Hello! My name is Jarrett Kong, yes that’s actually correct. I am an 18 year-old Chicago-born of Chinese and European descent, hence the Kong last name, though you wouldn’t know looking at me unless I told you. I grew up in Southern California in a medium size city called Ventura, about an hour north of Los Angeles. I’m an avid tennis player and won a few tournaments before I left for high school. Unlike most kids I knew, I attended a private boarding school in Ojai, California called Thacher, where I spent my senior year researching and studying all types of astronomy and space related sciences, eventually focusing on modes and methods on space travel.
Space Shuttle Endeavor flying over my hometown.
From then on, my interest in void we call space has only deepened, and I spent many an hour this summer reading encyclopedias, books, and web pages to enhance my understanding. Using our own personal telescope, I could observe the moon from my house, and attended a public gathering to look through the telescope of a NASA certified researcher. Ever since, I’ve desired to major in a subject that would allow me to work in that field, either on the business end or research end, so long as its space related. Therefore, my potential majors are astrophysics for the research side, or economics for the business side.
I chose Life in the Universe as my top choice FYE because I am convinced that this class will help me determine if I really want to work within space and astronomy, or deter me from them all together. Even if I decide that working in the field of astronomy and space isn’t for me, I know there is no way I will find this class a drag.
Many consider space and astronomy to be the least understood aspect of the our lives. That being said, I find the deep space elements to be the most intriguing and fascinating, because they are unknown. Pulsars and quasars, binary-star systems, black holes, and nebulas are perfect examples. They are some of the most awe-inspriing of the great mystery that is the universe. It’s truly amazing that these actually exist, as they seem to come straight from a Jules Verne sci-fi novel. The universe is a subject with endless questions, each with answers waiting to be discovered by scientists. That scientist might just be me someday. That’s part of what makes it exciting.
Horsehead Nebula
Images:
http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/images/690557main_SCA_Endeavour_over_Ventura.jpg
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/52238main_MM_image_feature_89_jw4.jpg
