From Curiosity to Chemistry by Olivia

From Curiosity to Chemistry by Olivia - January 2022 Scholarship Essay

I’ve always had curiosity. For most of my life however, it’s been limited to within my family. Every night at dinner, my family and I discuss and debate the important questions in life. Do Weiner dogs have knees? Do octopus tentacles count as arms, or rather legs? The four of us divide into teams and defend our position relentlessly until someone looks it up. Even once an official ruling has been made, I’ve found myself researching the topics further in my free time in an effort to learn even the most precise nuances of the subject. Whatever the question of the night, these debates have given me the humility to question even the silliest things and to not simply take the word of just one source, but that was the extent of the benefit it brought me, or so I thought.

As I got older, my family encouraged me to be curious about how the world around me functions and introduced me to my two favorite topics to study: kiteboarding and skiing. From the moment I felt myself flying across the water, I was instantly curious about the mechanics behind my kite. I relied on online resources and outside texts to explore the force that defies gravity. Trying to understand the different theories surrounding lift — whether Bernoulli or Newton’s laws explain it better — intrigued me. When kiteboarding as a sport evolved and kiters started to attach hydrofoils to the bottom of their boards, I found the same concept that kept my kite in the air was allowing me to glide above the waves on my board.

As for skiing, my curiosity was once again piqued after deciding to return to racing my junior year after an ACL injury. I had to find a way to get faster times after being absent from the sport for so long. I started the season drilling each turn and working on angulation with the rest of the team but soon realized that it wasn’t going to be enough.

The key to faster times was well within my reach. I read into the chemical makeup of waxes, and my question of which wax was the fastest ended up depending on the temperature and snow quality. Each race, I hand-selected a special formula that would best suit conditions. My curiosity paid off when I qualified for the state championship that year.

My personal curiosities in kiteboarding and skiing gave me passion to excel in my high school physics and chemistry classes. I found the topics easier to learn, and myself excited for a new day. Being able to hone in on a subject not because I needed to for a grade, but because I wanted to has changed my life, both inside school, on the water, and on the snow. I look forward to continuing my academic career with the connections I’ve been able to make through curiosity.