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Nathan Cain

625

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Finalist

Bio

I have an immense curiosity and avid drive to explore the world around me.

Education

Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School

High School
2020 - 2024

Miscellaneous

  • Desired degree level:

    Bachelor's degree program

  • Majors of interest:

    • Computer Science
    • Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations
    • Cognitive Science
    • Engineering Physics
  • Not planning to go to medical school
  • Career

    • Dream career field:

      Computer Software

    • Dream career goals:

      Lead a startup

    • Inventory Manager

      Zubal Books
      2020 – 20211 year
    • Software Developer

      Jatango
      2022 – Present2 years

    Sports

    Cross-Country Running

    Varsity
    2021 – 2021

    Awards

    • Rookie of the Year

    Track & Field

    Varsity
    2020 – Present4 years

    Awards

    • Rookie of the Year

    Soccer

    Varsity
    2020 – 20244 years

    Awards

    • Team Journeyman Award
    • Suburban League All Conference: Second Team
    • Greater Akron All District: Honorable Mention
    • Greater Akron All District: Senior All Star

    Research

    • Computer Science

      Brecksville Broadview Heights High School AP Research class — researcher
      2022 – 2023

    Arts

    • Ridgewood United Methodist Church

      Music
      2023 – Present

    Public services

    • Volunteering

      Brecksville Soccer Association — I led kids through stations working on various skills such as agility, ball control, and teamwork
      2023 – 2023
    • Volunteering

      Leukemia and Lymphoma Society — Head of School committee
      2021 – 2022

    Future Interests

    Volunteering

    Philanthropy

    Entrepreneurship

    Padriac Routa Memorial Scholarship
    In my personal life, I am constantly tackling the problem of living to the fullest with my limited time. My solution is to pursue many different activities, whether that is baking, playing guitar, running, coding, etc. From these disparate activities I am able to add to my experiences while making connections. I especially like activities that give me the ability to share, including baking macarons for family gatherings, playing guitar for my church, or coding something useful for others. My tendency to explore is why I like coding. The possibilities are endless with technologies to learn and projects to build. And while I am not sure what problems I will tackle in the future through entrepreneurship, I know I’ll most likely be using code to come up with creative solutions. I even practiced when first learning how to code. Sophomore year I hoped to answer the question “Does our cross country team peak too early in the season?” I set out to learn web scraping in order to programmatically graph my team’s data. I made a bot to scour through online data, making neat graphs to share with the team. Not only did I gain the results from my project, but also experience, which came in handy later. Fast forward to winter break, I was given data entry work to do. I sat at my computer, flipping from excel, to the company’s website, repeating over and over again. As I trudged through the data entry work I thought “hey, maybe I can automate this”. After obtaining the go-ahead from my boss, I started hacking away using my recently gained web scraping knowledge. In the end, I was able to automate the work, saving valuable time for other employees. It astounded me. If it was not for the past project, I wouldn’t have noticed this opportunity. It’s made me see the value in learning many different things, as I never know when I might use it. I find this important for entrepreneurship, as only my toolset will limit the opportunities I see for problems to solve. I have, and will continue this journey of exploration. Both learning as much I can, while also staying on the lookout for problems I can potentially solve. I’ve already added more skills to my arsenal. That summer I landed an internship at a local ecommerce startup, Jatango. There I learned many lessons, from thinking like a user when designing the functionality of buttons and input forms, to efficiently planning and testing new features. I was also exposed to the inner workings of the startup. Along with this through taking AP Research class, I familiarized myself with the process of scientific research and communicating complex ideas to others. And currently, I am exploring how technology can augment teaching by building an interactive chemistry simulation. So while I do not have a singular focus now, in college I hope to gain a deeper toolset through a computer science degree. From there I will use it for an entrepreneurial venture. I could transfer my knowledge from Jatango, building a service or product to help with the needs of others. Or, another route is working on innovative new technology, either helping science or society. Areas such as AI, cloud computing, or quantum computing come to mind.