Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Music
I caught the world's deadliest spider in my back yard, the Sydney Funnel Web! My family and I took it to get milked at a reptile farm.
I’ve always loved exploring how things work. On one of the many visits to the electronics store with my dad, six-year-old me was fascinated by the big speakers with the convex cones. I decided to investigate more closely by putting my finger into one of said cones, subsequently breaking the $700 speaker. Thankfully, we didn’t have to repay the full amount, but I have still retained my love for getting hands on and seeing mechanisms in action.
As I have grown up, this interest in exploring has developed into a passion for creating solutions by amalgamating different tidbits of information. My best ideas have always come from the most diverse places; ideas as complex as solving a trash problem using methane harvesting for cows, to something as simple as using paper clips as perfect axles. I will always continue striving to not fall into the mold of “what engineers should be” and instead learn things that excite me. I aim to consistently bring ideas to the table that could have only been thought up by someone with my experiences.
I hold nature in extremely high regard, both as a designer - I am looking forward to becoming increasingly more involved in the Smart Home during my time at Duke - and as an observer. In high school I participated in the “Duke of Edinburgh Program,” a program not named after our university, but which was similarly challenging and inspiring. The program requires participants to spend an hour a week doing a skill: piano, cello and orchestra; a physical activity: basketball and dance; and volunteering: teaching the robotics club, helping file music and helping at a childcare centre; but most importantly, twice a year, students had to go on a week long hike. To me the stark beauty I saw represents the beauty that is so important for a design to appeal to people’s humanity. My experiences in Duke of Ed and many of my other activities have granted me an even greater interest in how the weight and strength of honeycombs and leaf structures can revolutionise design across the world.
When I first heard about the SPIRE Fellows Community I was immediately interested: “A mentoring program full of STEM students sounds just like my cup of tea.” And that was just my first impression from the home page. The further I dug, the more I realised that the Fellows at SPIRE matched the curious independence I have always held in importance. I saw that my own values resonated with every single excerpt by the Fellows. To me, SPIRE has become a community for people who became friends firstly through their academic interests and then through their general passion for life. It is accepting - I knew even if I wasn’t selected the program would still offer me resources - and supportive. From the first moments of being part of the society I realised all of my peers could challenge me and help me grow academically, but they could also help me grow as a person by fostering a love for selflessness and learning. To me, SPIRE has become a community for people who became friends firstly through their academic interests and then through their general passion for life. It is accepting - I knew even if I wasn’t selected the program would still offer me resources - and supportive. From the first moments of being part of the society I realized all of my peers could challenge me and help me grow academically, but they could also help me grow as a person by fostering a love for selflessness and learning.
