“It is possible to fly without motors, but not without knowledge and skills.”
Wilbur Wright
Communication and Teamwork Matter
During my junior year, I had to start a school project with a group of people where we created a volunteering project by meeting in our free time. This project opened my eyes to how teamwork and communication are valuable skills. I was assigned a group of 5 people I didn’t know which was a new venture for me. During the first couple months we were told to get to know each other and start thinking of ideas on what we wanted to do for the project. Looking bad, getting to know each other was the most important thing we could have done. Getting to know each other allowed for honest communication which then in turn allowed our project to go smoothly.
The teamwork aspect wasn’t something I was new too but this form of teamwork I had never experienced. Having to give inputs and listen to others was important for this project, eventually I got comfortable and was able to bring my skills into the group. I would help narrow things down for people which in turn had people helping me figure out how to do certain tasks. Being a part of that team was amazing because I got to experience firsthand what a real workforce will resemble.
Leadership Is A Must
I decided to take a role during my senior year of high school that would change my outlook on leadership. I was looking to try something new and being a manager for the football team seemed like a cool thing to do. The lead coach had told me he was going to give me all the power I wanted, which scared me. This led to me trying my best to understand who every team member was which allowed me to gauge my managing style. Overseeing all team members and punishment was something I was new to but came naturally. I quickly started cementing the value I brought as a manager which was reinforced by the coaches.
I had to work alongside another manager who didn’t care about the job as much as I did, which led to me taking more responsibility. This responsibility made me understand the value of what being a leader is. I encountered team members who didn’t prioritize the team which had me helping these members to see what they bring to the team and the importance of it. I feel like this experience cemented that leading isn’t always about having the power but how you use it to better the people around you.
Technology Advances
Technology has grown over the last five years especially with AI. Seeing how AI can be used helps me understand how to bring it into the workplace. AI can’t replicate how humans’ problem solve but can do a good job with organization and professionalism. Having spent time in the last year learning how to incorporate AI work with my own has been interesting and lead me to my own ethical standards for AI. I believe AI should not be used to do a person’s work but help refine wording and to help find resources. Learning that Chat GPT pulls from every search engine means to me that this can potentially be used for good research. I’ve heard other AI programs like Microsoft Copilot are good with creating templates and making more manager-based documents.
I plan to take what I’ve learned with AI to help me better understand certain concepts and research. Asking the AI basic questions first then allows for refinery that can make ones work more exceptional. I learned that specifically asking AI to take one portion of something larger to compare the differences in answers from AI. This allows for the person to see if there are any flaws within what the AI is giving in response. Other programs of technology that I’ve learned to use includes, all of Microsoft’s programs, WordPress, Claude AI, Zoom, StatCrunch, and all of Google’s programs. I believe all these programs including Chat GPT are designed to help make work more balanced so everything can be more efficient. Technology will only grow with more programs becoming available that can help the efficiency of ones work and higher-level positions that require more work.