Throughout my early life and into high school, I was uncertain of the career path I wanted to follow. Of course, I had played computer games all my life, but that is no reason alone to pursue programming. However, I would largely attribute my passion (or at least my discovery of it) to Minecraft. When I was younger, I was obsessed with writing command block instructions to make things happen in unmodded Minecraft which would have been otherwise impossible. While it is not exactly "programming" in the traditional sense, it requires a moderately in-depth knowledge of game mechanics and the scripting language which command blocks use to function. Ultimately, I think "programming" these command blocks in addition to my love for problem-solving led me to computer science and I could not be more thankful.

Right now, I am living at home with my parents and brother in Springfield, Illnois. I am currently working as an intern for the Illinois State Police Department of Human Resources with the primary focus of reorganizing their file system. During the Fall and Spring semesters, I live and go to school in Edwardsville, Illinois. Soon my family and I will be going on an Alaskan cruise and I am really looking forward to that! I am not sure exactly what there is to see, but I am ready for all of it! I am also taking a summer course through SIUE at the moment and am enjoying working on that. Another interesting part of my life is that I have lived with at least three and usually four cats for practically all of it. My mom loves them maybe a bit too much... There is not much else going on in my life at the momemnt, but I enjoy the relaxation!

Outside of school and work, you can usually find me either playing guitar or video games.

I have been playing guitar since I was 7 years old and it is a major part of who I am. Bands like Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer raised me and I could not help but start playing myself. Although I have branched out musically since then, Megadeth's "Holy Wars... the Punishment Due" probably remains the most important song in my life.

I have also been gaming for practically my whole life. The first one I ever played was Everquest while I sat on my dad's lap and, from there, I never stopped. Today my all-time favorite game is probably Terraria although I have almost certainly played Minecraft more than anything else. Some of my other favorites include Overwatch, Elden Ring, Call of Duty: Black Ops II and III, and Baldur's Gate 3. Gaming has become a core part of who I am, and I do not plan on stopping until the day I die.