Through High School

Hi!, my name is Erik Katzen and this is the story of my career through the computer and business world as an IT Architect.

But first, here is a little background information about myself. I grew up my entire life in the DFW metroplex with my beginnings originating out of Arlington, Texas. I moved to Southlake, Texas at early age with my parents where I attended the grand opening of Durham Elementary school. Precursor to moving into seventh grade, my family moved to Argyle, TX where I eventually graduated from Argyle High School.

Below is a relatively recent picture of myself to help the reader put my words to a face.

My activities in high school included basketball, tennis, and UIL academics. The sport of basketball was my true athletic passion. Through this competition, I learned intense self discipline, how to reap the rewards of long hard hours of work, and to find a niche within a team environment. I lead my Freshman and Junior Varsity teams in scoring during my Freshman and Sophomore years, respectively. At the onset of my Junior year, I made the Varsity team. Through the next two seasons, our team won two district titles with an undefeated record, and advanced to the regional tournament each season. Our record for these two seasons combined to a total of 67-7. I had worked my way up to a starting position my Senior year and discovered my specialty of a defensive expert in shutting down the opponent's highest scorer.

Additionally, I began playing the sport of tennis my Freshman year. I quickly accelerated to the number one singles spot on the team. Despite being new to the sport, I received runner-up honors for our district, and advanced to the regional tournament. The following year, I won district, continued on to runner-up honors in the regional tournament, and advanced to the state tournament in singles as a Sophomore. Although I lost in the quarterfinals, I was proud of my achievement and determined to get back to Austin. My Junior year faced difficulties with maintaining my role on the basketball team, but I still managed to advance to the regional tournament. I lost early due to a lackluster performance, but I know where my tennis future lie. Finally, in my senior year, I decided to switch over to playing mixed doubles. Although the nature of the game changed, my partner and I won district, became runner-up in the regional tournament, and advanced to the state tournament. We won our first two matches which placed us in the state championship. Although we lost to the same team that beat us in the regional tournament and received a State Runner-Up award, it was a great experience, and I am proud of myself and my teammate.

At times, the spring semester proved to be the most difficult. In addition to maintain my grades and playing basketball and tennis, I competed in UIL academics. Since our high school tends to dominate the competition of math and science, I will summarize all of my accolades as tersely as possible. The three math tests include Mathematics, Number Sense, and Calculator. The Mathematics test is the most straightforward with 60 questions to be answered in 40 minutes ranging from Geometry to Calculus. The Number Sense test is an 80 question test that must be completed in ten minutes. However, not scratch work is allow, only the writing of answers as it is a purely mental math test. Lastly, the Calculator test was a combination of number cruncher problems (how fast and accurate can you enter problems) and problem solving questions. In Mathematics, I was on the four man team from my Sophomore year through my Senior year where our team won all three State Championships. I was on the Number Sense team during my Junior and Senior year where we won the State Championship both years. Lastly, I made the Calculator team my Senior year where we achieved a State Runner-Up award.

Subsequently, it was my turn to finally apply to college...