Rocco D’Ambrosca: 10/14/2005
I was born a thinker.
I have always wondered why, how, and had countless ideas. I wanted to know how things worked and why they worked. I have always had ideas for inventions and a desire to construct things. With this ability to come up with an idea, I also have an excellent ability to transfer my ideas onto paper.
I always questioned things in school during class. Whatever the subject of study at the time was I always wanted to know more and discover new things. I still have a genuine desire to learn and always will. I also wanted to know how things worked; such as how a plane flew, how a car ran, or how a computer worked. Teachers loved me for this and encouraged my curiosity and desire to learn. Even today my favorite TV channels are the History Channel and the Discovery Channel. My parents bought me many books with cross-sections of various mechanical machines, such as planes and cars, and even a book about how things worked.
Once I had gained more knowledge and answered some of my questions, I started to come up with my own ideas for inventions. My second grade teacher, who I recently saw at my grandmother’s retirement dinner, recalls me designing and drawing up jetpacks, hoverboards, and other flying machines. In fourth grade, I designed an actual working prototype of a hoverboard. The whole idea was based on the repulsion of like poles on magnets. I used either two norths or two south pole ends of a magnet so they would face each other, causing the other to hover above. I covered an entire area with just one end of a magnet, north for instance, and then took a small piece of wood, the board, and put another north pole magnet on the bottom of that. This created a POC, or proof of concept, for my invention. Once at a birthday party at the Eli Whitney Museum, an instructor watching me work on a project that I was building, took my mother aside and said he was impressed with my ability to envision exactly what I wanted to create based just on seeing the tools available to me. This instructor was so impressed with my ability that he offered to pay for an entire summer’s tuition at the museum’s camp for me.
I needed a way to get all these ideas out of my head. I had countless Lego sets to build whatever I could think of. I would think of what I wanted to build and then build it. When I got Lego Mindstorms for Christmas one year, that’s when my imagination really ran wild. I now had the ability to create not just stationary models, but, moving and thinking vehicles and robots that I could program on my computer. Later, I got some big K’nex sets and used them to build structures that I then combined with my Lego Mindstorms to build even better creations. I also am able to express my ideas on paper very well, and have consistently done well in English classes because of my ability to write very well constructed papers.
In conclusion, I was born a thinker, to question, invent, and create. So you know how I think, but why am I like this. I think it all goes back to my parents. When I was growing up they read to me every night and bought me educational toys. They also encouraged my curiosity and interest in building by buying me construction/engineering sets. I think because of all this careful nurturing and encouragement from my parents it made me the thinker and man I am today.
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