For applicants to Columbia College, please tell us what from your current and past experiences (either academic or personal) attracts you specifically to the field or fields of study that you noted in the Member Questions section. If you are currently undecided, please write about any field or fields in which you may have an interest at this time. (300 words or less)
It only took about 10 years of public schooling for me to finally appreciate science as not just a grade on my report card but also as something that could be so versatile as to wow a crowd one moment and save lives the next. Every science class I'd had before Mrs. Gurley's Pre-AP Chemistry/Physics class had been textbook based, experiments few and far between. Although that can be a viable way to learn some concepts, science is primarily a learning based in experimentation. For example, the first day of class we made buttermilk pancakes in order to better understand scientific procedure and the basis of chemical reactions. Learning about acid and base reactions through buttermilk and baking soda in pancakes was a creative way our teacher made science something tangible to us. We went on to do other exciting experiments like better understanding the laws of physics by pushing Mrs. Gurley's Honda Civic around the school parking lot, and burning different chemicals over bunsen burners to examine their flame colors. That class also proved to me just how closely science and math could be intertwined, introducing equation balancing and physics equations into my life. It wasn't until I had my first biology class did I realize that biochemistry was the college major for me. Even without the innovative experiments Mrs. Gurley provided for us, learning about DNA and the chemical components of the human body made up for the dullness of the teaching style employed by my biology teacher.
It only took about 10 years of public schooling for me to finally appreciate science as not just a grade on my report card but also as something that could be so versatile as to wow a crowd one moment and save lives the next. Every science class I'd had before Mrs. Gurley's Pre-AP Chemistry/Physics class had been textbook based, experiments few and far between. Although that can be a viable way to learn some concepts, science is primarily a learning based in experimentation. For example, the first day of class we made buttermilk pancakes in order to better understand scientific procedure and the basis of chemical reactions. Learning about acid and base reactions through buttermilk and baking soda in pancakes was a creative way our teacher made science something tangible to us. We went on to do other exciting experiments like better understanding the laws of physics by pushing Mrs. Gurley's Honda Civic around the school parking lot, and burning different chemicals over bunsen burners to examine their flame colors. That class also proved to me just how closely science and math could be intertwined, introducing equation balancing and physics equations into my life. It wasn't until I had my first biology class did I realize that biochemistry was the college major for me. Even without the innovative experiments Mrs. Gurley provided for us, learning about DNA and the chemical components of the human body made up for the dullness of the teaching style employed by my biology teacher.
