Topic > Who knew? An Inside Look at the Life of Cameron Jurgens

Growing up every child is told how difficult the next level of education is, but looking back I realize it's harder but you don't stress out more than you did the previous year. I think back to finals my freshman year and how much I freaked out about them and compare it to now and I actually stress out less now that I'm older. Over the years my different classes have taught me how to choose my battles, if during Figgs' chemistry class I learned that homework, even if it doesn't count for many points, is good to do it this way you are better prepared for the test . Then, in honors calculus and trigonometry, I learned a contradictory lesson that is equally important: Sometimes it's okay to get an F on an assignment if you have something that could potentially be more disruptive to another grade. This is where choosing your battles comes into play. A person cannot stress out if they don't know something on a test or assignment, they need to take a step back and decide whether or not the pros are worth the cons of stressing out over that question or assignment. If the cons outweigh the pros, that person should skip it and come back if they have time. This is the number one technique I use as soon as I start feeling stressed. My best subjects are math and science, so the fact that I have completed/almost completed some pretty high level language arts classes is a real accomplishment for me. I was never that kid who could write for days; writing has always been a struggle of mine and it takes me twice as long to write the same amount as someone else. My writing quality was never great either, but my desire to gain my father's approval pushed me to take the hardest classes. This paid off, because… by mid-paper… he would become an officer on one of the Navy's nuclear-powered submarines. I would then finish my twenty years of service, get my retirement checks, get a nice, comfortable job as an engineer, and live out the rest of my life. However, this path is extremely difficult so I have built a plan B even if things don't go as I would like. Plan B starts similarly; I am attending K-State for mechanical engineering, but after graduation I will simply take the test to get my professional engineering license and try to get a job at Burns and McDonnell. I chose Burns and Mac because they got the #1 place to work in KC and are 20th on the list for one of the best companies to work for in the country. After working with them for five years in KC, I would ask to be transferred to their Colorado branch and continue to live my life there.