and I still vividly remember my
time there from day one. I entered
during the first year of the laptop
program at PTS. Back then,
Wi-Fi was just taking off and
Napster was becoming a thing;
the Internet was exploding and
we were all racing to keep up—
students and faculty alike. Being
in a place where I and every one
of my peers had constant access
to the web and to each other, day
and night, made for a completely
new and immersive experience
that very much shaped my time
there. I remember "dissecting"
a virtual frog in Mrs. Gross's 7
th
-
grade biology class and thinking
that the world was changing
very fast.
Everything else was new and
exciting, too. There were sports,
clubs, fun electives, and many
other things to do. Even within
the main curriculum, there
were courses on topics I hadn't
even heard about; I was literally
learning about what there was to
learn, and that was exhilarating
for a curious person like me. PTS
shaped my life—not just in the
quality of my education, but also
in the range of opportunities I
was afforded.
With everything I'd learned at PTS
under my belt, I was a shoo-in at
the University of Florida, where
I entered as a freshman in 2005.
I was able to focus intensely on
my field from the get-go. By my
sophomore year, I was certain I
wanted to go to grad school, get
my Ph.D. in physics, and study
the universe professionally for the
rest of my life. With that in mind, I
reached out to professors within
the department for undergraduate
research opportunities, and by my
sophomore year, I was spending
my afternoons working under
Professor Guido Mueller for the
LIGO Project.
LIGO — the Laser Interferometer
Gravitational-wave Observatory
— is an unbelievable feat of
modern science and engineering.
Ever since Einstein theorized
the existence of gravitational
waves (GW), physicists have been
I started at PTS in seventh grade,
...I hope to end up
in a place where
I can continue
to learn and
contribute to our
understanding
of the world
around us."
palmertrinity.org
52
ALUMNI PROFILE
class of 2005
