Page 5 - Phi Dleta Theta MIT - Winter 2018-19

(continued from previous page) I also attended a fitness center, practiced ex- participating on the men’s varsity swimming
treme sports, learned about entrepreneurship, and diving team as sprint freestyle/butterflier, I
bling upon my passion, which is programming. leadership and interpersonal relations, and got am also a part of the Asian American Associa-
Programming combines creativity with logic my family involved in the administration of a tion and like to cook and bake! Deciding to join
and mathematics. Since this discovery, I have business—where my father still works. It was Phi Delts was one of the toughest decisions of
worked on python libraries, physics simulations, during this time I discovered my passion for my life—the stigma fraternities carry deterred
and even made some simple mobile games. math and teaching, and attended classes from both my parents and myself very strongly. But
I knew MIT was a great fit for me due to their the math undergraduate program in the univer- looking back on it now, this decision to join was
reputation for being a university that empha- sity, on top of being an active trainer for my one of my greatest. Having such a great family
sizes creating and experimenting in the process country’s math Olympic team and serving as a of brothers to lean back on whenever I need is
of learning, something that I’ve learned to value deputy leader in the IMO 2018, as a “payment one of the best things to have, and all of the
through years of developing and testing. At Phi for my considerable efforts and compromise to stigmas associated with fraternities are anything
Delts, I have found a great group of guys that the program,” to cite the director and the math- but true here. I can’t wait for what the next four
share similar interests and a strong support sys- ematics department chief of the program. years have to show.
tem to help me as I adapt to the rigor at MIT. MIT was an obvious choice for me, as it
is arguably the best university in the world, us-
ing academic standards. The MIT mindset was ADAM POTTER
RODRIGO POSADA CLASS OF ’22
CLASS OF ’22 another very considerable factor to push me to Hometown: The
Hometown: A apply, along with the easiness to do it and the suburbs of
generous financial program it possessed, and
small town in the that I needed because of my family’s economic Chicago, Illinois
rural side of El
Salvador, Central situation. Coming here and finding such a vi- Growing up, we
America brant and alive community filled with amazing had a woodshop in
people from all around the world and from all our basement, and
I went to a different backgrounds was one of the most from a young age
boarding school for amazing experiences I have ever lived. Unfor- I started building
high school, where tunately for “the frats,” in my country we have things. It started with woodworking and school
I held an important leadership position. This very small knowledge about them, and most dioramas, and eventually turned into building
position really allowed me to become an out- of it comes from movies like “American Pie,” small robots and 3D printers.
standing student in both academics and sports; awarding them a very bad reputation that went At MIT, I’m studying mechanical engineer-
someone who did his best at everything he against my principles and morals; however, ing. I’m interested in robotics, self-driving cars,
tried. Despite my big academic improvements, meeting some of the brothers from Phi Delts, alternative energy, and water. Eventually, I hope
my performance in the mathematical Olympiad as well as from other fraternities, made me to use automation to either directly or indirectly
remained mediocre at best. At the end of the notice of how wrong was my assumption, as I help the environment. Besides academics, I lis-
year I was awarded a full scholarship to study at couldn’t imagine the nice people I had met at ten to indie rock, pop, and jazz, and play the
one of the best universities in my country, but there, to do the things that came to my mind trumpet. I also run, row on crew, and play Ulti-
I had always had the dream to go to an inter- when I thought about a fraternity. mate Frisbee with friends.
national math Olympiad, and since you cannot In addition, I approached one of the broth-
go to the IMO if you are in university, I had to ers separately and asked him the questions I
choose between those two paths. had about the fraternity, to see if being part of ALLEN ZHANG
I took the challenge of becoming a math it wouldn’t compromise my principles. Surpris- CLASS OF ’22
Olympiad competitor despite not having partici- ingly for me, PDT even has strong principles to Hometown:
pated in any Olympiad—and not even being at which every brother, and attendee of his events Carmel, Indiana
the skill level of my classmates, who had expe- has to attach to, in order to be accepted to I came to MIT
rience and were more prepared than me. That come in; otherwise, the actions of PDT were because I want to
was a life-changing decision, and it was not irreversible about the issue, and they ended up enter the tech in-
supported by most of my family and friends. being very reasonable, intelligent, outstanding dustry and eventu-
I had to sacrifice time, effort, and facilities to moral people, which convinced my definitely to ally found my own
stick to it. Moreover, it was a really important give it a try. I am happy that I gave Phi Delts a startup. As of right
decision on the path that brought me to get to chance, as the brothers and the pledges have now, I am set on Course 6-3, and am also in-
know myself, what I like, and what do I want to shown that it was a great decision. terested in Course 15 and 18. In my free time,
do with my life. I enjoy playing basketball and lifting weights. I
I found that even though I am a passionate pledged to Phi Delt because all of the brothers I
about math and physics, there is a huge world NICHOLAS met during rush were people I would hang out
outside that would be a huge mistake to ignore, BAGINSKI with. The house has become a great place for
so I gave myself the time and the importance CLASS OF ’22 me to relax and work with some cool guys, and
of exploring it in the free time I had between I’m currently also a place where I feel at home.
my preparations for Olympiads. I can mention pursuing a double
learning to swim—where I was later invited to major in 6-14 and
train as a competition sport, but neglected— 15-3. Outside of (continued on next page)

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