Urban Ecology by Polina

Urban Ecology by Polina - May 2023 Scholarship Essay

My junior year, I picked Guitar Making and Jewish History as my top choices for electives, and was placed into neither. Instead, I was scheduled with what became my favorite class of my high school experience: Urban Ecology. Ms. Maggio, who taught the class, was impassioned and eclectic, and she inspired in me a new love for engineering. In this course, I was tasked with building a model of an user and investor conscious community center, complete with a filtration system on the roof, which started the process through which I fell in love with engineering.

Before even brainstorming for the project, I spent hours walking around New York City, researching different communities and how their zoning laws affect the social and physical structures of the buildings. Poring over various LEED-certified constructions, I was amazed by the innovation necessary for revolutionizing simple things, like green air conditioning. I took note of the smallest details, such as bench placement, a public use bicycle stand, or a simple grate in a pier, all of which are cleverly placed to maximize the use of the space in the crammed city, but simultaneously adhere to the social needs of NYC inhabitants. It was creating a blueprint for the building and then exploring the interlinking systems that are prevalent in the actual building process that made me feel like I, for once, was designing something that means more than the paper I submit to get a class grade.

My passion for integrating socioeconomic and environmental aspects into one structure later led me to take Engineering in the World and AP Environmental Science. I have always loved science, and now know that I love to build, so I aspire to be a Civil Engineer.