Friday, June 23, 2017
By:
Lysander’s words have rippled throughout my mind since Monday night’s performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Shakespeare Theater Company. The intricate story of a hopeless romantic that fought the system to be with his lover, “the course of true love never did run smooth.” Feelings rippled so deeply that it felt like I had chest pain, to transpose into my writing,
Our parents expect us to become doctors or lawyers, businessmen or even presidents. Consequently, unless the parents are scientists, children may never get the positive reinforcement to become one. It is well known that by choosing to be part of a STEM field, you’ll become an outsider of society. The experiences start young as people tell you how much they hate math or chemistry and your friends make fun of you for being a “physics nerd.”
Personally, it is about how you react and carry yourself that defines who you are, not what people say you are. So yes, I openly can express how lucky I am of finding my STEM field this early. Yes, I have had people look down on me for choosing to follow my passion and tell me from their position of power that I do not belong in this field. Yes, I am a proud academic nerd, incredibly eager to always learn more in-depth about the world we live in. Lastly, yes, I am weirdly complex. I am a poet of love and freedom, an artist of the abstract and the detailed, a defender of social inequalities and nurture for others without the nurse attire. I am fueled by coffee and determination, as a representative of Colombians. I am a dreamer that gets his hands dirty to make those dreams come true. Therefore, I am a recent Physics and Mathematics graduate from High Point University seeking to attend graduate school in physics, with interest in material science, as a step towards achieving my life goal dream of becoming a physics professor.
Life has many challenges for us. There are ones that allow us to find out our character, and other ones that show test our character. I am thankful for all those hurdles that gave us wings and the ones that claw us to the ground; they will empower me to make a positive impact in the world by becoming the professor, scientist, man, and father I have always desired to be.
At this point in my life, I cannot imagine being anywhere else than in this surrealistic summer.
Luis Royo Romero