"Come on, Tito. You have to improvise." The words run through my mind as I race towards the obstacle. "Okay, tense your core and pull a Double Kong vault. Wait! Not too hard!" My feet land on the ground on the opposite side of the barrier, which happens to be my aunt's car. I breathe out. Parkour is the act of getting from point A to B as efficiently as possible, using your body as vehicle. I love it. It...

Since I first dipped into the Columbia website, the University has been a sort of figurative bug in my mind. I spent far more time than I should watching Columbia Engineering YouTube videos and possibly even longer scrolling through #Butlerlibrary pictures on Instagram. I came to value Columbia's tight-knit student body and the sheer range of classes I can take, all enhanced by its synergy with the City. My intense search for study opportunities that would take me to Morningside...

When I was 12, I spent countless hours tinkering with a cardboard plane including motors and servos. I thought little about engineering, but just did what I loved. I am still equally entertained by connecting a battery to a motor and watching it spin at stupendous speeds. Gears and mechanisms and sources of power fascinate me, and the prospect of working with them in Columbia's maker spaces lights me up. The really cool thing about engineering though, is the fact that...