"I participated in IAAY [CTY Young Students] for two years and CTY for three summers, so it was absolutely a formative experience in my childhood. It was not only a place that allowed me to immerse myself in a world of science, but it was also a place where I discovered my love of ultimate frisbee and founded some of the strongest friendships of my life. From an early age CTY allowed me to satiate my hunger to learn about the world around me – in Forest Ecology I remember struggling through A Pilgrim at Tinker Creek at age 11, a book which I still find challenging; in Paleobiology I remember finding a fossil of a starfish under an underpass in Pennsylvania, a specimen noted as "rare" in the guidebook. Unlike my science classes in high school, my CTY classes addressed subjects at a truly advanced level, using readings and hands-on examples that challenged my mind and made me a more critical thinker. My friends from home always made fun of me for going to "nerd camp", but I never regretted the afternoon study halls or the awkward Friday-night dances (ironically, CTY is the place where I really learned to dance). In fact, it is at CTY that I was introduced to some of the funniest, most interesting people that I have ever met, including one of my best friends, Judith, who I still see on a regular basis. It's true, CTY did define me as a bit of a nerd, but more than anything, it gave me pride in my intelligence and cultivated my love for learning."
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