{"id":88,"date":"2022-03-07T20:53:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-07T20:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/?p=88"},"modified":"2022-03-22T17:42:19","modified_gmt":"2022-03-22T17:42:19","slug":"uniquely-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/?p=88","title":{"rendered":"Uniquely Me"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>If you\u2019ve read my About Me tab already then you\u2019ll know that for seven years of my life I was obsessed with the world of STEAM. Innovation and creativity drove my passion for robotics, and I had an undying dedication to the teams I was involved in. You can learn more about the team that ate up most of my time <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mountoliverobotics.org\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.mountoliverobotics.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">here.<\/a> My mom keeps telling me that the only thing that prepared her for my absence in our house after I moved across state lines to go to college was how much more time I spent in my school\u2019s robotics lab than I spent at home in high school. It was like I had already moved out by my sophomore year because once I picked up a project I was passionate about I just couldn\u2019t let it go. I have since transferred that dedication over to the world of communication. As much as I loved spending late nights soldering in a dimly lit corner of our machine shop, I knew that my future would not be in engineering. Nonetheless, my heavy involvement in STEAM still built up the basic foundation skills that are necessary for someone to succeed in the field of communications.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Megan-MORT-Working-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"92\" data-link=\"https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/?attachment_id=92\" class=\"wp-image-92\" srcset=\"https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Megan-MORT-Working-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Megan-MORT-Working-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Megan-MORT-Working-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Megan-MORT-Working.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Megan-Kickoff-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"93\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Megan-Kickoff.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/?attachment_id=93\" class=\"wp-image-93\" srcset=\"https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Megan-Kickoff-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Megan-Kickoff-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Megan-Kickoff-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Megan-Kickoff.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-caption\"><span class=\"has-inline-color has-black-color\">Pictured Left: Me working on our 2019 robot. Pictured Right: Me leading a strategy discussion. Credit: MORT Media Team.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As mentioned above, the most obvious skill that I developed through my experience in the field of robotics is dedication. I refused to leave the shop until we had discovered a solution to any problem we were facing. This led to many late nights and a shaky relationship with the janitors. Not many students on the team liked public speaking in the slightest. Whether it be answering questions about the functionality of our robot to judges, networking with other teams, or presenting progress reports to sponsors, no one ever seemed confident in communicating what they know. This hesitance to advocate the successes and failures of our team is what drove me to ultimately discover my passion for communications. I saw a gap that needed to be filled in our team and I took it upon myself to assume these positions to uplift our image. I have presented to a packed auditorium without stage fright, I have put myself out there to establish connections with other teams, and I have confidently held technical conversations with judges and sponsors despite how intimidated I felt on the inside. Developing these skills did not happen overnight, but over the course of my seven years in competitive robotics I developed the foundational skills for success: dedication, presentation, and formal or informal conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Megan-Rollout-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-94\" srcset=\"https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Megan-Rollout-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Megan-Rollout-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Megan-Rollout-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Megan-Rollout.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption><span class=\"has-inline-color has-black-color\">My co-leads and I presenting our 2020 robot to our sponsors. Credit: MORT Media Team.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>So how does this experience make me unique? The years I spent in middle school and high school learning how to troubleshoot, identifying a problem and coming up with a solution, and asking questions like \u201cHow does this work?,\u201d \u201cWhy is this not working?,\u201d and \u201cHow can I improve this?\u201d impact how I approach communications. The way my mind works is much more similar to how an engineer\u2019s mind works than how a communicator\u2019s mind works. And I think that that unique perspective allows me to view projects and issues with a different mindset and provide creative solutions that otherwise might not be identified by people whose perspectives have always been geared towards communications.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-social-links is-layout-flex wp-block-social-links-is-layout-flex\">\n\n\n\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019ve read my About Me tab already then you\u2019ll know that for seven years of my life I was obsessed with the world of STEAM. Innovation and creativity drove my passion for robotics, and I had an undying dedication to the teams I was involved in. You can learn more about the team that&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/?p=88\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Uniquely Me<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,8,7],"class_list":["post-88","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-developing-professional-skills","tag-communications","tag-dedication","tag-robotics","tag-steam","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=88"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105,"href":"https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions\/105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=88"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=88"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meperry.expressions.syr.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=88"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}