Science, Math, and All Things Mind-Boggling by Katherine

Science, Math, and All Things Mind-Boggling by Katherine - March 2020 Scholarship Essay

In ten years, I imagine myself peering through a telescope into deep space. Surrounded by a group of my peers, we are searching for answers to universal phenomena. Perhaps we’ll see a supernova, or maybe we’ll catch a glimpse of a black hole. No matter what we find, I know that I’ll be accomplishing the things seven-year-old me could only dream of.

When I was younger, my dad often put me to sleep with stories of the Big Bang and infinite numbers. Such concepts were mind-boggling, and I often laid awake for hours pondering patterns in pi or what could have caused the Big Bang. These bedtime stories instilled in me a love for math and astronomy and have shaped who I am today.

This fall, I plan to attend a four-year university on the path to earning a degree in mathematics. Math, above all else, is my passion. When I’m overwhelmed with homework, I do my math work first. When I’m waiting for my food in a restaurant, I make up problems to solve on the back of napkins. Finding relationships between numbers excites me, and I hope to build my future career around such enthusiasm.

After earning my bachelor’s degree, I plan to pursue a master’s and a Ph.D. While math is my focus, I want to use my degree to study outer space. Beyond our planet, there is so much unknown. There are limitless possibilities just waiting to be explored, and I look forward to the opportunity to conduct research and find answers. If proven true, concepts like wormholes and a multiverse could forever change humanity. We would have a better understanding of where we came from and who we are as humans. Over the next ten years, I want to use the knowledge in mathematics and astronomy I acquire to better communities across the world.

At the moment, I don’t have the opportunity to conduct research, but I seek to learn in other ways. Wednesday nights, I visit my local college observatory, where I’ve been able to catch a glimpse of far-off planets and binary stars. This summer, I began an astronomy blog to connect with like-minded people and foster a community of exploration and learning. On my blog, I share different theories and ideas I keep in a journal on my bookshelf. During school, I am a math peer tutor and a member of my school’s astronomy club. I surround myself in math and astronomy everywhere I go, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

My goal in life is to study and answer the unknown. I thrive in a world of imagination and possibility. My aspirations aren’t confined to any location or organization. My passion for exploring and creating extends to the theoretical boundaries of the universe, and I am driven to make it out there someday. With my father’s bedtime stories, trips to the observatory, and conversations on the blog, I know within the next ten years, I can earn my master’s degree in mathematics and have a career studying our expansive universe. As I enter the next chapter of my life, I look forward to all the opportunities the future will bring, and one day, I’ll peer out that telescope and find something the world has never seen before.