My parents have always struggled with English. As a kid, I always thought it was because they didn't watch Dora the Explorer. Yes, that little girl and her anthropomorphic friends were my Rosetta Stone. Born in Cuba, I was deeply engrossed in the culture: I landed in America still singing “Guajiro Natural,” a song symbolic of Cuban farmer culture. Learning the English language was the first step in my metamorphosis, and Dora was largely responsible for teaching me. Once I...

“El Circulo” is what first got me interested in Carnegie Mellon University. It’s a course at the Department of Modern Language designed to help Latino children keep in touch with their culture. I am Cuban, and though Spanish was my first language, I’ve struggled with my ethnic identity. My skill with Spanish has fluctuated as a result, but I’m resolved to never lose that part of me. Spanish connects me to a whole other plethora of cultures,...

AP Physics C was the most challenging class I've ever taken. The class prepared us for both the Mechanics and the Electromagnetism AP exams, meaning 2 years of study were crammed into one. Even after my previous 2 years of physics, every new chapter was challenging, and nothing ever felt easy. No other class had such a powerful, difficult workload, and I felt like I'd be better off just dropping the class. But I didn't. I had already come so far in...

The​ ​programming​ ​language​ ​Java​ ​features​ ​the​ ​use​ ​of​ ​the​ ​object,​ ​which​ ​is​ ​an​ ​instance​ ​of​ ​a class.​ ​A​ ​class​ ​can​ ​be​ ​thought​ ​of​ ​as​ ​a​ ​set​ ​of​ ​traits​ ​used​ ​to​ ​group​ ​information​ ​together.​ ​If​ ​“human” was​ ​a​ ​class,​ ​it​ ​would​ ​probably​ ​be​ ​defined​ ​by​ ​traits​ ​like​ ​vertebrate,​ ​bipedal,​ ​mammalian,​ ​or​ ​sapient. An​ ​object​ ​is​ ​an​ ​instance​ ​of​ ​the​ ​class​ ​“human”:​ ​me,​ ​for​ ​example.​ ​I​ ​have​ ​all​ ​the​ ​traits​ ​that​ ​a​ ​human does,​ ​but​ ​I​ ​might​ ​also​ ​have​ ​some​ ​that​ ​are​ �...

I remember when my parents first told me my grandfather was an inventor. My mind was blown: my own grandfather shared a job with the likes of Tesla, Da Vinci, and the Wright Brothers? To 10-year-old me, this was incredible. My grandfather invented an apparatus for electro-acupuncture, as well as a syringe and needle destroyer. As a fifth-grader, I didn’t really understand what that meant for the world, but regardless, I was amazed to be in the same family...