Introducing... Me!

        Hello! My name is Michael "Mike" Norinskiy. I'm 16 years old and prefer he/him pronouns. I am the son of two immigrant parents. My parents came to the US 23 years ago with my older sister. I enjoying watching cooking videos and taking Buzzfeed quizzes. My hobbies include talking to my friends, aimlessly scrolling through social media, and gardening. I like gardening because it helps clear my head and allows me to have time to think whilst being productive. I especially love it when I can bear the fruits of my labor (pun intended). Speaking of puns, I really enjoy puns and horrible dad jokes.

        Throughout the school, I participate in many extracurricular activities, including, research, Gardening Club, LGBTQA+/GSA Club and "Sing!". Doing these extracurricular allows me to meet many like-minded people with similar interests. My favorite extracurricular activity is "Sing!", a student-run theater competition in which students, separated into teams by grade level, create their own 20 minute show. "Sing!" spread my horizons in the theater world from a backstage director, to an actor, dancer, writer, and director. "Sing!" allowed my to build new bonds with new people and strengthen bonds with others. "Sing!" wasn't the only thing that allowed me to spread my horizons. Science research has taught me many critical skills and has brought me a great amount of stress and happiness. Not only did research teach me how to conduct an experiment and analyze data, it taught me how to communicate, present, and write scientifically. Science research taught me that a lot of hard work pays off when I won 3rd in Plant Sciences at NYCSEF. Although school is an important aspect of myself, one of my truly favorite things is my job.

        I work as a teacher's assistant the Game Builder's Academy (GBA). I started off as a camper at Hofstra summer camp and discovered GBA, an outside contractor hired by Hofstra. I began to take many classes with GBA, such as, video game design, video game art, 3D animation, fashion design, and. most importantly, robotics. After take robotics twice, I fell in love with the class. I found a true interest in the class and the way it worked. This made me want to intern for GBA, and so I did. I was an intern assistant for robotics in the summer of 2016. They company liked me enough to actually hire me, so, I worked during the fall and part of the spring as an assistant for robotics. This past summer, I worked as a head assistant for robotics. Working as head assistant provided me with a wealth of experience and great joy. For part of the summer, I worked as the teacher of the robotics class because the teacher could not come in. Although I know that I didn't want to be an engineer, teaching robotics confirmed that I want to become an educator. Teaching and expanding those students' horizons was one of the most fulfilling things that I have done in my life. I really enjoyed teaching, and definitely see it as my current career path. I plan on staying with GBA and working there for as long as I can. Only time will tell how else I will grow as an educator, student, and, most importantly, as an individual.