Before high school, science did not interest me. I didn't take class seriously and I certainly didn't do anything that had to deal with science. It was simply another bothersome subject to take in school. School, in general, didn't interest me until high school, but that is another story.

As a freshman, I wanted to join everything I could. I didn't know the school well, so it was difficult for me to join anything. At first, when I heard about a two-period research class for biology, I laughed. Maybe it would make science more interesting to me, so I decided to join.

Amazingly, it made biology interesting to me. It opened my eyes to fascinating things that I never knew I was interested in before. For the first time, my teacher performed experiments. I felt like doing some, myself. When I worked in the school labs, I wanted to do more, not just assigned lab work. I heard about dissection of organisms from my brother and I wanted to do things like that, also.

I decided to join a summer research program at the College of Staten Island. Even before that, I scheduled to take chemistry research as a class for the following year. In the science research program I listened to lectures, like bacteriology, and I worked in a real college lab. I got to work on my first real experiment, "The effect of calcium on the locomotion of mice and crickets."

Even though the conclusion of my experiment didn't agree with my hypothesis and I had to work with crickets, it was a great experience. The program was fun and I got to work with friends. The program was only for a month, so I had plenty of time to go on vacation. I even took the program again in the following summer.

It is a big question whether or not I should major in science. I still need time and I am only a junior. Right now, I go the College of Staten Island twice a week. There is no program. I just work individually with a professor on a project I hope to enter in the Westinghouse Science Talent Search. If I saw myself doing this four years ago, I wouldn't believe it. Life is full of surprises! u