Example of a teen with a passion for an EC that could impress top colleges

Parents Forum
1

<p>If this teen also has excellent grades, scores, and an ethical character, his would be the kind of profile that would impress the top colleges. This also is a wonderful example of how one can tell that a student has a passion for a subject -- isn't being pushed into it by zealous parents.</p>

<p>"BY MARTIN MERZER, MIami Herald</p>

<p>The kid from Southwest Ranches was 8 years old and he was driving his mother nuts. Finally, she seized an opportunity. She marched up to two federal employees wearing government identification badges.</p>

<p>''You just gotta help me -- I have this freaky kid,'' she said. ``I don't know what to do with him.''

They did. Before long, they spirited him away to a federal facility -- a federal hurricane research facility.

And now, Zach Gruskin, 15 years old, is a scientist-in-training at NOAA's Hurricane Research Division on Virginia Key in Miami. He completed his second internship there Thursday.

He won his first internship at 13 years old, while he was in middle school. He's now a sophomore at Cypress Bay High School in Weston, runs a popular hurricane-related website and is quite obviously scary-smart.

''I've learned from him,'' said Michael Black, a hurricane scientist at the facility run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 'He asks some tough questions and I say, `Uh, I'll have to get back to you, Zach.' ''</p>

<p>Talk with Zach and get ready to hear about ''mesovortices,'' ''outflow boundaries'' and ''SSTs.'' Don't know what that means? That's why he's him and you're you...."</p>

<p><a href="http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15247743.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15247743.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Problem is, the "passion" is too ordinary.</p>

3

<p>The passion is not ordinary. In addition, what he has done in terms of pursuing his passion is extraordinary in itself. He also would be able to get some excellent recommendations from scientists researching hurricanes.</p>

4

<p>y cannot i have a internship like that....THAT sounds so cool..sorry im into hurricanes and tornadoes they fascinate me...im planning on becoming a meteorologist(I CAN NEVER SPELL IT RIGHT THO!)</p>

5

<p>Actually, according to the article, the kid is aiming for the University of Miami -- which is great, because he probably knows he can get in without stressing over whether he is taking the "most challenging" curriculum in his high school with the requisite number of AP's, he knows that a B here and there won't kill him, he is not worried about whether his EC list is light on community service or whether he needs to take a fourth year of foreign language if he hates his Spanish class. Maybe he even leaves an open study period so he can get most of his homework done during the school day, so he won't have to worry about that when he goes to his internship. And if his SATs are 2050 instead of 2350... no sweat. He knows he can get into his target school without being a superstar. </p>

<p>So among other things that kid can count as a blessing along with his passion is the fact that his career goals don't seem to require an elite education at a prestige school. If U of Miami has EA or rolling admissions, he's looking forward to a relaxed senior year.</p>

6

<p>And instead of just studying Hurricanes, he can be one!</p>

<p>(Actually, I love UM but most of their merit aid is driven by SAT/GPA/class rank, I think, so he probably is still a little stressed over those things).</p>

7

<p>I posted it once and I will post it again, it is easy to get impressed by these fancy looking internships, but in reality they are, most of the time, due to parent's connections.
My husband worked for years at one of the national laboratories and majority of his colleagues' kids did paid internships there over the summer. Easy done, just a matter of going to the next office and asking: will you take my kid for the summer?</p>

8

<p>There's no indication from the story that the teen got his internship through having parents in the field:</p>

<p>"Friedman and a colleague, hurricane scientist Sim Aberson, were the federal employees approached by Zach's mother seven years ago at a science fair. She told them her son ''needs professional help,'' and not in the sense most desperate parents would mean.</p>

<p>''I kind of tackled them,'' Joan Gruskin said. 'I said to myself, `What am I going to do with him? This kid needs to be around professionals.' ''</p>

<p>How this happened is a mystery to everyone, including Zach and his parents. His mother remembers him at 4 years old, drawing his very first picture -- a tornado.</p>

<p>After that, it was one weather thing after another. Books. Magazines. Eventually websites. All focused on weather in general and hurricanes in particular....</p>

<p>Does it run in the family? Not really. His older sister is an accomplished mathematician, but his parents are business people."</p>

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<p>From the age of eight, though, this kid has had this interest so his passion is genuine, not cajoled or fabricated to look good for a top college. When I read the OP, I though it was interesting and genuine and also thought...this kid is not targeting HYP; he's going to go where he can study his passion. Good for him.</p>

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<p>I did not mean that particular kid. I made a general remark. Mote though that it is a newspaper article, they are made to sound dramatic. I remember at about this kid's age the local newspaper ran an article about me that stated that I was going to be a metal worker after graduation. The fact that I was going to university to study physics just did not sound that interesting to a reporter. :)</p>

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<p>It's always nice to see a kiddo following his real and true passion. This kiddo sounds very cool and self directed - which will take him far. In some ways he is very unique.</p>

12

<p>Very Nice to read a story that does not have to sound like a fantastic tale.</p>

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<p>I've known children with such passions. Of course those passions are fanned by parents. Thank goodness they are, too.</p>

<p>One of my friends has a son who was aboslutely mad about succulent plants from the age of seven. She ended up with nearly 100 succulent plants in her house and garage. Her son regularily corresponded with the Royal Succulent Society in Britain. He's still fond of succulent plants, but he's now more interested in whether or not salt water fish can be taught to survive in fresh water. He's also a nationally ranked cellist who plans to study law and commerce at the state university.</p>

14

<p>It is interesting when kids get single-minded about something. From an early age, our son was surprisingly passionate about geography and John Wayne. I regret to admit that we parents weren't that interested in either subject. Our son's interests culminated in several positive National Geography Bee experiences and an in-depth knowledge of virtually all of John Wayne's movies. Neither subject was mentioned in his college applications but, in retrospect, I think both interests served our son well because they helped him develop a love for learning. To me, an important measure of a currriculum or an EC is whether they help develop a passion for life-long learning.</p>

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<p>Some of you who followed my son's college app. saga may remember that he developed an <em>intense</em> passion for epidemiology and infectious diseases beginning at the age of 6 (it was sparked by his reading and watching "Old Yeller" and becoming MESMERIZED with rabies!). By age 8, he was checking out every medical text in our library and later that year, he wrote hand scrawled letters in pencil on notebook paper to a local doctor who specializes in the treatment of AIDS (she now has a highly regarded national position, but was only a local physician back when my son contacted her) and also to the CDC asking for packets on the level 4 viruses, including Ebola and Marburg (he was particularly interested in the various hemorrhagic fevers). Guess what? He <em>STILL IS</em>, as a college sophomore, fascinated with this field and yes, his passion did figure very positively in his college app. results. So, yes, these things DO happen, and YES, it is QUITE refreshing to observe the achievements of this kind of passionate kid. I'm sure that all of their college apps. are unique and highly interesting to the admissions officers. </p>

<p>~berurah</p>

16

<p>northstar,</p>

<p>The topic, "HS kid fascinated by extreme weather phenoms" is not that unusual: science + unusual.</p>

<p>His PASSION and his pursuit could be, but I don't think its a slam dunk lead to anywhere. I also don't think it that unusual for certain types of teens to have passions for a particular topic, as I've known quite a few. </p>

<p>The ones I know just don't have good press agents. :)</p>

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<p>There are also many kids who are passionate about sports (a very ordinary thing) from the time they are five. Yup, my son was one of them. Did it help with college admissions? Maybe. He earned 12 varsity letters in high school and was a Captain of two teams his senior year. Was it ordinary? Maybe. But it was a passion that he pursued, not for the sake of college applications, but because he loved competition.... and he was good at it.
It's ok to be passionate about ordinary things too.</p>

<p>With my D, it's music. (another ordinary thing, but she loves it!)</p>

18

<p>I have been very critical here of the stress, packaging and parent driven hyper-achievement inflicting the college admissions process.</p>

<p>But this story is the antithesis of that and is very refreshing. Self-motivation and achievement by this student is wonderful and unlike newmassdad, I consider it anything but ordinary.</p>

19

<p>I agree with o'loog and the story seems genuine from what we can read. It is a refreshing change of pace. </p>

<p>But at the same time, I understand the dynamic of the crazed admissions frenzy toward "exceptional" research ec's as the path to top colleges for an otherwise un-hooked kid. I expect (and fear) that somewhere in America this article triggered some parent to yell out to some nine year old playing on the swingset or in the sandbox - "Little Johnny (or Little Jane) come in here and get busy on your research project for Harvard. This kid started a year ahead of you. You are falling behind." :(</p>

<p>A kid can do what some consider ordinary EC's and do them with flair and commitment, intelligence and imagination and do just fine with highly selective schools and merit competitions. What some dismiss as ordinary ec's, when done extraordinarly well, still count in admissions.</p>

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<p>........Ordinary things done extraordinarly well still count.............</p>

<p>Curm I completely agree - and will add that the unusual also fall into that catagory - it is the true PASSION that encompasses the activity that counts most IMHO</p>