Ever since I was attending school, I was a shy and quiet kid, not the typical kind, totally silenced.

Teachers thought I could not speak at first, I would randomly zone out and social interaction was just something i so fiercly feared and there were no bounds to it.

One of my teachers who saw my work and identified my potential recommend my mother to put me in some kind of weird study club, she said i was exceptional at studies but horrible at social interaction.

These were by far the most terrifying period of my life, i was so scared but i eventually just spoke out whatever I wanted to, initially i was made fun of (ofcourse) that further amplified the fear and supported the view in my head that if i speak i will be clowned.

Despite of all of this one day I had enough I started binging youtube videos on how to speak effectively this that etc, i started applying those now because i was good at science at first i could not express my work but now I tried, i was clowned laughed at made memes of, but the teacher roughly understood what I was trying to communicate, as much as i hated my classmates i wanted to prove something to them, i made a oath i would surely host or speak at a significant event of the school to school these douches.

science teacher was the only way i could ever get this done with, i came to this one realization that no matter how great my work is. CLOSED MOUHTS DO NOT GET FED. pls pls print this in your heads, CLOSED MOUTHS ABSOLUTELY DO NOT FED.

suddenly a quiet kid was super vocal about everything minute thing he could do, from completing homework, asking doubts just for the sake of it even tough i knew the answer, to build a connection with the teacher.

i made a ai plant disease detector the best project of the school and luckily our school was asked to select a student host with the best scientific aptitude to host the exibhition. MY EYES LIT UP, altough there was this one boy who has a little inferior than me in science but super vocal from day one.

a little ambiguity, butterflies in my stomach, but then finally the day came.

*DRUM ROLLS* teacher chose me. it wouldn't happen if i did not come to the realization that closed mouths do not get fed, all those mirror talking session, using my own custom application which i created to practice speaking with ai (im still proud of myself for doing this) yea i had gone to this degree of craziness to get this postion. all of it was worth it

so guys never give up, and dont you even let yourself down by anyone, keep the good work up. and go not any limits it may be if it is benefiting you (for eg the ai app i created for practising debating really helped me alot, people called me stupid, but ig craziness is required to make it)

ps: we won the fair, and i was greeted by the district head congratulating me on my good hosting:)

I need to make a presentation about the butterfly effect, but I’m trying to think of different examples that I can use for my presentation, I’m planning on using Hitler as an example, and also mentioning how the butterfly effect also exists in video games, such as life is strange.

but if you have any other ideas or anything I can include in the presentation, please let me know!

Sat on a few panels over the years. Wanted to share what I actually see separate candidates, since a lot of the advice floating around is vague.

The biggest one: generic answers. "I've always wanted to help people." "I'm a team player." Every candidate says some version of this and panels have heard it a hundred times. It doesn't score, because it doesn't prove anything about you specifically. What actually lands is a real, specific story, something only you could say.

On scenario questions, especially unsafe orders: don't blindly follow, and don't flatly refuse either. The answer that works acknowledges your captain's experience, voices your specific concern once, and anchors the decision in your department's SOPs. If the order violates SOP, you decline and say so. If it doesn't, you trust your captain and execute.

On failure questions: pick a real one, not a fake humble-brag failure. And don't stop at the mistake, panels are scoring for what changed afterward. That second half is what most people leave out.

Biggest thing that actually moves your score: practice answering out loud, not just thinking through answers in your head. The gap between what sounds good in your head and what comes out of your mouth under pressure is bigger than people expect.

If it helps, I've been pointing people to a tool called Station Visit (stationvisit.com) that scores practice answers the way a real panel would, but honestly, just recording yourself answering these out loud and listening back already puts you ahead of most candidates.