Well done to Year 7 pupil Luka Suyatin who wrote a fabulous 500 word submission for the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Science Prize.
The laboratory runs the school science prize every year and invites pupils to submit a 500 word essay entitled ‘Why I Love Science’.
Luka, a science scholar, has an intense passion for all things science related and whilst he wasn’t selected as a finalist against tough competition (over 250 entries), we wanted to share his submission and hope it inspires his peers and future Year 7s to find their own passion in science.
Why I Love Science By Luka Suyatin
Although I love art, I also love science! As it explains how everything works, what they are and how they were formed. You can look at an everyday object and look at it from a scientific perspective and all of a sudden you are completely engrossed in it. It gives a new perspective on life. It’s an observation and understanding of reality through experimenting and trial and error as well as documenting and observing.
I have always enjoyed science and found it captivating how such simple things could be so complex. My first encounter with science occurred when I was around 3-4 years old and was in my car-loving phase. I queried how cars worked and asked my dad regularly and he would give a complicated explanation which I didn’t understand, but remembered them. I then took a liking to dinosaurs and evolution, inspired by my brother's dinosaur phase (where he remembered 300 species of dinosaurs and what they could do). Over that period, I had a good look at evolution and how things got to where they exist now. I was hooked, on my first exposure to science.
Then for a while in Year 3, I took an interest in biology, especially marine biology. I watched lots of videos and documentaries pertaining to sea life. I adored and was fascinated at how over time the creatures adapted to all sorts of conditions in water. At that point in time, I was considering being a biologist.
Next, when I was in Year 4 I saw a Year 6 student reading a book about black holes and that got me interested in astronomy and what better person to read astronomy about than Stephen Hawkings. My parents bought me a few of his books and I read them all. Space now being my favourite subject, I read and watched a lot about it. I wanted to be an astronomer, after going to Cambridge University!
I went to a school where I did not learn much in Years 5 and 6 (because of the Covid pandemic) but I persevered and still carried on learning and researching at home now delving into any science topic that interested me or I had a question about. With resources such as books my parents bought me, science shows on television or YouTube and learning from my parents who have degrees in engineering.
I have moved to Year 7 in a great school with an incredible science curriculum. Upon joining, I received a science scholarship. We have had lots of practical lessons which I enjoyed a lot. My two favourite practicals I have worked through so far were, dissecting a pigs heart and making slides of onion cells and looking at them under a microscope (which was my first time using one).
I have now gained the skill of remembering and retaining the information I have learned. From my father, I have learned the explanation and basics of science. So now that I can retrieve what my father or documentaries taught me, things that I did not understand before I can understand how they operate and get the complete picture of the fact and the explanation of that fact.
All in all, I have had a great experience with science and currently, I love it and see myself learning more over the years to come.
