First Place Schlumberger Essay by Veronique Parker

From Tiaras to Test Flights

Following the smooth, paved path while walking in-sync with the rest of the world has never really been my style. Growing up in a small town in upstate New York where there are more Canadian tourists than residents, it was easy to get a skewed vision of life.

The “thing to do” in good old Saranac Lake was to jump on the train for a choice of three different life paths. First option: Graduate from Saranac Lake Public High School with average grades with the rest of your 90 person class and then work at the local grocery store for the rest of your life. Second option: Drop out of high school ASAP and make a living buying and selling drugs on the bad side of town while reproducing like there’s no tomorrow. Third option: Graduate at the top of your class after being on prom court and captain of your sports team. Go to a nearby University to major in Language Arts. Return to Saranac Lake to raise your family and continue the cycle.

Which one did I pick? The second option. Just kidding.

My family was always a little “off” in the eyes of the town. We were the crazy family that decided to move to Australia for five years then come back and build a house on a mountain. We were the strange family with the little girl who talked funny with a blonde Afro instead of straight hair with bangs, liked vegemite instead of peanut butter and was attached to her stuffed animal platypus instead of her teddy bear or blanky.

Going back to the three options, it is needless to say that I made my own option. I graduated at the top of my small class after taking many Advanced Placement classes, being on prom, homecoming and winter carnival court, participating in the school musicals and being the captain of the soccer and volleyball teams. I am aware that this is starting to sound like option number 3, but I assure you that it is not with as much confidence as I have saying that my hair is incredibly frizzy right now.

The difference between me and the option 3-ers is that I had Aerospace Engineering as my destiny every since I was 12 and obsessed with planetarium shows. A female engineer-not typical. A female Aerospace engineer-seriously not typical. This was my arrogant attitude as I went to RPI with high expectations and even higher confidence.

What a slap in the face that first semester was. I found out that I am not particularly good at math or science when you pull this fish out of its small pond. I worked hard in high school, but it was time to take off my waders and put on my fins!

Easier said than done. Those fins are still giving me blisters today. I watched my classmates drop like anchors in the ocean, changing to an easier major or different engineering concentration.

Today as I enter my senior year of college, I am proud to say that my biggest accomplishment has been sticking with what I love through all of its rapids. My work ethic has continuously grown to be my greatest characteristic. I recently had the opportunity to intern at Calspan Corporation’s Flight Research Center. I worked on control systems using a simulator with engineers and pilots from the FAA, analyzed test flight data, and even got to fly a small plane! Only through this beaten, rarely traveled path would I get such opportunities and experiences. After a life of untraditional ways, how could I stray from having an exciting, untraditional career? I plan to continue my life (including my career) with the same gusto as the first 21 years of my life.