5k Personal Statement

Qualification Statement
Seconds after my coach said "Never let the kid in the blue out of your sight," I felt a rush of adrenaline pervade through me. Her words made me not want to disappoint her. I am a quarter of a way through the 5K, yet numbness has already permeated my calves. Passing the guy in the blue is on my checklist for this meet. In order to achieve the goals set by my coach, I need to focus on every step and every breath so that every move is executed perfectly. I end up passing him near the halfway mark. By then the searing pain has welcomed itself into my legs again. As I am rounding off two miles, I gain sight of my coach again. She has more words of encouragement for me: "Don't let the kid in red out of your sight." By now my entire body is aching, but I manage to follow my coach's command. I overcome my opponent in red and actually end up passing numerous racers to finish the 5K. The short-term goals my coach set for me allowed me to hit a personal record during that 5K. I surpassed my past time
by seven minutes. The achievements made during this meet taught me that, by expanding my physical and mental capacities, I could become a better runner than I had ever imagined. Coming to the realization that my body's boundaries can be stretched beyond its limits inspired me to use the same technique in other activities. As a student, I found that pushing my mind beyond its limits improves test scores and grades. Before I started running cross-country, I found myself taking academics at an average pace, but then I decided to expand outside my normal way of doing the work by setting long-term goals for each class and sticking to those goals until they were achieved. An example of one of these long-term goals was the one I set for Pre-AP Chemistry. The goal was to obtain the highest average in the class. Through countless nights of studying formulas and working problems, I managed to receive the highest average. I utilized the same strategy in other classes like programming, computer science principles, and AP Chemistry. Soon enough the process of setting long-term goals became normal for me in all of my classes. The technique of expanding my body's limits has also been useful in other aspects of my life outside of school. Learning to persevere despite the pain has allowed me to be a supporting figure for my mother and siblings. In the recent years, my mother has lost both of her parents. I knew that this sadness was too much for her, so I forced myself to overcome the grief I myself was feeling so that I could help her. Taking on responsibilities such as becoming an assistant manager at Huntsville Dragway, doing more household chores, and babysitting my brother and two sisters has been a strenuous transition, but it has allowed me to grow as a son and a brother. The lesson I learned during that meet continues to be a driving force behind everything I do. The ability to expand my physical and mental capacities has allowed for me to not only become a better racer, but also a better student, son, and sibling. Expanding my physical boundaries allows me to accept more responsibilities, and expanding my mental boundaries allows me to learn more efficiently. If I have managed to achieve this much success in my life by expanding my body's boundaries, my achievements in college are bound to be even greater. I hope that through this essay my level of perseverance reveals itself. This same level of perseverance will help me with any research I plan on doing in college. Research will be a vital part of my undergraduate years because it will increase my chances of success in my future career and it will allow me to solve problems our world faces, whether they be energy conservation or obtaining clean water in poor countries.

How I Would Benefit From The NYSC Experience
The National Youth Science Camp, from what I have read, seems to be a thoroughly enriching STEM experience, especially for someone who comes from a low income family. Since NYSC is cost-free, I believe I will be able to fully embrace the engineering aspects of the program without having to fret over how I will afford it. I plan to study computer science while in college, so having the opportunity to delve into STEM concepts during a month-long retreat just before college will greatly benefit my academics pursuits. This may be a bit far-fetched, but one of my goals in life is to live to see the day that humans are able to transfer the memories of one human mind to another. I feel computer science will play a huge part in this accomplishment. If this mankind achievement occurs, I would like to be one of the leading researchers who helps in discovering the process. Whether it be designing the program to analyze the brain’s neurons, or being the person who performs tests on rodents' emotions, I feel the experience I gain from NYSC will be vital in allowing me to fulfill my goals.

Thoughts on Social Impacts of Science
The impacts of science span almost every inch of humanity.
From the way we interact with each other to the environments we live in. Science has enabled families to keep in contact with each other from overseas and it has expanded the life spans of humans over the past two centuries. But just recently, I witnessed a detrimental lack of scientific impact during a service trip I took to the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas. The community of Gregory Town, a place filled with charismatic, loving people, lacks clean water. Our youth group was warned against drinking the water because of its bacterial inhabitants. We had to ship water in order to drink. Something that needs to be implemented in the Caribbean is a water filtration system that reaches every community on every island. Being interested in the field of software development, I yearn for the opportunity to design the program that operates countless water filtration machines throughout the
Caribbean.