Today we began our introduction to Solidworks, a 3D modeling software that is used in engineering to design parts of machines.  It was a rough start for me. I’ve used 3D modelling tools like Blender beforehand, but trying to design something in Solidworks was very difficult.  The user interface was very complex, with multiple modes needed to make a very simple object. At the beginning of the day, I felt overwhelmed with the switching between multiple modes, and the order in which I had to switch between them.  However, at the end of the lesson, I felt that I learned more about the process of creating something great in Solidworks. In addition, I also spent more time on learning how to read a csv file into the terminal.  It was difficult, but I found a way to convert the string values that I initially read from a text file, back into floats.  In addition, I am learning more about using certain C++ functions, such as stoi, which converts a string type to an integer type.  Today’s luncheon lecture was from Evrin Bahran, who is a faculty member at ISU. She discussed the importance of technology in education, in addition to the importance of STEM education.  I understand the importance of STEM education, especially in my community. I attended a conference which stated that only 10% of CS majors were African American in 2016. It is important to have diversity in the workforce to have a multitude of different ideas from people of different backgrounds.  In addition to the luncheon lecture, we had a meeting with the VR stress team, where we learned more about how stress works. We also brainstormed ideas for a stressful task in virtual reality, and demoed some of the tasks that had already been created. Finally, the day ended with Game Night, where a bunch of us played Smash, and ended the day on a good note.