Senior Camden Hawkins has had many experiences and went through many transitions with her personal growth and reflection.

“I definitely got to be more open about myself and I got learn more about myself and I got to learn in a bunch of different ways that I never thought I would have learned.”

Hawkins was welcomed into a positive environment on her first day of school with new smiling faces making her feel comfortable.

“When I came here the first thing I noticed was that everybody was super nice and friendly. I made like ten friends plus the first day.”

The environment has affected her outlook of the learning process and relationships with teachers.

“I definitely got more of a learning experience here because the teachers are definitely more motivated to help the kids learn,” Hawkins said. “My old chemistry teacher wasn’t very motivated and we just kind of did our own thing for most of the time but  here  I actually have to do work and study during my free periods and that’s really nice.”

As a female student in robotics, her love for science and math started as a child wanting to expand her way of thinking.

“ I had a knack for math and critical thinking which is something I really liked when I got to apply that to science and math classes. I had to think more and figure out more solutions so that really intrigued me.”

She plans to make her impact in STEM by helping others and spreading her knowledge to other teams in different communities.

“I want to help mentoring some team when I go off to college in Macon. I’m probably going to help out either RoboBib, which is a team in Macon or my old team which is in Warner Robins,” Hawkins said. “I definitely want to volunteer in robotic competitions so I could be a referee or a judge but I definitely want to help more in that area because it’s very fun and it’s very interesting.”

Hawkins believes that her hard-work, skills and determination will help her thrive in the male-dominant field of engineering.

“If you really just show who you are and stick up for yourself as a person, being a female I know it’s hard getting a job in engineering cause it’s a very male-dominant field. I would definitely show that I have some skills in mechanical and electrical engineering and then just prove my point that I can do what I can do.”