Parmita's Blog

As I mentioned in my last post here , I interned at a startup this summer where I got to work on Machine Learning Models. I compiled together the basic core ideas and concepts involved in creating a model like this from start-to-finish and made this fun tutorial:  https://github.com/parmita52/machine-learning-spark-ex Check it out!

An Incredible Experience! Just finished creating, organizing, and teaching the Girls Who Create Camp and it was one of the best experiences of my life! It was a lot of responsibility creating this summer camp on my own and I learned so much. At this camp, I taught girls about 3D Printing and design, but also about life skills as I instilled confidence and speaking skills in them while encouraging them to present in front of the class and their parents. Most importantly, however, I sparked their interest in STEM and showed them some of the amazing things that they can do with science and engineering through specific 3D printed projects, as well as by bringing in guest speakers who actively work in engineering fields. See more about the camp, including what we did every day, some of the incredible projects the girls made, and lots of fun pictures on the website I created just for the camp here: http://girlswhocreate.org/blog

Movie Screening Coming Soon Just finished this poster for a free screening of the movie "Most Likely to Succeed." Can't wait!

The end of a long journey Camp went amazing! It was a huge success! I feel so happy and invigorated right now. I can’t believe how much of an impact I was able to make! At the very end of camp, parents were asking for my email, contact info, to take a picture with their girl. It means so much to me to have parents come and personally thank me. The entire experience was so amazing and I just felt so important. It makes me so proud to know that I made such an impact on so many people. And we raised over $1400 in donations!!!! Honestly, when we were first starting the camp, I thought I would be happiest when I was finally counting the money! And to tell the truth, I was pretty happy when I was counting the money. It was immense proudness in my achievement! After all, I actually earned this money. Still, that happiness could never match up to the happiness I got when the girls and their parents came up to me, asking for pictures, hugs, and giving thank you cards. That happ...

Everybody learns a little differently   In a past post, I talked about how I tutor a kid named Max. When I gave Max algebra problems to solve, I noticed that he took the right steps--but in the wrong order. For example: After correcting him, and guiding him through some sample problems, I asked him to again try some algebra problems on his own, but he made the same mistake. I realized that now, I shouldn't just explain  how  to solve it the right way, but  why  we do it the way we do. So I spent a couple minutes thinking of the best way to explain why we do certain operations first. I talked about the order of operations, and isolating the variable. Max seemed to understand this, but when given another problem, he froze again. So I tried adding visuals: I turned the problem into an onion! With many different layers: the middle layer was the one closest to the variable, and the outer layers were farther from the variable. To solve the problem, y...

An absolutely amazing experience  I just got the amazing opportunity to teach kids aged 5 to 12 coding at LinkenIN's super fun Inday Event.  Though I was slightly nervous at first, the moment I got up there and started, I felt so awesome! I was so glad that the kids found coding as fun and interesting as I did.  It was so incredible speaking in front of so many people. The kids were all really engaged and came up with smart, thought-provoking questions.  As a bonus, LinkedIn also gave me a whole bunch of cool swag for coming in to teach! I'm so incredibly grateful that I got this wonderful opportunity to share my knowledge and passion with so many other people. I hope everyone else had as much fun as I did!

How teaching helped me learn  For a couple weeks now, I've been tutoring a student, named...well, for the sake of confidentiality, let's call him "Max." Max has been having trouble with algebra for a while and his dad thought it might be helpful to have me help him so he's prepared for school next year. A lot of times, when I asked if he understood a concept, he said yes, but in reality, he didn't really get it at all. I told him that it was totally fine if he didn't understand a concept right away. It would be better to tell the truth and have me re-explain it than to lie and then struggle with the topic in the future. However, he kept lying and saying he understood things when he actually didn't. I had to change my strategy and start assuming that when he said that he understood something, he really didn't. I was getting kind of irritated and annoyed when I realized... I do this too!!!!! I was being such a hypocrite, when in fact, I often...

My experience as a teacher  Four weeks ago, I taught my very first coding class with Coding for Kids. Math and Coding organized this class. Their mission is to prove that anyone can learn to code--in just a few weeks!  Basically, three high school kids teach about twenty elementary and middle school kids basic programming skills using Tynker, a simple drag-n-drop form of block-coding. I was the lead teacher of the class.  To be honest, I was terrified at first. I wanted to teach, but at the same time, I was so scared. Standing in front of 20 people with all eyes on you can be nerve-wracking--even if they are just third graders.  I started off with a pretty negative mentality: I felt like the students were judging me. Noting my mistakes, my slip-ups.  Of course, this kind of thinking got me nowhere-- I just had to change. After about half and hour of all my negative thinking, I decided it wasn't worth it. Then I completely changed my mi...

An incredible experience  In order to become a certified Yoga Instructor through Yoga Bharati , you have to: Attend eight hours of instruction per week for twelve weeks (That's 96 hours) Go on a yoga retreat for 2 days and one night (Camping in the woods) Teach a class for 30 hours over the course of 4 months Write a 25-page report Seems daunting at first, but little by little I accomplished all of it. 1. Attending the instruction was so difficult at first. I had to wake up at 6:30am every weekend! But soon, I got to know my classmates and I began to like the lessons. Some parts were pretty interesting. 2. The yoga retreat was by far my favorite part. Though I usually don't like camping, I'm really glad that I got to have this wonderful experience. I also got to see some pretty cool wildlife. 3. Teaching a class was a period of transformation for me. As a student, I see teachers everyday, but only after this, do I really appreciate what they do....