I grew up in Monterey Park, California. It's a nice town east of downtown LA that used to be known as "Little Taipei". There is plenty of delicious Asian restaurants around the region and the sheltered environment is a nice place to grow up. I always enjoyed math and science in high school thus it was a natural choice to apply as an Electrical Engineering and Computer Science major here at Cal. Every day I feel lucky to be here and most days I feel happy too! I am a rising sophomore and I am excited to dive more deeply into my major.
In my junior year of high school, I took a very basic webpage design class that taught HTML and CSS. The summer after my junior year I participated in UCLA Tech Camp for four weeks where we programmed a simple maze solving Lego NXT robot using Java. There was a person in my group who had done robotics for three years already and was far more experienced than I was at the time. He would race ahead to finish the task and took control of our project. I felt like I wasn't learning Java quickly enough and I didn't know where to even start. I was so lost that I didn't know what to Google. The group leader tried to teach me the basics and I understood the logic but by then he had already finished our little robot. I hope that the 61A staff can provide you with a better first introduction into computer science and give you a sense of ownership of the projects you create and the knowledge you acquire.
I guess you could say that I really didn't start programming until I got to Cal. Eager to jump into CS 61A, I went through the Code Academy Python tutorial before the semester started. The ideas of computer science were novel but difficult for me. I spent Saturday mornings reading Composing Programs and spending more time on the homework than my far more experienced classmates. The ideas in 61A are beautiful and elegant and I hope you will enjoy them as much as I do.
Last semester I took CS 61B where I revisited Java and learned data structures and algorithms.
I enjoy singing, cooking, hiking, planning fun urban adventures around town, dabbling in thrifting, taking pictures of friends and nature, and dancing around awkwardly. On campus, I am involved with the UC Women's Chorale and the Society of Women Engineers. I also enjoy watching educational YouTube videos in my free time such as MinutePhysics, SmarterEveryDay, CrashCourse, ViHart, etc. I consider myself a low-key Nerdfighter (fans of the vlogbrothers). I also find inspiration in Ze Frank's videos when I am feeling down. I think a special skill I have is reading other people's body language, giving hugs, and being super excited. I hope that I can help as many of you as possible!
In high school, I did competitive show choir which introduced me to a lot of musicals. Through choir, I learned a lot about sound systems, carrying heavy objects (including people), teamwork, leg kicks, and wonderful music. At Cal I think my most memorable experience was meeting all of the thoughtful and intelligent people here. It was refreshing to talk to people with different viewpoints and aimlessly wander the campus and city with fellow clueless freshmen.
In addition to teaching for 61A, I will also be doing research with a professor on campus doing some web development. I hope the research position will give me a chance to learn some programming languages that I have been meaning to learn like Javascript and Django. This means that I have been Googling a lot and reading a lot of StackOverflow. If time permits, I may also participate in Summer Jazz with the Cal Jazz Choir.
This is a tough question. I would like students to work together in groups on problems and ask plenty of questions. I will do my best to be encouraging and supportive and demand that of my class as well. We can all learn from each other! I like providing examples and concrete examples and analogies to tie computer science with the real world. I hope to create a warm and welcoming environment that is comfortable to learn in. Don't forget to be awesome!