Describe an experience when you relied on your interests, skills, and talents to improve your
community. Explain how this changed your way of thinking and/or deepened your level of
participation in your community. (maximum 750 words)
When I was a kid, I have always been asking questions about everything around me from how does the
rain form to what create lightning. Later on, in third grade, my primary school hosted a STEM event with
several cool projects that were made by the fifth grader and I was amazed by their creativity and
innovation. This event has planted the seed for my lifelong fascination with STEM.
Motivated by those projects at the event, I started digging into STEM more, especially Physics, and made
my first project with my favorite toy car simply by testing if more power would make it faster. Despite
several failure when the motor smoked or the car swerving crazily on curve, I managed to overcome all
those challenges and took it to the race with my friends. Everyone was shocked of how fast the car went
and they were intrigued to find the answer. Looking how interested they were listening to my
explanation and asking several questions, I knew I had ignited their love for STEM. Ever since, I had a big
dream: to be a part of a science event to show people how wonderful STEM are.
By middle school, I specialized my aspect to Physics and spending more time into what I love. Besides
lessons on class, I also worked with breadboards, resistors, and magnets in the school lab or at home
after school and made several projects that I found online. However, there were not any science club at
my school or the area for my age. Then, as I reached high school, I found Science Tornado, the largest
STEM event at my city hosted by a club of highschoolers, and immediately applied for a spot. With
careful preparation and a strong foundation in Physics, I was able to secure a place for the member of
expertise team. Soon, I was assigned with three major tasks: preparing props, making three projects on
optical illusion, magnetism and Li-fi, and training two other members on presenting their projects.
Hours working at the lab proved useful as I made my projects. Even though Li-fi was a new concept for
me, I had no problem comprehending the material about it and use its application of transmitting
information through light with guidance from internet to execute the project. With optical illusion, I
made a laser show featuring cartoon character Olaf from Frozen – a snowman with human
characteristics - while with magnetism it was a Gauss rifle. Finishing those projects were quite fun and
exciting but preparing speech that is easy enough for kids to understand was no easy task. Fortunately, I
had my cousins who were still in primary school as testing audiences for my performance so it only took
couple days until I finally done my preparation and took a step further to achieving my dream.
The day of Science Tornado came. I was full of anxious because unlike any presentation that I did at
school, this time, I had to interact and introduce all of my projects with thousands of guests including
both kids and adult while keeping them entertain in three and half consecutive hours. The first hour was
the most challenging one, my booth were surrounded with kids curious about my project. As I asked
them out of three projects, which one do you find the most interesting, “Olaf’s laser show” all of them
shouted simultaneously. On the other hand, my Li-fi project attracted the most attention from adult for
its cutting-edge potential . Immersed in my speech and answering questions from the audience, my
throat sored but my excitement rocketed as hours gone by. I saw my little self in those kids who were
kept having conversation about my projects and their sparkling eyes when Olaf appeared out of
nowhere, the Gauss rifle ripped the paper with its powerful power.
As the event came to its ending, I finally could settle down and relax for a bit. This occasion has taught
me how I could engage in building my community