Palmetto High School rising senior Jonathan Chen is working to create the Engineering and Computer Programing Club. He wants to have the club to begin in August with the start of school.
Why start a computer club?
“We’re lacking the computer and engineering part of STEM,” he says. “I think it will be good for sophomores and juniors.”
Chen says currently, the only computer program offered is Advanced Placement Computer Science.
“I think more people would major in STEM if they have more exposure to it,” he says. “Potentially we could go to competitions. I think it’s necessary in a school with such a high level of academics. Our school is extremely competitive. I think this is long overdue, to be honest.”
Chen has been working with computers since he was eight. He accompanied both parents to work at their respective universities. His mom is a professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Miami and his dad is a professor in Computer Science at Florida International University.
“Programming is important to me because my family prides itself in our passion for computer engineering,” he says. “My father, mother, and two sisters all majored in Computer Engineering and I intend to complete my family’s legacy of becoming deeply knowledged in the field.”
Previous to his senior year, Chen was too busy to start a club. He was president of the Class of 2019 his freshman, sophomore and junior years. He’s on senate now that he’s no longer class president. He’s proud of his three years as president.
“As Class President for three years, I’m most proud of founding Movie Night. From freshman year to now, we have raised over $12,000 with the event and have now set a great foundation for an amazing senior year,” he says. “Additionally, as the representative of the Class of 2019, we are proud of creating spirit within our class, unifying everyone to show their pride in being a Palmetto Panther.”
Chen is a member of several clubs, including the National Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta, and the Social Science Honor Society. He’s also a member of the History Bowl team. He qualified to attend the national competition but this year there was no funding for Palmetto to send a team.
Chen says he enjoys the History Bowl competitions because he likes dealing with facts.
He also likes sports. He played junior varsity basketball and volleyball and will continue with volleyball next year. He’s also a varsity swimmer.
“I swam in all of our regular matches and I was at district,” he says.
He swam the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, the 200-freestyle relay and 200 IM relay.
“I’ve been swimming since sixth grade,” he says. “I used to club swim with AK Sharks.”
Outside of school, he conducts research at FIU and UM for PhD students.
“I perform experiments for their research papers and provide them with data,” he says. “I’ve been cited in a couple of research papers.
Usually, I’ll work on one research paper at a time. I’ll work for whichever student needs help.”
In college, he’s considering majors in computer science or electrical and computer engineering.
He’s been taking college level classes for several years–nine dual enrollment classes so far. Those classes include biology, statistics, psychology and introduction to Micro Computer Usages.
At the April awards ceremony, Chen was given the George Washington University Book Award. He also ended the year with perfect attendance as he has since kindergarten.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
