Hello all,
Given that this is my first post, let me start with some quick
basic information. My name is Dan Rillovick. I'm a sophomore (class of 2015) at
Clark University (in Worcester, MA) and am majoring in physics. I was born in
Salem, MA and lived in Wakefield, MA until the age of nine when I moved to New
Hampshire, which is where my home is today. I chose Clark University because I
wanted to return to the city after having spent the entirety of my teenage days
in the rural backdrop of northern New Hampshire. Why I chose to study physics
is a much more complicated question and thus has a much more complicated
answer. And although I do talk briefly on my profile page about my motivations,
I'd prefer not to discuss why I am studying physics just yet.
I'd like to use this post to share a bit of academic history. I
think my reasons for studying physics, when I do discuss them further, will
carry much more meaning if you know my story and how I got to where I am.
I wasn't always the student that I am today. In fact, I actually
used to be quite the opposite in my earlier days. I never cared about my
education. I didn't try in class, I didn't do homework assignments, and I
didn't care that my grades were poor. I considered school to be unfit for me
and mostly a waste of my time. I didn't care about the things I was taught in
school at all, but my biggest enemy was always math class. Through middle
school I squeaked by every year with the bare minimum and narrowly avoided
retention. My performance got worse every year, until my freshman year of high
school when I failed algebra I. And i didn't just fail by a few points, I
failed miserably. I came out of the class having learned absolutely nothing.
Following my freshman year I finally underwent a transformation
and decided to start valuing my education and trying in school. Because my
performance in algebra I was so pathetic, I was forced to take a class called
Integrated Math I my sophomore year. It was the lowest math class that my high
school had to offer, covering one semester of basic algebra and one semester of
basic geometry. I still didn't like math very much even though I was starting
to try. I got a C- in this class, which is mediocre of course, especially given
the level of ease of the class, but was nevertheless a strong improvement from
my failing performances in years prior.
The next year was when I really started trying. I moved to
mostly honors level classes, but math was the one class where I was still
forced into a low-level class, this time Integrated Math II. I gave effort and
grasped the material very well all year, getting a solid B in the class. It was
still far from a great performance, but by the end of my junior I knew I was
finally ready to study some upper-level math.
Senior year I bumped up to algebra II, despite having learned
nothing in algebra I three years prior and never having taken a high school
geometry class. I worked hard and focused all year and was able to pull off a
B+. This was by far my most prosperous performance in math ever. And for the
sake of catching up I took an online geometry class that year concurrently with
algebra II. It was towards the end of my senior year of high school that I
realized how wrong I'd been all those years when I had convinced myself that I
just couldn't do math and that I wasn't smart enough to succeed in school. It
was at this time, once I knew I could handle mathematics, that I began to think
I was capable of pursuing science in college. Taking chemistry and physics
greatly aided me in my grasping of math. Before then I saw math as just a bunch
of different ways to mess around with random numbers and symbols, but my study
of the physical sciences gave meaning to math, especially physics.
I really wish I had seen the light a lot earlier than I did, but
nonetheless I find it so intriguing that for so long I hated math so much and
thought I was the worst person in the world at it. If only the 14-year old
version me could see me now! Once I officially decided to study physics, I got
even more serious. I self-taught myself all of pre-calculus that following
summer so I could catch up and start taking calculus in the coming fall. And
indeed I took calculus I and II, respectively, in my first year of college. In
addition I signed up for calculus-based physics courses my freshman year
despite not having any calculus under my belt yet. I did it though! After
completing calc II and intro physics II this past spring semester I knew I had
finally conquered the beast that had conquered me for so long back in the day.
I finally felt truly comfortable with math and now welcome it into my life and
appreciate its essential role in the study of the universe.
This current semester I am taking linear algebra, next semester
I'll take multivariate calculus, and then that will be the end of my formal
education in mathematics. I must say, it is unendingly rewarding to see how far
I've come in so little time!
The point of my story is that there was a time, not too long
ago, when I never in a million years would've seen myself being where I am now.
I know that a lot of people stay away from science because they don't see
themselves as capable of doing the math. But nobody was more convinced of their
mathematical inability than I was, and then one day, as if I'd had some grand
epiphany that completely changed my outlook, I woke up. I realized that this
misperception is so common amongst people. I can think of few things I'd rather
devote myself to than helping other young people have the same awakening as me.
Math really is a beautiful thing, and it is the foundation of the discipline of
physics, which is ever more beautiful. To help more people see this beauty for
what it is, and not as something to be feared and avoided, is certainly one of
the things that compels me to study physics.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you'll look out for more of my
posts in the future!
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