#tbt: My Quest to be the Ideaman

A quick note: In honor of #throwbackThursdays, I am posting my college application essay as I’ve now come to the half point in my college career. There is nothing better than taking a trip down memory lane, am I right?

The Ideaman

Idea•man: [ī´dēəə man] An individual who utilizes numerous interests to produce new ideas.
Synonyms: innovator, polymath, pioneer

A long, long, very long time ago the Renaissance Man flourished. Figures such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Rafael graced society with multi­‐talented pursuits and inspired generations with innovative ideas. As newfound technologies reshaped the world, the Renaissance Man became less of an icon. Today, the world is increasingly flat, and people of all cultures compete against each other to rapidly produce innovations by the seconds. As Daniel Pink notes in A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future, creativity and open­‐mindedness rule this era.

As the Ideaman, I would stress that learning should be multi-dimensional. One can learn simply from reading. Knowledge can come in the form of experiences. Above all, we should be aware that we are constantly learning – the sky is the limit. When I conceived of the concept of the Ideaman, learning became an exciting adventure. Learning through developing ideas that respond to convention by exploring its boundaries.

As the Ideaman, I do not want to settle merely with the material covered in classes. I desire depth through firsthand experience. After learning about different stem cells in biology class, I became captivated with adult stem cells. I spent last summer interning at the Grove School of Engineering in the City College of New York, where I was taught how to culture cancer cells, use autoclaves, work under the sterilizing hood, and produce mediums for cells. My experiences in the lab gave me a unique perspective that reading costly and back-­breaking textbooks could not offer. Graduate students allowed me to ask more specific questions, and thus guided me towards a better understanding of adult stem cells.

We are often reluctant to think long-­term instead succumbing to the short term and present time. In a culture propagating shorthand writing in text and instant messaging, a malicious paradigm plagues our society. In response, I am introducing a new style of writing. The book, titled: “Slice of Life: The Autobiography of a 17 Year Old,” is two-hundred pages with a sentence on each page as a reminder of how reading would devolve if we continue to ignore the warnings of the present.

The Ideaman adheres to the same principle ingrained in interdisciplinary studies: ideas united through common themes. Before, I struggled to find cohesion amongst my interests. Now, learning has become exciting by paving an organized, creative outlet that introduces ideas inspired by my many interests.