Showcase #

This is my 2024 8th grade showcase site for Wood Middle School. On this site I show how I engaged and persisted on my rollercoaster project and developed my cooking skills.

Who am I? #

I'm Eli Davies. I was born in Berkeley, 2009-10-13. I spent most of my childhood playing Minecraft with my dad, which I think helped me be more creative and develop related skills. I went to Franklin Elementary, which was pretty good and only a few blocks from my mom’s house, so I could walk there. Unfortunately by the time I was at “walking alone” age the pandemic was imminent, and I only really walked to school starting in middle school. I didn’t have a lot of friends in elementary school but the ones I had were good. I also read a lot which started after I broke my arm and couldn’t play tag at recess so I ended up reading a lot more which I’m happy about and have tried to continue into the present.

My 3 most important words about myself are programming, engineering, and methodical. I chose programming because I have been programming for more of my life than I haven’t, and I think I will keep programming for the rest of my life. Sometimes I feel like I was destined to. I chose engineering because being able to make things is my favorite thing humans can do, and even though I’m not an amazing engineer, I really enjoy solving problems. It’s amazing how humans build things to solve pretty much every problem, like how indoor plumbing mostly solved hygiene and severely improved health. Finally, I picked methodical because I always research a lot on my work and I am usually quite careful when working on things. I think this is one of the best and worst things about me, because it makes me better at

In 6th grade, I knew my parents were going to make me have a bar mitzvah, a Jewish coming of age event that requires a decent amount of preparation and work, especially because you do it when you are 13. I had to practice for dozens of hours, and it was miserable because most of it was just memorization. I had to learn pretty much every prayer in the whole service, and the portion I was assigned, Mishpatim (meaning laws). It was a weird portion because it was basically just listing rules about various random topics common in society at the time but completely foreign today. I had to write a sermon about my thoughts on the portion, and it was all very difficult for 7th grade me. I think I learned a lot though and it was a fun challenge. cI was not the type of person to join drama in 7th grade (nor am I today) but I ended up with the class and didn’t have anything better to do once I had finished my bar mitzvah, and having conquered it I felt on top of the world, so I joined the cast of Mulan. This was despite my lack of acting prowess and general unfamiliarity with drama at all. I still managed to contribute to the final performance, and overall it was an interesting challenge and helped me relate more to my peers.

I expected the worst in 6th grade and got that because middle school sucks. I didn’t do that much stuff in 6th grade anyways, other than getting used to school after COVID-19. I didn’t do any extracurricular activities but 7th grade was better because I was in drama in the performance of Mulan, where I made friends and got experience that could be useful in high school and beyond. I didn’t do much else that year though. This year I’ve had more friends and math has been much better because I’m in algebra. I think I’ve grown the most in engaging and persisting, but I still struggle doing things I don’t want to do.

I would describe myself as somebody who tries much harder on things I’m interested in, and someone who has a lot of interests. I’ve been trying to be nicer the past few years, but I still do all these rude things which I’m trying to stop. I really care about education and I try my best to help people learn new things, especially myself. The people I care most about are my parents and siblings, as well as my close friends. I don’t have a huge group of friends but I care about them more.

In school one of my major strengths is math because I really like there being a clear way to see if you’re correct. I also like history because I find it interesting. Outside of school, I spend a lot of my free time programming, as well as some time cooking. I’d like to improve at writing, because I think it’s a useful skill, but I’m not very good yet. I also want to improve at cooking as I’m pretty good but not elite yet. I have been improving my cooking by practicing and making more food, especially now that I have mastered the basics. So far my favorite thing I’ve made has been fajitas, but it’s not a particularly challenging food to cook despite is deliciousness, so I will make more challenging things soon.

For high school I’d like to take more difficult courses like APs or college classes so I’m not so bored all the time at school. As an adult I’d like to get a reasonably high-paying job and be able to support a family. I’ll probably end up in a programming job, but I dream of starting an engineering startup when I’m older and making something more real than just on the computer. I already program at a high level and have made projects that are actually used by other people, such as my roller coaster design tool. (I talk about it more in my Engage and Persist essay.) I hope I can get more chances to achieve success and learning, but regardless I’m excited for where the future will take me!