my first and current language: Python. From Codeacademy to Khan Academy, these websites helped me understand computer science related questions and logic. With the series of experiences that I gained during this course, it gave me further motivation to pursue in a computer science career.

elizabethylin. “KHAN ACADEMY LIFE GIF.” Giphy. https://giphy.com/gifs/beach-gear-bag-3oKIPDf1E4qKYRJ6oMhttps://giphy.com/gifs/JIX9t2j0ZTN9S

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To pursue my “green light”,  in college, I plan to major in computer science and hopefully find an internship before I graduate. From then, I’d like to work for a technology company if possible. To achieve my goal, I will first need a strong foundation to the subject of computer science, which I can use multiple online sources to help me. As for finding internships or jobs, it is not known yet, but hopefully, I’ll be able to get an opportunity then.

So now, I shared my “green light”. What is yours?