Professional Kids

By Jonathan Lam on 05/26/16

Tagged: the-homework-life the-homework-life-thought

Previous post: Five Minutes
Next post: Reassurance

Just recently, I thought we were just little kids. Looking on commercial products made by huge companies with elaborate factories, I never thought us measly teenagers could compete. Until today.

Today was our "Palooza," a half-day of school and two hours of visiting presentations, the majority of which are by seniors. I visited four. And in each one, the presenter showed to me something I could never imagine creating myself, or with little outside help.

One senior created longboards. He took some plywood, some "trucks" and wheels and put it together. The pattern on top of the first one he created was even made out of popsicle sticks! And I wouldn't be able to tell them apart from a regular, store-bought version. According to him, he attempted to buy the best quality parts, so that it was even better than a regular one. So cool.

And another project was the creation of a telescope. He said he had always joked around with friends, as we all do, about little, "impossible" projects. And one day, he decided to put one to work — albeit not knowing the true difficulty — and reached out to quite a few people to pick up the trade of creating telescopes. And he created a huge, functioning one.

And I'll rush the last two because I have only twenty seconds left: one created artificial intelligence, and the other a water-cooled computer. Both great, interesting topics with a visible product. Amazing!