Before Nathan’s diagnosis, I must admit, I was not particularly interested in the sciences. Though I’d always had a flair for the field, my mind was clouded with dreams of camera lights, movie stars, and other pop-culture driven fantasies. My childlike delusions, however, were shattered by this news. To watch anyone go through chemotherapy is a harrowing process, yet to watch a child persevere through the treatment is arguably, even more poignant. Seeing Nathan’s suffering sparked a desire within me, a desire to create a discovery in order to ease the pain of those afflicted with his disease. This aspiration led me to seek out new science programs in high school, which further led to me to experience other facets of engineering and STEM. After taking an introductory robotics course and subsequently joining my school’s robotics team, I also discovered a dormant passion for the “mechanical arts”. My fondness for the fields of medicine and robotics have combined to form my current career aspiration: biomedical engineering. Perhaps one day, Nathan may venture into the field of engineering too, however even if he does not, he has already imparted a great impact on a future engineer. For me, Nathan made science personal. Without his diagnosis, I would not know where I would be …show more content…
Nevertheless, I know this cannot be achieved without years of extensive study and schooling. Most of this education will be acquired in college and graduate school, however the earlier one starts exploring a passion, the better off they will be in the future. This is why I would like to attend PREFACE. Attending Rensselaer 's program would provide me with many learning opportunities that I would not be offered in my regular high school, exposing me to numerous facets of STEM, many of which that are critical to biomedical engineering. When one is only offered two free periods in a school day, there is a limited amount of time to explore the many aspects of science. Factor in numerous scheduling conflicts, as students taking advanced level courses, such as myself, are prone to, and it can become nearly impossible to explore one’s chosen area of study. This program, however, introduces one to over ten different subfields of engineering, some of which aren’t even available in many high schools. PREFACE would provide me with what I have been unable to explore through academics. I’ll be able to broaden my expanse of engineering knowledge, which, hopefully, will one day contribute to my overarching goal of making a great discovery to ease the suffering of cancer patients. The technical education I’ll gain from this program will stay with me not only through my college career, but hopefully though my entire