Welcome
Hello, my name is Dakota Edwards; this page contains the information I have chosen to display throughout my experiences while attending The Academy for Math, Engineering & Science throughout high school.
biography
My journey through education has been an adventure. Starting kindergarten at a later age, I attended elementary at James E. Moss Elementary. From the grade 1 through 6 and one of my sisters for two years, we went to Nibley Park Elementary. Changing schools for a third time, I attended Bonneville Junior High School through grades 7 to freshman year. Continuing my journey into high school, four weeks into attending Cottonwood High School, the staff of the Academy for Math Engineering & Science called for more recruits to their charter school located within Cottonwood.
Four weeks into my Sophomore year at Cottonwood, the staff at AMES called me looking for new students that would be interested in accepting their offer to join their AMES family. We both knew how great of an opportunity this was, my mom was more excited than I was and practically enrolled me into AMES before I knew it. Luckily it was on a Friday when I could use the weekend to prepare for my future classes and inform my friends of the change. I will never forget my first day at AMES, I spent most of the morning choosing my classes with a counselor I would hardly get to know over the years. After getting a tour of the classes and a look at the staff, I thought to myself that AMES was a whole other world within Cottonwood I had never experienced. It made me feel surrounded my bunch of weird students who are all lost in their own world. Finally attending my first class, English 10 the teacher advised me to stay in the counselors office due to him holding a test day for his students. I was mad that I was given the run around all day and just wanted some stable time to process all that was happening in one day. The day came to an end when I walk into my fifth period that goes longer than the normal Cottonwood schedule. Two boys looking younger than I, were playing pretend fighting with swords and magic just seconds before the bell rang to be seated. It was more disappointing walking home with my backpack filled of new textbooks I had four weeks to catch up on. The transition into AMES from Cottonwood was a tough experience, however it helped me become more independent and self reliant.
My favorite moments of an activity I participated in outside of AMES was the internship a member of their staff obtained for me. Martha Taylor had some connections with a past PTSO member for the school. The member, is a Physical Therapist Assistant at a rehabilitation home for anyone, mostly the elderly. I would spend countless hours everyday at my internship after school and during free periods. Everyday I did something new, not a day went by that I had to ask myself multiple questions to figure out what an exercise was for before asking my mentor for a concrete answer. I felt like I left my mark, after spending the required seventy hours at my internship it make me feel successful in real world challenges outside of schools educational obstacles.
Other than the required activities to attend through AMES, I participated in many other activities. All through high school my friends and I played football for Cottonwood. I really enjoyed football, it wasn't the competitiveness that most searched for but the mental situations it put me through. Football taught me to be discipline and respect those who have authority, most of all what I enjoyed most was being around the closest young men I had to brothers. I had some of the greatest years with my football buddies in and out of school. I always found something to enjoy during the practices and games whether we were working out in the weight room or running our butts off in the blazing heat, at the end of the day football was and always will be what I enjoyed dedicating my time to. The summer after junior year my couselor found a great summer camp I could use to explore all types of engineering. In Logan Utah, I spend a whole week at Utah State University and participated in many activities in the field of engineering. I had loads of fun at Engineering State, some of the funnest activities I had the chance to experience were the practice of development of virtual reality software and hardware. Knowing that this kind of technology had not yet been released to the public for video game use, I had to opportunity to spend time trying out the multiple activities in a virtual world, one of which was walking around a land field filled with multiple objects to interact with such as swinging on a swing. I am very grateful I had the opportunity the chance of a life time to experience, however my curiosity for engineering become for of a fun experience and not something I would like to pursue in my education.
Experience that I would like to share is my hard working mind, at an early age I participated in many activities every summer leading up to and during high school. I started working the summer for my uncle's lawn care company going into my last year of junior high. Five sometimes six days a week with ten hours during each day really taught me about working hard physically as I mentally pushed myself harder. Some jobs were the same as others because we used many of the same tools for multiple jobs. We would always start the morning off by transferring loads of wet heavy grass to another truck with large plastic tubs. Throughout the day we would travel to a maximum of four houses or more like mansions but we thankfully had a large enough team, I remember on the week I worked we spend a few days building a deck for someones backyard and had a burn scar from a drill bit burning me form using it so much. Still to this day I believe that working that summer was the hardest work I have ever done. I later moved on with that job as summer came to an end and the season for football and school started up again.
Four weeks into my Sophomore year at Cottonwood, the staff at AMES called me looking for new students that would be interested in accepting their offer to join their AMES family. We both knew how great of an opportunity this was, my mom was more excited than I was and practically enrolled me into AMES before I knew it. Luckily it was on a Friday when I could use the weekend to prepare for my future classes and inform my friends of the change. I will never forget my first day at AMES, I spent most of the morning choosing my classes with a counselor I would hardly get to know over the years. After getting a tour of the classes and a look at the staff, I thought to myself that AMES was a whole other world within Cottonwood I had never experienced. It made me feel surrounded my bunch of weird students who are all lost in their own world. Finally attending my first class, English 10 the teacher advised me to stay in the counselors office due to him holding a test day for his students. I was mad that I was given the run around all day and just wanted some stable time to process all that was happening in one day. The day came to an end when I walk into my fifth period that goes longer than the normal Cottonwood schedule. Two boys looking younger than I, were playing pretend fighting with swords and magic just seconds before the bell rang to be seated. It was more disappointing walking home with my backpack filled of new textbooks I had four weeks to catch up on. The transition into AMES from Cottonwood was a tough experience, however it helped me become more independent and self reliant.
My favorite moments of an activity I participated in outside of AMES was the internship a member of their staff obtained for me. Martha Taylor had some connections with a past PTSO member for the school. The member, is a Physical Therapist Assistant at a rehabilitation home for anyone, mostly the elderly. I would spend countless hours everyday at my internship after school and during free periods. Everyday I did something new, not a day went by that I had to ask myself multiple questions to figure out what an exercise was for before asking my mentor for a concrete answer. I felt like I left my mark, after spending the required seventy hours at my internship it make me feel successful in real world challenges outside of schools educational obstacles.
Other than the required activities to attend through AMES, I participated in many other activities. All through high school my friends and I played football for Cottonwood. I really enjoyed football, it wasn't the competitiveness that most searched for but the mental situations it put me through. Football taught me to be discipline and respect those who have authority, most of all what I enjoyed most was being around the closest young men I had to brothers. I had some of the greatest years with my football buddies in and out of school. I always found something to enjoy during the practices and games whether we were working out in the weight room or running our butts off in the blazing heat, at the end of the day football was and always will be what I enjoyed dedicating my time to. The summer after junior year my couselor found a great summer camp I could use to explore all types of engineering. In Logan Utah, I spend a whole week at Utah State University and participated in many activities in the field of engineering. I had loads of fun at Engineering State, some of the funnest activities I had the chance to experience were the practice of development of virtual reality software and hardware. Knowing that this kind of technology had not yet been released to the public for video game use, I had to opportunity to spend time trying out the multiple activities in a virtual world, one of which was walking around a land field filled with multiple objects to interact with such as swinging on a swing. I am very grateful I had the opportunity the chance of a life time to experience, however my curiosity for engineering become for of a fun experience and not something I would like to pursue in my education.
Experience that I would like to share is my hard working mind, at an early age I participated in many activities every summer leading up to and during high school. I started working the summer for my uncle's lawn care company going into my last year of junior high. Five sometimes six days a week with ten hours during each day really taught me about working hard physically as I mentally pushed myself harder. Some jobs were the same as others because we used many of the same tools for multiple jobs. We would always start the morning off by transferring loads of wet heavy grass to another truck with large plastic tubs. Throughout the day we would travel to a maximum of four houses or more like mansions but we thankfully had a large enough team, I remember on the week I worked we spend a few days building a deck for someones backyard and had a burn scar from a drill bit burning me form using it so much. Still to this day I believe that working that summer was the hardest work I have ever done. I later moved on with that job as summer came to an end and the season for football and school started up again.
quote
"I am vengeance, I am the night, I am Batman."-Batman, Batman The Animated Series
My grandfather has been a very influential person to me as early as I could remember. It started at an early age that he introduced me to Batman and all the amazing things he has taught me. Through Batman he taught right from wrong and guiding me through life to make the right choices. This quote means really hits home when I hear or read it, it symbolizes what and who Batman is and what he stands for. Looking back, Batman has been integrated in my way of learning and the way I perceive certain things. The clearest example I can think of is during my chemistry class junior year, because Batman/Bruce Wayne is very smart he knows a lot about chemistry and how certain elements work together to uncover mysteries. It sort of inspired me to do my best not only in chemistry but in other classes as well.
My grandfather has been a very influential person to me as early as I could remember. It started at an early age that he introduced me to Batman and all the amazing things he has taught me. Through Batman he taught right from wrong and guiding me through life to make the right choices. This quote means really hits home when I hear or read it, it symbolizes what and who Batman is and what he stands for. Looking back, Batman has been integrated in my way of learning and the way I perceive certain things. The clearest example I can think of is during my chemistry class junior year, because Batman/Bruce Wayne is very smart he knows a lot about chemistry and how certain elements work together to uncover mysteries. It sort of inspired me to do my best not only in chemistry but in other classes as well.
AMES MEMORY
Honestly, I cherish every memory I have experienced through AMES. Some of my favorite memories were spending time during class to socialize. I swear, some of the funniest and meaningful moments in my time here has happened in the classroom. But on a more serious note, the opportunities AMES has given me have really help me become the individual I am today. There are on words that can describe how thankful I am for the endless boundaries of education one can pursue when attending AMES. I dedicated my memory to my AMES family.