Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences (max 150 words)
When I was five years old, my Dad and I would head to ЦСКА, a local Ukrainian park, and hit tennis balls against the wall. I quickly realized how controlled hitting–to avoid the ball flying over the wall–could be a useful strategy. In Moldova, I trained at a local tennis facility with Olga, a motivated Russian coach who taught me how to win through consistency rather than the universally-favored power game. As a result, I won junior tennis tournaments and later in Ethiopia, became the number one player on the tennis team, played in international tournaments, and earned the team’s MVP award. At Langley High School, I achieved the all-conference …show more content…
Early on, I wondered how the students raised their hands so excitedly week after week, even on the hottest days of the year when the sweltering heat cast a cloud of doubt on the dusty classroom. However, I came to understand that the students’ enthusiasm stems from a culture renowned for an acute awareness of the needs of others–a quality I continue to strive for now that I am living in the U.S. again. While living and learning on four continents and through similar experiences volunteering, I have developed my moral and political philosophy of helping …show more content…
Whenever I ask college graduate friends like Jon about pure mathematics– courses like Complex Analysis– I am intrigued by the complexity and drawn to its innate beauty. Pure mathematics is the study of the general case, and therefore it is the ultimate challenge. When I visited Harvard’s math department and met with staff, it felt like the perfect fit. At Harvard, I hope to pursue proof-based courses including topological spaces, differential geometry, and symplectic duality, and eventually contribute to the field by working on the most pressing questions facing pure mathematics– because today I am even more passionate about math than the day I received that green textbook.
Please describe this activity, including what you accomplished and any recognition you received,
When I was five years old, my Dad and I would head to ЦСКА, a local Ukrainian park, and hit tennis balls against the wall. I quickly realized how controlled hitting–to avoid the ball flying over the wall–could be a useful strategy. In Moldova, I trained at a local tennis facility with Olga, a motivated Russian coach who taught me how to win through consistency rather than the universally-favored power game. As a result, I won junior tennis tournaments and later in Ethiopia, became the number one player on the tennis team, played in international tournaments, and earned the team’s MVP award. At Langley High School, I achieved the all-conference …show more content…
Early on, I wondered how the students raised their hands so excitedly week after week, even on the hottest days of the year when the sweltering heat cast a cloud of doubt on the dusty classroom. However, I came to understand that the students’ enthusiasm stems from a culture renowned for an acute awareness of the needs of others–a quality I continue to strive for now that I am living in the U.S. again. While living and learning on four continents and through similar experiences volunteering, I have developed my moral and political philosophy of helping …show more content…
Whenever I ask college graduate friends like Jon about pure mathematics– courses like Complex Analysis– I am intrigued by the complexity and drawn to its innate beauty. Pure mathematics is the study of the general case, and therefore it is the ultimate challenge. When I visited Harvard’s math department and met with staff, it felt like the perfect fit. At Harvard, I hope to pursue proof-based courses including topological spaces, differential geometry, and symplectic duality, and eventually contribute to the field by working on the most pressing questions facing pure mathematics– because today I am even more passionate about math than the day I received that green textbook.
Please describe this activity, including what you accomplished and any recognition you received,