👽 the essay that started everything
I remember you wanted to see my common app
but I haven't shared yet, it's pretty cute ♡
“Oliver, my dear cousin, can you please sleep with me?” After binge-watching every alien movie I could find online on a weekend as a ten-year-old, I came to the conclusion that evil aliens would one day take over the world. Luckily, with my 6-ft-tall cousin guarding me, I would be spared from an abduction. Oliver took on the heroic responsibility of being my bodyguard, but he endlessly teased me as being too “gullible.”
Determined to prove him wrong and stop the ridicule, I went on the internet scouring for evidence that aliens were real. I jumped from webpage to webpage. Frustratingly, the search slowly but surely debunked my preconceived notions about aliens. My cousin went home smugly that night as I reached the conclusion that aliens were not coming to kidnap me anytime soon.
While my fear of aliens waned, my curiosity for space science waxed. In my exploration, I realized that while alien technology seemed magical, they were always based on established scientific knowledge. Alien spaceships could travel close to the speed of light because they had acquired the technology to harness energy from antimatter. Rockets could move freely in space because aliens refined laser propulsion as an energy alternative to fossil fuels. I was amazed by how physics equations captured reality while granting us, and movie producers, the power to realize our wildest imaginations.
From then, I went on trips with friends to the suburbs to observe the night sky through telescopes. At home, I was excited to read about the wisdom accumulated by experts to share with my friends. I saved up money to buy university physics textbooks, but when I opened my book, I realized I lacked the math skills to understand it. The content I yearned to study was rooted in trigonometry and calculus, topics I had never learned about. For the next five months, I used my time to learn university math. Reading and expanding my knowledge to satisfy my curiosity had become a daily occurrence at home, no matter what the topic was. Re-opening my physics book at last with the power of math, I devoured the secrets of the universe. I congratulated myself proudly: the extra work was worth it.
After moving to Toronto, I most looked forward to visiting the David Dunlap Observatory, the largest optical telescope in Canada. I eventually became one of the youngest volunteers there. Working alongside other Astro enthusiasts to operate the two-meter telescope and seeing new galaxies was a dream come true. No matter how young or old, the audience at each event was always overflowing with questions. Does Mars have clouds? Why are sunspots dark? How are we sure of the Earth’s mass? One question resonated with me the most: pointing at the fast-moving Starlink satellites, a girl asked, “Are those stars too?”
Having studied astronomy for so long, I have always been amazed at the greatness of celestial objects, but like the universe, humans have limitless boundaries. Scientists, innovators, and passionate people around the world, including me, will never be satisfied with simple answers. We will always continue creating and exploring new frontiers.
Through my journey of vanquishing my childhood fear of aliens, I’ve come to appreciate the power of curiosity—seeking knowledge to overcome fears, misconceptions, and obstacles. My endless pursuit of knowledge was a challenging yet rewarding process.
Now, you can find me in my high school’s physics club that I founded, where I share my passions with my classmates, at David Dunlap guiding visitors, and of course, in my room with all of my astronomy and physics books, where I traverse the whole universe with my imagination. As I position the telescope to planets, nebulae, and galaxies to my friends and visitors of the observatory, I realize that something is missing—I long to meet an alien as the next step to satisfy my unquenchable desire for knowledge.
