When I was younger, still in elementary school, I was captivated by science. I used to want to be an archeologist. I loved discovering new and exciting things. When I was little, instead of watching cartoons, I watched every documentary I could get my hands on. It didn't matter what the documentary was about — earthquakes, volcanoes, global warming, space — I wanted to discover it all. I was extremely passionate, especially about issues pertaining to the environment.

One day in fifth grade during science class, my teacher brought up the topic of hydraulic fracking. As a class we discussed whether this was a permissible thing to do. My classmate’s perfunctory responses infuriated me. I was so passionate about this topic that I began to cry because no one else seemed to value debating the issue the way I did. I stayed after class during lunch and recess to discuss with my teacher alternative ways to mining. I realized just how much science and engineering meant through this experience. I had no idea how complicated these issues were until I tried to work them out myself. I had neither the scientific knowledge-base nor the mathematical skills required to solve such large issues. I gave up and let it go; I've been letting things go since fifth grade.

After elementary school I stopped discovering new things, not because I didn't want to, but because there was no time for it in a forty-five minute class that was already jam-packed preparing students for standardized testing. We were memorizing equations and facts, but we weren't discovering