I went to the Veteran’s hall last Friday to give my support(by eating dinner there :P) and to check out how their new floor I volunteered to help put in about a year ago held up. I was eating a (very sub-par) fish dinner, when this old woman came up next to me and started to talk to me excitedly. Our conversation was first about our mutual love for classical music (she saw me wearing my youth symphony shirt), but it eventually turned into a story about her experiences with WWII.
She told me how her entire family (except her mother, her sister, and herself) were executed by the Nazi’s just because they were Polish. They all had their tongues nailed to a table, and were executed one at a time. She told me stories about how she escaped Poland with the help of some farmers, but was captured and sent to Dachau. She had to watch her own sister’s corpse get eaten by rats when they attempted to give her a proper burial (her sister was originally thrown into a pile with the other corpses). She tells me that every time she sees a rat now, she can’t stop screaming….
Luckily, they were able to escape with the help of American forces. She told me that she “will never forget the Americans, who actually gave me a bath and real clothes, and helped me escape from that hell I was in”. That’s why she devotes her time helping at the Veterans hall, and organizes the Memorial Day Parade in my town. It’s amazing how someone who went through that much adversity in their life still manage to be so upbeat and optimistic. I will never forget this conversation I had with this lady last week. She has given me a new outlook on what our veterans have done for our country, and like she told me “life is what you make of it”.
First of all, I wanted to apologize for not doing anything on Tumblr for the past month. ISEF (International Science and Engineering Fair) has been crazy, and so were AP exams. Only Physics B left on Friday, and I’ll be finished! So this is the post I’m going to make devoted to ISEF (since I now have the time to write one).
It was basically the most amazing experience of my entire life! I met so many great people from all over the world, and forged friendships that I will never forget. Judging day was very long, but it was great to hear some advice from people who are experts in my field.
Also, I was deeply honored to receive two awards at ISEF. I got the Air Force Award for 2nd Place in Behavioral Science ($1500), and a 4th place Grand Award in Behavioral Science ($500).
Although winning those awards were amazing, the best part of ISEF was meeting all the people I did and just the experiences I shared with them. The highlight of the trip was when we (Team WISCO!) walked up at about 12AM to the Duquesne lift and just sat at the top of the hill for a good hour overlooking Pittsburgh and chatting. Another highlight was the food (So good :D Primanti Brothers sandwiches are amazing).
I never thought that my little project from a small town would make it this far. I never had any research labs or fancy equipment, but I still managed to conduct an experiment with meaningful results on my own. Next week, I’m going to speak to most of the science classes at my school, and I can hopefully start up a science fair program at our school. It would be amazing to have others experience what I did last week. Someday, our school may be able to have their own science fair….ahh that’s so exciting :D
Why am I here…this is surreal.
Judging day tomorrow…I am scared to death about this. I am going to get butchered by those professors, but I just can’t wait for it to be over so I can calm down.
I’m not going to win anything, but just being here is the only prize I need (I know it sounds cliche…..but seriously)
