Physics

PA State Computer Fair: 11th grade submission

April 2013

Following two years of failing to make it past the regional competition, I was determined to make it back to the Pennsylvania State Computer Fair this year. For my 11th-grade entry, I chose the subject of Physics, which offered a lot of opportunities for visual storytelling and interactive diagrams.

Mastering Parallax

By this time, the “one-page click-to-scroll” format had become my signature style. I was heavily inspired by the rise of parallax scrolling on the web—specifically a beautifully designed site for a pair of Saucony shoes that used scroll-triggered animations to tell a story. I wanted to replicate that sense of narrative movement on my own site.

I came up with a creative visual metaphor for the site’s navigation: following an apple as it “fell” downward through the page (a nod to the famous Isaac Newton story), while the rest of the content scrolled up and around it. Implementing this was a significant technical challenge at the time, as I had to manually calculate scroll offsets and use JavaScript to trigger CSS transitions at the perfect moment.

Much to my delight, the effort paid off. The website not only made it to the state competition in Harrisburg but also placed second in the state. This was a huge validation of my growth as both a designer and a developer. It proved that taking risks with new technologies and pushing the boundaries of what a “website” should look like could pay off in a big way.

This project was a turning point for me. It gave me the confidence I needed to tackle even more ambitious projects in my final year of the competition and ultimately solidified my decision to pursue a career in software engineering.