I dont know exactly if i answered the question correctly, please help! also any help on sentence structure would be greatly appreciated as well
University of Virginia College of Arts & Sciences Supplement - What work of art, music, science, mathematics, or literature has surprised, unsettled, or challenged you, and in what way?
At the age of 8, I watched as one of my neighbors had solar panels installed onto his roof. Standing on his front yard, I questioned what these dotted black panels were for. I was confused to say the least. At home, my older brother told me they were called "solar panels" and they provided energy to the house. Unfortunately, hearing the word solar panels didn't help either - it just seemed to confused me more. The fact the sun could be used to somehow power up our homes boggled my mind in inexplicable ways. It surprised me in a way different than I expected; how much else was there in the world I didn't know? I knew I was just 8, but I began to look at things an entirely new way. As odd as it may sound, this was my first encounter with environmental science and engineering, and the exposure changed my entire life.
From there on as I grew up I began to study everything from the intricacies of photon conversion into usable energy, to the depleting coal reserves in China, and the long-term repercussions were slowly starting to become evident to me. After over two years of independent study, I decided to apply what I knew into research. As a researcher at the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy at Rutgers, I studied the effects of pollutants on mice, and possible methods of mitigating pulmonary damage caused by pollutants in our ecosystems. My passion for research and environmental studies has only flourished since conducting my project this past summer. I founded Green Team at my school, which employs ecofriendly initiatives across the school and county. Everything I have done related to environmental science has been directly influenced by the confusion I faced when I first saw solar panels. It inspired me to learn more, be active in the environmental community, and aspire to become a researcher.
