“Wow, that doesn’t look good…” Not exactly what I wanted to hear from a medical professional regarding my teeth, or lack thereof. It happened one Thursday night and left me sprawled out, face down on a volleyball court below a crowd of spectators. I lifted my tongue and felt just slivers of what had been my two front teeth. In a surreal daze and with the salvageable pieces of my teeth in hand, I was rushed out, while my...

The task originally seemed easy: “build a working vehicle using supplies from around the house, and nothing but a mousetrap as a power source.” It was a chance to apply the physics we learned to the real world, and have a fun class competition at the same time. After seeing several examples in class I thought I could create a functioning car in a matter of hours; a few CDs as wheels, wooden rulers as the frame, and a piece...

By A.D. 900, most of the Mayans’ cities were abandoned. Overpopulation, overuse of land, and prolonged drought are arguably the greatest causes of the civilization’s demise. Today, humanity faces these same risks, but on a larger scale. Dwindling aquifers, soil degradation, and rapid population growth threaten the fate of global civilization. Ever since my fifth grade science teacher—complete with scraggly beard, Birkenstocks, and a car running on vegetable oil—taught my class about the major issues facing the...

Last spring I had the pleasure of touring LMU's campus and immediately felt a connection. I saw smiling faces and a vibrant student life. I saw a campus that uniquely combined classical architecture and modern facilities. I saw a place I could spend the next four years. The school is large enough that I wouldn't feel like I'm still in high school, knowing every person in my class, but it's also small enough that I would actually feel like an...

I personally went into the college application process pretty blindly. I gave almost no thought to college applications until the end of my junior year of high school. I hadn't thought of potential recommenders, drafted persona statements, or organized the information I would need to complete applications. I thought I would get it all...

When I was deciding what schools to apply to, one of the biggest factors was actually location. I had tons of friends trying to get as far away from home as possible, applying to schools in Massachusetts, New York, Chicago, etcetera. And as much as the specific schools they were applying to sounded appealing, I knew that...