Joining something new, can be a frightening decision. For example, when I joined robotics last year, I decided to join the software team with my brother Evan. I didn’t know much about programing, but my brother was an expert at it. So, I asked him to teach me and he did. Though sometimes when he was teaching me, I would get bored or distracted and lose my want to learn. When this happened, Evan would say something along the lines of, “Nope, you’re going to learn this.” Finally, once he thought I knew enough, he would tell me to program something on my own. My brother has done much to grow me, like he did in this story, and more; consequently, he has been a major influencer of my life. Evan has done three major things that have changed my life. All of these steps also work together in a way that has grown me into who I am today. These three steps are teaching, then supporting, then finally pushing.

The first thing Evan has done for me, is he has taught me. Evan has taught me many things since I was young. One thing he has done for me, is he has been a sort of tutor. When I was confused by subjects from school, he would help me to understand them. Also, he would teach me by bringing home things from school that he had learned. The second thing Evan taught me, was c++. On the robotics software team, I needed to understand how to program the robot. Evan was the one who taught me how to program in c++. The third thing Evan helped to teach me was the importance of conflict resolution. When my brother and I were kids, we argued with regularity. The young me thought it was fun to hurt Evan with my words; hence, I often casted uncivil remarks at him. I see now, how wrong I was to do these things, and how much I really did hurt him. Though through this Evan has helped to teach me how important it is to resolve conflict. Today, there are many things I would not know about without my brother teaching me them. But teaching is only the first step Evan took toward affecting my life.

Next, Evan supported me by being easy to talk to. The first way he has supported me, is by answering my questions. If I was ever confused about anything, it was easy to ask Evan about it. The second way in which Evan has supported me, was by listening to my jokes. Evan and I have a very similar sense of humor. After hearing or coming up with a good joke, I often looked forward to the time when I would be able to tell it to Evan. The final thing that Evan supported me in was my mistakes. There has been many incidents where I have messed up. Although it still took a little bit to muster up the courage, it was relaxing to release my shortcomings to Evan. The tremendous support from Evan when he listened to my questions, my jokes, and my mistakes, has changed my life. After teaching, and then supporting, there is one more step Evan took to grow me.

This third step Evan did was pushing. One thing Evan has pushed me to do, is to act in a respectful manner. Evan as a young child often made sure he was being respectful, and honoring the rules that were set in place for his good. He is still like this today, but he is not as held back by the worries of messing up. Both when I was younger and now, Evan has pushed me to respect the rules and people. Another thing Evan has pushed me to do, is to understand. I would often ask Evan a boatload of questions whenever I got confused. Sometimes he would answer, but at instances he would tell me to figure it out on my own. What he wanted, was for me to be smart enough to google things I don’t get. Especially, once he was no longer always there to be asked. The third thing Evan pushed me to do, is to not worry. As a consequence of my perfectionism, I start feeling extremely worried at times. When I feel this way I start to feel disconnected, so I have trouble focusing. After Evan has seen me like this, he has told me not to worry so much. He has pushed me to do things that I would not be able to do today without his pushing. Evan’s pushing was the final step that has helped grow me into who I am today.

I have been shaped into who I am now because of the influences from Evan: teaching, supporting, and pushing. Not only are these three things life changing, they also work together. First, Evan teaches me, then he supports me and gives me confidence, and finally, he pushes me to do it. Evan has been a very important influence on my life, and I hope to keep growing with him for a long time. In my story about robotics, these three influences and steps are shown. He taught me about programing, he supported me by telling me to keep going, then finally he pushed me to write code on my own. I believe I am a better person today because of the ways my brother has influenced me.