Undergraduate / 'Chemistry' - Columbia supplement -- Chosen Major [2]

For applicants to Columbia College, please tell us what attracts you specifically to the field or fields of study that you noted in the Application Data section. If you are currently undecided, please write about any field or fields in which you may have interest at this time, but have not yet selected as a major interest (1500 characters). -- I am current undecided, and chose to write about chemistry.

It was the first academic day of my freshman year. I met many new classmates, and I even I tripped and fell once. Overall,I thought it was uneventful, typical first day of high school. That is, until I went to science class. My new teacher greeted us, and immediately directed us over to the fume hood. I hadn't had much experience with experiment based science classes in middle school, so this was all new and exciting. Our teacher told us he would place sodium in water, and asked us to predict what would happen. The general consensus of the class was nothing. We were very wrong. The sodium chunk skated around the water dish, suddenly catching on fire, and then exploding inside of the fume hood. It was awesome. After this display, he asked us to write the reaction, and then explain why it made sense that the sodium reacted so violently with the water. From this moment, I knew I loved chemistry. Life is ever-changing, unpredictable, and complicated, but chemistry gives us a way to describe our physical realities. Chemistry can explain why baking soda and vinegar react, or why silver readily oxidizes. I love this power to classify and demystify and to see a brilliant explosion and be able to transcribe it into compounds and elements on paper. Chemistry only can do that for one facet of life, while physics, biology, ecology, etc. pick up the rest. This is why I love science - I can investigate the layers of the world around me, and come to a deeper understanding of it.

I don't know if I am answering the question, or being specific enough, help?

Undergraduate / 'Intern at Equality California' - Columbia supplement -- Meaningful cultural event [3]

Please tell us what you found meaningful about one of the above mentioned books, publications or cultural events (1500 characters).

For the past 4 summers, I have attended the San Francisco Pride Festival, a celebration of LGBTQ people and their allies. Until last year, I had viewed it as a fun, mostly social event. This past summer, I worked as an Intern at Equality California (an LGBTQ rights organization). One of my first experiences as a part of the organization was working at Pride. Instead of dancing and eating during the gathering, I canvassed. We were raising money to support the FAIR education act, which mandated the addition of LGBTQ history in all public school social science textbooks. I was really happy about the bill, to say the least. Initially, I was afraid of being ignored, or not taken seriously when I asked for donations, but as the day progressed, I realized how much love and support there was at Pride. People of all ages stopped and talked to me about the bill, and many people who could not donate asked about how they could get involved with Equality California. It was powerful to be around thousands of people who supported LGBTQ rights. From the engagement of the attendees, I was filled with excitement that there were so many people who truly cared about the LGBTQ rights movement. It was amazing to see how much a movement beginning at the Stonewall Inn evolved into a potent force of LGBTQ people and allies, with many representing their beliefs not only to San Francisco, but the world at Pride.

Can you all give me you opinions? I don't know if I really clearly (or appealingly) explain why I think pride is meaningful. Please help!