Addicted to compliments of my “natural” intellect, I aimed to preserve this persona in primary school: equating questions as weakness. However, when I applied to Oxford Academy, unsuccessfully, I was confronted by how mistaken I was.

Rejected from the sixth-grade holy grail that is Oxford Academy, I was quickly humbled as friends left as quickly as they had come, while I was left to only stew in deprivation. I felt myself touching the metaphorical sea floor, unacquainted with rejection, and I had no one else to turn to. Detesting the feeling of being stuck, I realized that saturating my negativity didn’t add a single hour to my life. It was this epiphany that ironically saved me. With a fresh start at Walker Junior High, I stopped building my ego based on my peers’ affirmations and focused on self-development. Although this mindset was exhausting in the beginning, I invested in early semester C’s and B’s to address my mistakes in hopes of not repeating them in the future.

Initially, I applied the classic pomodoro interval technique or grinding 10-hour study sessions finding myself either stuck in a prolonged video game “break” or a netflix movie on my endless list that cascaded into a marathon, leaving me with less time and more stress than before. Trying out multiple study techniques it wasn’t till another break I understood what my learning experience was lacking. Fascination. Visual Hooks. Imagination. This pivotal break led me to a reflective investigation that deducted one concluding answer: genuine interest. Adopting this epiphany in my every day classes, I was more entranced in the attitude of learning for the sake of learning, rather than the grade. Asking questions to understand why light refracts from different optically dense mediums to how my genes are capable of producing the brown eye pigments I behold, I took learning personally. Soon, learning came easily to me, and I accidentally metamorphosed into the very kid I avoided at all costs (y’know, that one kid who asks “stupid” questions).

Although to others my questions seemed to have been a moment of weakness, it’s that vulnerability that humbles me to enter my rapacious curiosity, opening a relentless black hole that pulls me into an inexorable free fall of ‘Aha!’ revelations that become impossible to forget. Eventually, my AP Biology and APUSH teachers selected me to receive a special the Pursuit of Excellence Award – a Kennedy award for the top performing student in their department based on primarily academic excellence and holistic review of the student.

Heading into University, I will become well-prepared to apply to graduate-level dental programs as my questions now serve as the cement that fortifies the walls of my knowledge which will continue to grow on my path as an aspiring researcher: propelling me to seek out answers, ask my questions, and forge progression.