Welcome

My name is Ednan Ochieng, I am graduating in 2018 at Charles E Jordan High School. I have a passion for learning and challenges especially outside of the classroom. As an Emily K Center Scholar, I earn funding for tutoring, test prep, and summer programming because I qualify for free lunch and excel at school. I run cross country and track, I play the viola, and I love science.

I moment knew that I wanted to do science for a living was my first Science Olympiad competition. My partner and I competed in the elastic launch-gliders contest. I was invited by my science teacher to come to an interest meeting and I was immediately drawn to the gliders. After months of designing and building and redesigning, we went to the regionals qualifier. I felt surrounded by all of these other large and intimidating teams, like an underdog in a sports movie. When it was finally our turn and when we launched, the glider flew wonderfully. The feeling of having what you made, after a vicious cycle of trial and error, work gracefully was euphoric. My partner and I won first place, and when we went to the state competition, it was the first time a team from my middle school made it to States. Even the Herald Sun mentioned us in an article, that was the icing on the cake. On the ride home, even though we did not win I still felt great for going and excited about the competition. That is when I decided that when I go to college I will major in engineering and become an astronaut, or at least an aerospace engineer.