“Twelve one-hundred freestyle on a one-minute thirty interval. On the top!” shouts my coach. I frantically swim to the back of Lane 1. My heart races. I had never swum a hundred (yards) free on a one-minute thirty interval before. I watch as everyone lines up before me, leaving me disappointedly and embarrassingly last in the lane. When I started swimming competitively, I naively assumed that becoming the fastest swimmer on the team would be easy because I was confident in...

“Twelve one-hundred freestyle on a one-minute thirty interval!” shouts my coach. I frantically swim to the back of Lane 1. I watch as everyone lines up before me, leaving me disappointedly and embarrassingly last in the lane. I’ll admit it—that first day of practice, I quit multiple times. As everyone else continued swimming, I leaned against the pool wall, attempting to catch my breath. And for that, my coach, Brian, gave me some tough love. “Unless I see you...

“We are moving to Long Island,” my dad told my seven-year-old self. My mouth dropped. No. No. No! For seven years, Plymouth, Michigan was my home. My only home. I went from being enveloped by the girls and boys I knew since our diaper days to being surrounded by foreign faces at a new school. I hated the attention I received as the ‘new girl.’ I remained close-lipped and buried my face to hide how much I hated this new...

The anticipation grew as I logged into my Home Access Center account to check my sophomore year class schedule. Period 9: Honors Chemistry Awesome. Teacher: Jimmy Stone Shoot. Don’t get me wrong. Before the start of my sophomore year, I was most looking forward to taking Honors Chemistry. I thrived in the sciences. What killed some of my excitement was who I got as my teacher. “I hear his tests are super hard. He gives out 10-paged tests that no...

“Do you know what the real secret is to making the fluffiest pancakes?” Um… more flour? On my first day of my internship at Alliance Technologies’ chemical labs, I didn’t expect to be hit with a question about pancakes. It turns out the answer is rooted in one of the fundamentals of chemistry: pH. Solely by adding an acidic ingredient like your morning orange juice to react with the baking powder will magnify the “fluff” factor of your pancakes�...

The comfort of my mother’s arms weren’t enough to stop my 5-year-old self from bursting into tears at the sight of Geddes Pond. But after learning how to float on my back and kick my feet, I never again looked at Geddes Pond with gut-wrenching fright. Now, at my local YMCA, I volunteer to teach kids of all ages how to conquer their Geddes Pond. Despite their initial fears, it’s not long before my hair is completely...

I watched helplessly on the ground as my friend’s avatar is mobbed by a crowd of bloodthirsty zombies. GAME OVER It was the tenth time we played the Zombie Map on Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and embarrassingly enough, kept dying against mindless zombie bots without a sliver of progress. Learning from my dad, I hatched a masterful plan to surpass our pathetic Round 3 losses. As the one with the best aim, I deemed myself Primary Shooter. My job?...

When I visited Yale, it was pouring rain. But at the end of that rainbow, I found Science Hill. Atop it, I stood in awe of Yale’s Science Building where I imagined myself conducting research and collaborating with other Yalies and professors in the chemistry labs. I explored Yale campus as I would explore and take advantage of Yale’s academic curriculum, “shopping” for courses that reflect my curiosities and getting a taste of the broad range of academic...

Dear Yale Admissions, I hope you had a great holiday season. I am grateful that I still hold the possibility to be a part of the Yale Class of 2022. Although it was a disappointment to be deferred for Early Action admissions, I still unwaveringly view Yale as my number one choice and would absolutely attend if given the opportunity. For your further review, I will be submitting my most recent grades. When I first visited Yale back in April, I...

Alex Strohl. An adventure photographer. A risk-taker. A simple Madrid-born French guy who knows how to live. With his Canon 5DS, he has travelled to six of the seven intoxicating continents, capturing authentic moments that feature a great range of varying landscapes from the sand dunes of the Sahara Desert in Africa to the glacial fjords of Patagonia in South America. As a freelance photographer, he lives from assignment to assignment, contract to contract—it’s not a financially steady...