Personal Essay: Pursuing A Science Degree

Science has always been a part of my life, not just in the way that every science teacher says science is life, but the actual study of science. When I was young my mother, a science teacher, took it upon herself to take every opportunity possible to teach me something about the way the world worked, whether it was the way ingredients went together and interacted to form the texture of playdough or why adding baking soda to cake batter made it rise. either way, I was inundated with chemical reactions and techniques before I even knew there was a word for it and this inundation created an undeniable curiosity. Before entering high school, I had an undeterrable drive to know why, why something happened, why it worked, why it was important. It wasn’t until I walked into my first international baccalaureate chemistry course, to the mission impossible soundtrack no less, that I realized I had always possessed the tools to answer these questions, chemistry had always been a part of my life. nevertheless, it was Dr. Butler, my high school chemistry teacher that …show more content…
I want to be able to give back to the community I am a part of especially in a way that brings young girls into the STEM field. I have always been involved in volunteering, as the president of the Society of undergraduate chemistry students, I have had the opportunity to participate in many outreach programs that brought science and chemistry to grade school age children. As the daughter of a teacher, this is something that is close to my heart. It is also something that has attracted me to Duke. The outreach program developed by Dr. Kenneth Lyle is something that I would like to become involved in, as it is exactly the type of community involvement I strive for. The WISE organization is also something that interests me, as it was a WISE presentation that inspired me to pursue a place in a scientific field long before I ever entered high