Who I am in the classroom is just a small snippet of the whole me. I love to learn, I love to take on new challenges, I love to explore and travel, and I love to relax and spend quality time with my family.
As a child, I enjoyed the social and competitive aspects of my extracurricular activities. As I grew older, I used these activities as a tool to help me take a break from the classroom and workload. Over time, I've learned the importance of balance: As much as I love learning and school, I now appreciate the importance of taking a break to enjoy other things as well. After a difficult test, it is nice to play field hockey or go on a jog to unwind and to socialize and have fun.
I love to travel and to explore new places and learn about other cultures. One of my favorite places is Peru. While in Peru, I volunteered at the Sunflower Children's Home, a small orphanage committed to serving and helping children. While staying there, I planted crops in remote fields, painted buildings, played soccer, sang with the children, and so much more. Every child was happy and thankful for everything they had, especially the family that they had created at the Sunflower Home. This was a life-changing experience for me, as the children reminded me to find joy in the smallest of things: enjoying the smiles on each other's faces while singing a song, taking a beautiful walk together, or sitting around the table to enjoy a wonderful dinner. I continue to stay in contact with the Sunflower and plan to visit again soon, bringing my newly acquired knowledge so that I can share ideas for optimizing their farming tools and systems.
Some of my fondest memories come from family game nights and vacations. One thing that I have always appreciated about my family is that they have been very supportive of my dreams and ambitions. As a child, my family encouraged me to try new things. So, I played soccer and lacrosse, ran cross country and track and field, took up rowing, singing and dancing, learned Tae Kwon Do, participated in musical theater, and competed in triathlons and road races with my dad. I am very grateful that I explored each of these activities because each challenged me in a different way and taught me the importance of being a lifelong learner.
My life has been rich in experiences that have shaped who I am. Sports have helped me learn how to become an effective leader, races have taught me to never give up even when it’s difficult, and theater and the arts have taught me to be confident. Math and science have always been my strong suit. I genuinely enjoy trying to figure out a math problem and get excited when I finally solve it. Engineering lets me continue to learn more about math and science and to build and invent machines with the goal of impacting people's lives for the better.