"Daddy, how does the water get into the refrigerator?"
At the age of four, my relentless inquiries about how things work had exhausted my parents’ knowledge. It was not until my father dismantled the refrigerator and traced each step of the water’s path for me that I was satisfied. As I grew older, I learned how to find my own answers, but that in no way diminished my curiosity...
About two years ago I began updating and upgrading my computer in order to maintain a public gaming server I built for the game Minecraft. For those of you who have never had the pleasure of taking apart and reconfiguring a computer, I highly recommend it, but let me warn you that by far the most difficult task is gaining access to the hardware itself, which is often sealed behind devious plastic walls, penetrable only at the cost of destroying the hardware as well...
I peered into the blue plastic bag. Instead of a warm, hearty meal, all I saw was a thick blob of goo. Freeze-dried backpacking food is gross. Even after a long hike on the trail, it does not hit the spot. Unfortunately, during Boy Scout Troop 223’s annual two-week backpacking trips, those globs were our dinner, whether we liked it or not. One night, however, was different...
“Laughter is the best medicine.” We’ve all heard the saying, and there’s really some truth behind it. Laughter, according to the Mayo Clinic, eases stress, relaxes muscles, strengthens your immune system, and relieves pain, all in addition to making you feel good. But there’s another reason why I think laughter matters...
Throughout middle school, I had Mr. Harlan as my science teacher. Mr. Harlan was a great teacher not only because he was very down-to-earth and made concepts easy to understand, but also because he believed that the best way to learn is through experience. Through this idea, he created a science class heavily based on experimentation...
In junior year, my physics teacher suggested I join Viewpoint’s VEX Robotics team, and within a week I was coming in during my lunch periods and after school to build all sorts of projects. By the end of the month, I had built a pizza delivery robot, complete with a video camera that streamed to our physics room’s SmartBoard and a combination lock to open the pizza box.That was a lot of fun, but now I was ready for something more challenging...
I grew up in Los Angeles, as did my mom. My dad, on the other hand, grew up on the other side of the world, in Kiev, Ukraine. At that point, however, it was the USSR. He lived in a world known for oppression. When he was in his twenties, he left with his parents for the United States. They were allowed to bring very little with them, so when he got here, my dad had to work hard to build his life up...
Recently, I’ve been very captivated by the world of robotics, so when it came time to start thinking about what colleges to apply to, Carnegie Mellon’s well-known history of involvement in robotics was of great interest to me. I also know that at Carnegie Mellon I would have the opportunity to perform some very thought-provoking research, even as an undergraduate...
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