Duke Diary Dispatch: Embracing Deep-Dive Learning, Seeing Public Art

A colorful mural on the side of a building in downtown Raleigh

This is the latest in a series of diary entries from Alex Pieroni, a Duke student staying close to home this summer and doing a Code+ program in Durham. Read more here.

As I reflect on this week's trials, errors, and rewarding learning experiences, I’m filled with a sense of accomplishment but also loads of excitement for what lies ahead. With our application development in full gear, I’ve been focusing on building a responsive webpage for our portal and learning a ton from the process! I love this style of dive-in-deep learning; not only are you learning things as you build them, but I often find myself discovering and rectifying the mistakes I made just a few days ago.

Of course, it sounds much more beautiful on paper––as a clearer picture, I’ve been wrestling with stubborn bugs and grappling with design inconsistencies, but each obstacle has pushed me to think and search more creatively for a solution. The most satisfying part, though, is encountering an error enough times that when a teammate gets stuck on it and being able to explain how to solve it and what’s causing it. 

As a part of the Code+ Program, we hear weekly updates from the other teams about what challenges they’ve been tackling and their next steps. This cross-pollination allows our team to think about our strategies when approaching problems and turns the whole program into a cohesive, collaborative environment.

Outside of my internship, my friends and I explored Downtown Raleigh through their online Murals Tour, and as a Texan who hasn’t explored much of North Carolina outside of Durham, we wanted to explore the vibrant art scene of the state’s capital! It turns out fate was on our side––while walking through Raleigh, we ran into Raleigh Retro Gamers Expo at Moore Square!

We talked with charismatic vendors who had been collecting and creating their whole life. After exploring the expo, we continued down the walk, seeing the Capitol, and stopped for coffee at the Morning Times. It was an incredible atmosphere and a beautiful way to end the week. Back in Durham, we went to the Glass Jug Beer Lab to check out local brews and watch some weekend entertainment.

Next week, we push past the prototypes and start to get authentic data in our system––where new problems will arise that we’ll keep finding solutions for. The journey continues!