CS Club Events for 2023/2024

Interview transcript
Date: Friday, March 1, 2024
Interviewer: Jakob Osterkamp (Content Creation Member)
Interviewee: Vera Cho (Founder/President of ECHS CS Club)
Videographer: Asher Cortez (Content Creation Member)

Interviewer: Alright, I'm here with the founder of the computer science club, Vera.
Vera: Hi!
Interviewer: I just want to ask you a few questions about the club.
Vera: Yeah, sure.
Interviewer: Firstly, what interested you in computer science and starting up the club?
Vera: I guess what first interested me in computer science was being with a software engineer at home, because my uncle is a developer at IBM. So there wasn't a specific moment where I realized that this is my field; it was more of a gradual thing.
Vera: My uncle often takes me to places like data centers and his own company. He also does his own self-leading projects, so I got involved in those. So that's how I got interested in computer science.
Vera: In terms of starting the club, I guess the main motive behind starting a club was to create a sort of [school] community for people with similar interests. I thought it would be really fun to create projects together.
Interviewer: You said you have worked on projects in the past. What kind of projects did you work on?
Vera: I've worked on mainly two projects. One is the AI project that I've worked on over the summer last year. With the recent booming of AI, I was really interested in how machine learning works, so that's why I applied for the summer program. I was able to program a small device called Jetson Nano to detect multiple objects, and my project was mostly on stairs (like detecting stairs in general), so I had to put a lot of different pictures of stairs for it to detect them, and I was able to create an app for that.
Interviewer: Sort of like the robot dog from a few years ago that could walk up stairs.
Vera: Yeah, that is a similar concept. Another big project I am still working on is for my internship, it's called CRM. I'm developing a CRM project, which is the customer relationship with agents, basically for real estate agents. So, it's more like a web development project. That's why we're also working on web development for our club.
Interviewer: So, my next question for you is, what are the best traits in our club that you see in students?
Vera: The best traits in our club, I would say, are inclusivity and flexibility. Because, although computer science is mostly about software engineering or programming, it does involve a lot of different aspects such as project management, testing, designing, writing, stuff like that. That's how we divided the club into four main subcommittees, as well.
Vera: So yeah, computer science is very inclusive, like pretty much everybody could join our club and still have fun and have duties to carry out.
Interviewer: It feels like there's a lot of teamwork in the club. And that's really nice.
Vera: Oh, for sure. Yeah, we're able to develop those kinds of skills, as well.
Interviewer: Are there any ideas or projects you've seen that have really inspired you?
Vera: This kind of goes back to the question where you asked about the projects that I've done so far. I guess the inspirations I've taken a lot from are the OpenAI and ChatGPT stuff, because it really surprises me how smart machines can be. Basically, we've used AI to program the machines to learn by themselves, which is really, really interesting. I hope we get to that point where we could learn about AI in the computer science club.
Vera: But yeah, the kind of projects or ideas that I've taken inspiration from is probably AI, and also my previous experience with CRM development.
Interviewer: We know that you're the founder and president of the club. But what's something that you've learned while being the founder?
Vera: That's a good question. I would say one of the most important lessons that I've picked up while being the club founder and leader is how important effective communication and cooperation is. So, building and leading this club doesn't only involve the passion for the subject matter. It also involves effective planning and communicating. Yeah, that is really important.
Vera: And in terms of cooperation, like I said earlier, when we're making projects like web development for echscs.com, it involves different skill sets, so it requires different skills from different members and each member has their own strength. By putting those together, we're able to get as creative as we want and carry it out.
Interviewer: So, for my last question, what do you envision the club becoming? What's your goal with leading the club?
Vera: That's another good question. I envision our club to continue growing. I really want this club to make a positive impact on the students' learning and, more broadly, the community. Because we are definitely planning to hold more workshops for education as well as having different guest speakers share their knowledge. So, everyone is getting the opportunity to share their knowledge so we can learn from each other.
Vera: We also plan to make more projects. Even though we've only started with web development, we can go into more advanced projects like creating games and projects that could benefit the school and community. You know, creating tools for the teachers and stuff. So that's what we're looking into.
Vera: And of course, the members can make suggestions and we're definitely considering those. What the club members are envisioning is what our club is going to be.
Interviewer: So there are officers, of course, but it's a very member-driven club.
Vera: Yes.
Interviewer: Nice. So, I know I said that was the last question, but I just want to throw one more curveball...is AI going to take over?