Hello, if it wasn't apparent my name is Ian. I adore computers and building different systems, hence why I want to enter Computer Engineering. My dad was a software developer, which meant I was always surrounded by computers and technology growing up. And as a kid does, I’d mess with things and see what happens to x when I do y thing.

The Dr. James A. Forrest Career and Technology Center strongly defined my secondary education. I first applied in my freshmen year from the IT Networking academy, funnily enough I got rejected. In my sophomore year I applied and got accepted to the Engineering program. 

At the end of my first year of Engineering and doing SkillsUSA with the IT teacher she invited me to be in her Cybersecurity elective class (Also known of IT Networking Year 3). This story is to show how important being tenacious and dedicated is.

At Leonardtown High School is where I took my Computer Science classes (AP Computer Science Principles, JavaScript) & AP Computer Science Applications, Java).

During my time, I founded the Party Game Club and ran the school's Minecraft server called 'Raidercraft' through six seasons of new gameplay.

This was my first SkillsUSA related event and I had no clue what to anticipate. However, it was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had. I made some amazing friends who all share the same hobby as me. 

I grew a lot during this one week trip down to Atlanta, GA. This was definitely one of the most stressful weeks of my life, but also the most rewarding. I made lots of new friends and learned a lot about networking with others.

SkillsUSA FLC took place up in Ocean City, MD. This event was by far the most educational, as it was a series of lessons and activities learning about entering workplace and being a leader. The picture of me on the left was from us stopping at Cracker Barrel.

This was by far the most stressful SkillsUSA competition for me. As I knew walking into this there was double the competition, and that we'd be the only ones without a game design class or real mentors. Despite that, I had lots of fun and once again became friends with the winning team.