When Coppell High School senior Sameeksha Mehrotra walks into a technology-filled classroom, her smile illuminates the room, mirroring the radiant glows emanating from the computer screens.
In the dynamic world of STEM, where lines of code intricately weave the fabric of innovation, Mehrotra is propelled by an unwavering passion to navigate through the unknowns of computer science.
Mehrotra’s journey in computer science commenced at an intersection of curiosity and opportunity. The Coding course was introduced to the classrooms of Coppell Middle School West in 2019. Unaware that coding was a prominent career field, she anticipatorily took the plunge.
By immersing herself in the uncharted territories of Apple Swift Programming, blocks of beginner-friendly code and numerous typing tests, Mehrotra developed her initial admiration for a world of creativity converged with logic.
“I was in middle school, and I really liked programming,” Mehrotra said. “It was relatively new to me, I didn’t know much about it. You could just do whatever way you wanted to and create programs and ideas out of thin air. There wasn’t a set of instructions.”
Mehrotra’s love for coding strengthened as she sat amongst her classmates in her first coding class, being instructed to create their first websites.
Through writing numerous lines of code for her first website, she was able to learn new coding languages, such as HTML and CSS, which became the foundation for her to learn more complex languages later on.
“I had a lot of fun building that website,” Mehrotra said. “I thought it was really cool that I made it out of scratch. The website solidified for me that I really wanted to play with coding more.”
Despite her formulating passion, her first coding class lacked the complexities of coding she desired. This became a barrier to Mehrotra’s knowledge.
Undeterred, she continued to explore her passions independently. Mehrotra started to do more programs and find what languages she preferred. Additionally, Mehrotra’s friends lacked an interest in computer science due to its laborious nature. She found herself isolated to learn on her own.
“Coding is so tedious and small that it can really frustrate you easily,” Mehrotra said. “They just didn’t like it enough to go through that much frustration. I would also get frustrated, but because I liked it, I moved on with it.”
Undaunted, Mehrotra decided to code her own path, turning to external sources for guidance. YouTube videos became her classroom, free coding camps her sanctuary and boredom a catalyst for coding projects to broaden her knowledge.
Currently, Mehrotra is immersed in a collaborative venture with an online group of high school students through STEM•E Since March, Mehrotra along with others in the group have been building an app, currently unnamed, that requires players to race and answer educational questions in order to get points.
“I hope the app will help its users stay engaged when studying and progress towards their educational goals,” Mehrotra said. “It’s not flash cards where they show one term after another. We want it to be interesting because it can be boring to study that way.”
Through a variety of STEM activities, Mehrotra draws motivation from envisioning the end result her efforts will yield through visualizing the website she is crafting, or anticipating the app’s impact. Imagining the smiles on peoples faces after experiencing the joys of her code or the relief felt by the utility it provides fuels her fervor.
Her approach to tasks, regardless of their prevalence in her life, is to work carefully through problems till she finds a solution.
“She’s very methodical, takes her time, and is very procedural as a student,” Practicum in STEM teacher Grant Garner said. “She seems to enjoy it a whole lot. It’s nice when you have a STEM student who enjoys what they do.”
Mehrotra’s energetic attitude towards computer science is not confined to herself: it’s contagious. She inspires her classmates to also pursue their goals with vigor.
“Whenever both of us come together, it’s really productive for both of us,” senior Naisha Jain said. “She knows how to get me to work and when she wants to work, she knows how to work. She’s very serious about it.”
Enlivening collaborative atmospheres, Mehrotra’s cheerful spirit manifests into her expression of ideas, ensuring it’s also present while others ideas are also expressed.
“People look at Sameeksha and see how happy she is, not because of how other people treat her, but because everything that she’s accomplished with her own drive makes her happy,” AP Calculus BC teacher Ian VanderSchee said. “Once people see that relationship between learning and happiness, they are often driven to do the same thing.”
In the future, Mehrotra hopes to pursue her interests in computer science and to create new programs emerging from her ideas. Witnessing the transformative power of technology on those around her, she aspires to contribute to these ongoing technological developments, especially with young women in STEM.
“As a child I always thought that to help people you have to be a doctor or lawyer,” Mehrotra said. “But to see that computer science can also help people is super great, especially knowing that our world is becoming more technologically advanced. I hope to help young girls feel confident in their abilities and feel inspired because that’s something I struggled with as a child, too.”
Follow @CHSCampusNews on X.
