This is my MIT creativity essay. I like my topic, but i think the essay sounds a little stiff. Feel free to make suggestions. Its exactly 250 words right now. Also do any of my fellow computer geeks out there think MIT will get the reference to Richard Stallman and his insistence on using the term GNU/Linux?
Tell us about a time you used your creativity. This could be something you made, a project that you led, an idea that you came up with, or pretty much anything else. (200-250 word limit)
I have always been passionate about technology and its ability to profoundly affect the world around us. Thus, when I noticed that my school was tabulating grades by hand, by all accounts a very inefficient process, I set out to change it. I decided to set up a computer server to automate the process.
Since I am an avid supporter of open source software, I decided to design a server that would use the GNU/Linux operating system. I selected a set of applications that I thought would fit, and set up a prototype on my laptop. After showing the principal and teachers a demo, I received their enthusiastic support as well as a desktop on which I was allowed to experiment.
The first complications were hardware issues. Most of the hardware at the school was near obsolete. Fortunately, only the network drivers and the graphics configuration file needed to be fixed. The next problem was to show the teachers how to enter data into the server. Their apprehensions had to be overcome so that they could go about entering grades without issue. After a bit of patient explanation, they did come around and have made the server their tool of choice.
What I valued most about the experience was that I identified and engineered a solution to a problem no one else had even seen. I was able to put my skill at analyzing problems and my knowledge of computers together into something that benefited the school as a whole.
Tell us about a time you used your creativity. This could be something you made, a project that you led, an idea that you came up with, or pretty much anything else. (200-250 word limit)
I have always been passionate about technology and its ability to profoundly affect the world around us. Thus, when I noticed that my school was tabulating grades by hand, by all accounts a very inefficient process, I set out to change it. I decided to set up a computer server to automate the process.
Since I am an avid supporter of open source software, I decided to design a server that would use the GNU/Linux operating system. I selected a set of applications that I thought would fit, and set up a prototype on my laptop. After showing the principal and teachers a demo, I received their enthusiastic support as well as a desktop on which I was allowed to experiment.
The first complications were hardware issues. Most of the hardware at the school was near obsolete. Fortunately, only the network drivers and the graphics configuration file needed to be fixed. The next problem was to show the teachers how to enter data into the server. Their apprehensions had to be overcome so that they could go about entering grades without issue. After a bit of patient explanation, they did come around and have made the server their tool of choice.
What I valued most about the experience was that I identified and engineered a solution to a problem no one else had even seen. I was able to put my skill at analyzing problems and my knowledge of computers together into something that benefited the school as a whole.
