It was lonely being the only “techie” in my high school. Even amongst my friends I elicit blank looks whenever I begin to talk about getting together over the weekends to build catapults and staying after school just play chess and discuss ideas with AP calculus teacher.
“Dude, what’s the point of building catapult? Why don’t you study for the Physics test?” My friends are certainly correct: there is no point in building a catapult. But I find satisfaction in just being able to say “I made that, and it works. I bet I can hit that shrub over there with this rock in just one try,” and that I had actually planned and designed it. Over the years, I have found that not everyone is interested in working on ambitious projects.
I tried to convince my friends that science and engineering are art, that no one can sit down and magically put things together in an hour, that it is amazing how natural phenomena can be explained through mathematical expression, and that there is so much fun and camaraderie in hunkering down and working together as a group on any project. But so far I haven’t been able to convert them. Everyday I wish I had tried harder.
For this reason, I still have some concerns that make me feel somewhat afraid of my freshman year at college. First, I wonder if I can fulfill my academic curiosity. Newtonundoubtedly experienced a sense of triumph when he made his great discoveries. Fortunately, I recently discovered both its practical power and its surprising beauty of calculus and enjoyed some of that excitement. I truly pursue the virtue of profound and unremitting learning. And also, I expect to meet numerous friends who have similar interests as me. Since I already had experienced how lonely it is to be ‘the only techie’ during my high school years, I would like to study with peers who also are math-and-science oriented scholars. Lastly, I don’t want to miss extracurricular opportunities offered by Baruch because having a periodic and meaningful social life must be as crucial as studying hard, especially for a college student who attends a school located inManhattan, I guess.
So in looking forward to the next four years of my life, I hope my first year at college be more exciting. At Baruch, I want to turn to a friend and ask “What do you think about building a rail gun,” and then I want to be able to hear that friend reply with “Let’s go,” instead of “What’s the point?” And so I will reinforce Baruch’s long-standing tradition of physics, mathematics, and other sciences and add to my class’ enthusiasm through my appetite for ambitious projects.
-Edward Ahn
