Dexterity

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3. What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?

Dexterity is an underrated asset, especially for people in academia, who generally prefer brain ability. However, finesse has been my faithful assistant from time to time, most often outside art class.

In Ahoy, the school oceanography club, we conducted a hydrodynamics project testing the effectiveness of different breakwaters. In the poorly supplied school laboratory, we made breakwaters out of Styrofoam boxes, Lego, and rocks. The gap between bluntness of school box cutters and the scientific precision necessary was bridged with our meal-less lunch periods and my handiness.

The ability with hands also comes in handy in Laos and Vietnam, where the school appropriate technology club Ongdalsam goes for service trips. Students assemble water purifiers in the field, and each year the design is modified to meet the specific needs of the school and local water quality. Handling multiple membrane panels, tying with thin fishing line, and fixating them in the dark room with no electricity requires all thirteen people and the adroitness they can musher.

As an inland training method for surfing, I started skateboarding. However, skate spots are scarce, especially in the mountains where our school is located. To mend this, I took Field Studies class where I built skate ramps as a personal project. Cutting boards of plywood with electric jigsaws and assembling them with drills was my favorite time of the week. The deafening heavy whir of metal smoothly penetrating wood with its incredible rotational speed is as satisfying as the looks of the finely cut wood’s edge.

Perhaps the skill of hands blooms most in Christmas season. Last Christmas, I gift-wrapped presents for my family and twenty friends. Packing various presents from books to jingle-bell-elf-slippers, artisanship was especially important since I was reusing wrappers and boxes preserved from last year’s Christmas presents. Matching and apportioning used wrappers and boxes into appropriately sized presents requires both strategic planning and elf-like workmanship.

My dexterity helps actualize my ideas from academic or sincere interests. As I pursue my path in the sciences, it will remain an important tool close at hand.


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