I was excited and intrigued. I sat on the living room carpet staring at colors and familiar shapes. Next to me on both sides, my parents spoke in soothing, nurturing tones, yet I could sense their anticipation and awe.
My dad helped me to get started; he turned over the puzzle and emptied its 50 pieces onto the carpet. I moved all the little pieces aside and positioned the brightly colored frame in the most natural manner. “Mitchell, it is supposed to be the other way,” my dad corrected as he turned the puzzle frame 180 degrees...
I always have had a passion for engineering, from building robots as a child to researching polymers and cardiac tissue in recent years. The beauty in engineering is its application to many disciplines. I could use engineering principles to design medical treatments, chemical processes, or computer software and hardware...
Columbia’s distinction in the engineering and biomedical sciences has captured my enthusiasm. With renowned faculty, such as Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic (highly recommended by my lab mentor), I know I would receive an outstanding comprehensive education. Columbia’s locale opens up opportunities for music performance, an enticing supplement to the range of activities offered at the University...
The second I stepped through the gate on Broadway, I knew Columbia was for me. I want to live in Carman and argue about its superiority against friends living in John Jay. I want the semi-enclosed campus with access to the city. I want mandatory swimming classes and afternoons spent on the steps of Low Library reading The Record...
As a sixteen-year old African American teenager going into her senior year of high school, identity crises are a weekly occurence for me. I’m the youngest student in my class, and since the sixth grade I’ve dreaded my birthday-having my entire school remind me that I don’t belong in my grade has always been something fun to look forward to after blowing out my candles. More recently, though, my age hasn’t been the point of contention in my quest for self worth...
My friend Michael once called me a “Texifornian,” but my roots are sunk into more than the soil of my birthplace and my current hometown. They spread throughout North America and each of the places where they have grown, where I have lived, has affected me in its own way. I’ve taken away a piece of each; Houston’s boomtown optimism, Seattle’s intellectual vibrancy, Mexico’s exotic flavor, Ohio’s steadfastness, and California’s activism have all shaped me, and made me who I am today...
Swimming has provided me with the proudest moments of my life, but its impact on me is more than just shining moments, it is the values it has instilled in me.
My coach has said that swimming is special; no other sport exposes you to the same level of scrutiny and criticism. Every time, you have to stand on the blocks alone, with everyone’s eyes on you...
I felt like I was going to burst as torrents of adrenaline gushed through my body, contorting my insides as though they were trapped in a ringer. A feverish panic flooded me as I watched throngs of students pour into the tiny classroom. I, a gawky sophomore, was responsible for the onslaught.
Ever since I first read Nicholas Whapshot’s Keynes-Hayek, I have been enamored with economics. Inundated by unpredictable chaos, I have found solace in its sanity and rationality...
Sitting in rush hour traffic, I realized that the southbound 405 Freeway looks like a physical manifestation of the New York Stock Exchange. Like the stock market, certain algorithms define how each lane shifts relatively. For several months, I worked ceaselessly on crafting the perfect day trading software. But it never worked; the returns would consistently approach zero...
A normal person would not spend 25 hours a week for six-weeks a year, stuck in a cold, dusty, and noisy workshop with a group of other high school students. However, I'm not normal. For the past year, I worked in these conditions to develop a robot for a competition that was always two weeks too soon.
I didn’t begin my robotics experience in that workshop, but it was where I took it to the next level...
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