Since as early as I can remember, I have been a curious person, always asking questions and seeking answers. As a child, my curiosity manifested itself in the exploration of the world around me. I loved to explore and learn about all of the different plants and animals that I was not familiar with. However, my curiosity of the natural world never dissipated, but further developed into a sense of wonder about not only the Earth, but the entire universe, and would shape my path in life as well as my future endeavors.
Early in my educational career, school never quite came naturally to me. Although I was able to do well in my classes, I did so without much effort, lacking the motivation to truly learn the material and excel academically. During my sophomore year, there was a class that I preformed particularly poorly in. This grade was a wake-up call for me to do better. I retook the class over the summer and passed with flying colors. I actually enjoyed working on the course over the summer, and felt that I learned a lot more than I had in the class at school. I came back to school my junior year with a newfound respect for education. During my junior year, and even more so my senior year, I excelled in my classes. The satisfaction that I earn from solving problems, helping others to accomplish their goals, and helping others to achieve a similar satisfaction from their education has also helped me to realize my passion of teaching. My fondness of helping others to understand complex topics has made me realize that I yearn to be an educator, more specifically, a college professor.
I have chosen to study physics in college. The more that I learn, the more that I realize that the only way to sate my innate curiosity of the world around me is to learn how the universe works. Physics has always been interesting to me, however, during my first physics class my senior year, I was sure sure that there was nothing else that I wanted to study in my further education. I learned to make mathematical connections with the world I love being able to explain to others why things happen the way that they do. Now, at the culmination not only my education, but my curiosity thus far in my life, I am prepared to do what it takes to learn everything I can, and accomplish my goals. I have serious ambitions to do well and to not take any shortcuts. I know that I can do anything that I set my mind to, even if it is very hard. I hope that my ambition and drive will lead me to success in college and in my future career.
I do have several regrets from my years in high school. First of all, I regret not trying harder and not enjoying my education in its entirety. Secondly, and possibly more importantly, I regret not getting more involved. I was involved in almost nothing in high school. Thankfully, my new start at tOSU has already brought boundless opportunities to get involved. So far, I have volunteered for the Students for Recycling’s “Dump and Run” Event, and been to several academic club meetings. In the future, I hope to involve myself in community STEM outreach and education so that younger people will be inspired by education to change the world as I was. Additionally, I hope to get more involved in sustainability organizations in order to make a difference in the community and the world.
As a scientific minded person, I am aware of the effects of climate change and of how critical it is to make a change now. As I have grown, so too has my love of nature, and a new sense of responsibility to protect it has developed. I hope that with my physics degree, along with attempting to understand the universe around me, and teach others, I can extend my degree to another of my passions: sustainability . I hope to do this by conducting research and developing technologies to help save this small part of the universe that we currently call home, and ensure the health and beauty of the Earth for future generations.