"Arunesh...please sit still!" said my sheer exasperated class teacher. Suffering from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder from early childhood, I found it extremely difficult to sit in one place for more than an hour; my peers could sit in the same chair and concentrate on a lecture for hours on end. As a fall out of this disorder, whenever I tried to do some theoretical academic work, my mind waved elsewhere. It started to hinder my studies and my classroom learning. Throughout my 6th and 7th grade, I suffered from severe memory loss, lost interest in academics and consequently lacked self-esteem. I pitied myself and started to question my life.
All the energy trapped inside me found vent in Tae Kwon Do. During one such Tae Kwon Do session, a thought passed; I asked myself "how could I concentrate so much while practicing Tae Kwon Do but was unable doing so, at school." The only logical explanation: Love. I loved Tae Kwon Do to the core of my heart. While at it, I had complete control over my mind and my body. Thus, I discovered the solution: I needed to do the things I loved.
This thought in the 8th grade turned my life around. I defied the school curriculum and designed my own. I created a combination of courses including Science, History, Geography, Mathematics, and Languages which captivated my attention and kept me focused. I joined Smart Science classes which paved a better fundamental understanding of Physics. In my 9th and 10th grade, in addition to my schooling, I joined the Synergic Academy where I studied Calculus, Mechanics and Physical Chemistry. In 11th and 12th grade, I took Computer Science in addition to my core subjects in Science. My analytical abilities and keen interest in Business theories found me gravitating towards the study of Business, Commerce in addition to another subject-Organic Chemistry, at the local college.
I had to work twice as hard as my peers to keep up with the courses and secure good grades. Yet I never cared about my grades. Instead, I paid utmost attention to my classes and to the essence of learning. I did not mind when I could not solve a problem correctly but was worried sick when I could not understand the problem. I rarely memorized information, but I made sure that I understood the underlying principles of the subject.
I had found the cure to my ADHAD: Practical Learning. I learnt through sight, touch and shape. While my peers learnt physics by sitting through classes, I learned the same by performing experiments in the lab. I learned optics by playing with lenses, mirrors and experimenting with them. I noted down the results, from my experiments, established the relationship between them and solved numerical problems. I used real life examples of monkeys and bananas to grasp the concept of mechanics. I bought resistors, diodes, potentiometers, meter bridge and experimented with them to understand the principles of electricity & magnetism. While my classmates spent 2 months to memories chemical reactions, I did the same with a project: salt analysis. I researched 8 salts and repeated the experiment 23 times till I understood it.
Even in my strive as an individual; I tried to create an environment which would augment learning through interaction and knowledge sharing. Hence, I started the Physics, Debate, Humanities and Environmental Clubs at school. I budgeted my finances, purchased supplies, organized community service groups, planned events and executed them. I generated lesson plans, planned experiments, created handouts, and interacted one-on-one with the clubs' members. I learned to become an effective leader by simply motivating students to develop their hobbies. My aim was to "Do ordinary things in extra-ordinary ways". I was both appreciated and at times rebuked by my teachers, but I never cared, as I choose to create my destiny. Although, I am open to new ideas and people, but I would never change myself to appease someone else.
As I graduated from my first high school, I faced a massive obstacle: Parental Pressure. Ours is a small town, where upon graduating from high school, children go to colleges chosen by their parents. After experiencing the same ordeal, I thought "There has to a first time for everything". I wasn't going to let my parents' decisions destroy my dream. I eventually pursued Humanities and took an independent study program, at the National Institute of Open Schooling. Here, I study Business Mathematics, Economics, History, and Environmental Science.
I am sure that MIT with its immense opportunities will give a boost to the morale of a thinking student who analyses the problem in depth and offers a solution unmindful of what has been didactically handed down. This boost to creative thinking can open up dormant avenues, diverging from the oft- established concepts, creating new theories and providing new answers. I am looking forward to being in the competitive environment of MIT which would sharpen my ideas and enhance my creative thinking to set higher standards in the future.
