When we are young, we all have moments in which we realize we have acquired knowledge that is invaluable to how we will grow and become successful individuals of society. Some of these experiences are merely “eureka!” moments that help us understand a topic better, while others are the result of hard work, and is a gateway to other more complex subjects. Some of my own childhood experiences include an early introduction to guitar, and aviation, and also my struggle with numbers and math.

Although I didn’t start regularly playing the guitar until I was about 15 years old, I can remember plucking the strings of an old guitar that I had found when I was 6 or 7. I strummed the old, untuned guitar, strings, making a horrendous noise by all standards, whilst singing songs like “Old McDonald’s Farm” and “Happy Birthday”. My Mom would sit patiently and listen, making sure to clap after all of my “performances”. Even though it was all for fun, I didn’t realize that I was teaching myself about how a guitar works; The basic physics involved with the strings vibration and also topics such as acoustics were being introduced to me. This made me start to wonder things like why an acoustic guitar had to be so wide, and why were the strings a certain thickness, and length. I didn’t get an answer to these questions until years later, but If I didn’t have the experience of playing when I was little, I wouldn’t have had any interest at all in how a guitar works, and may have never had the beneficial experience later in life of teaching myself how to play the guitar.

Unlike many children my age, when I was younger I had the great oppurtunity to fly in an airplane many times because my Dad was a pilot. I was introduced to aviation at a very early age and it has stuck with me since. Eventually, it helped me choose my career path as a professional pilot. But when I was younger It was apparent to others that I had a deep interest in anything that floated, flew, and soared through the air. For example, In kindergarten, I would continuously draw pictures of myself in airplanes, and in parachutes. My Mom taught me how to make paper airplanes, and it wasn’t long before I was making flyable airplanes out of paper, rulers, straws, and all other kinds of materials. When I was 15, I had my first introductory flight lesson, and that really got me on my way to doing something about my passion for flight. I even recently purchased a para-glider which allows me to soar from many places, very conveniently. I am very grateful for my interest in aviation being sparked so early, because everything in the world of aviation is so rewarding and If I didn’t fly, my life would be much more mundane.