Biography

My name is Nick Sardelli, and I am currently a freshman physics major in my second semester at Stony Brook University. Nowadays, I am very passionate about physics, and education in general. Just a few years ago, I was not a scholar, nor was I a good student. I just did not care about anything besides hanging out with friends and playing video games. One day, I came to a life changing realization. It all started when I thought about what I really wanted to do with my life. I thought to myself well, I do not want to do anything boring, such as sit at a desk all the time. I want to do something extraordinary. What I eventually came up with was becoming an astronaut.

My entire life, I have had a passion for space, and without knowing it at the time, a passion for physics. Becoming an astronaut would be the epitome of all of my life's interests and ambitions. At that point, I made a decision to set my life on a course to my ultimate goal. The first step in my plan was to drastically improve my grades in school. So in 10th grade, I started doing just that. I went from a barely passing student in science in mathematics to an outstanding achiever. I only cared about science and mathematics at the time, but in 11th grade I started to become more scholarly and care about all of my classes. Just through applying myself, my grades improved from approximately 65 and below out of one hundred, to grades in the nineties out of one hundred range. 11th grade was also the time where I discovered my talents in physics, and is when I decided to major in physics. Out of everybody in the NYS Regents class, I was the number one student , and scored a 98 on the Regents.

I became known as a superstar among my classmates and instructors. But grades alone were not enough. I had to become involved in the community through service and extracurricular. Over the course of my junior and senior years, I joined sports such as seasonal track and field, and cross country running. I learned a lot about leadership during my time in the scouts, and as senior patrol leader of my troop, I led them to a first place victory in a large scouting competition. After a lot of hard work, I earned my Eagle Scout rank and with it, bronze and gold palms. To further my leadership experience, I became president of the Chess and Technology clubs at my high school. In 11th grade, I participated in a one year internship at a computer repair store and learned a lot about repairing computers. Building and repairing computers is a big hobby of mine today because of that internship. And to top it all off, I donated my Sundays to helping out at Babylon's soup kitchen. That may seem like a lot for three years (most of it done in two), but I absolutely had to do it to ensure that I could have a chance at becoming an astronaut.

Here I am today at Stony Brook, and I can gladly say that my ambition has followed me. So far, I have revived the once dying Physics Society, and am relatively rapidly turning it into a fun and active club as the president. I cannot take all of the credit though; all of this could not have been done without the loyal members of the E-board. I am also very excited to be working at the Laser Teaching Center with Dr. Noe this semester, and most likely for the following two semesters. I may also do research in the summer, but I am not sure if I should, as I am planning to take classes at SUNY Farmingdale, and would like to have some fun during this break.

In the future, I plan on doing what I've been doing for the past three years. I'm going to try my best and take every beneficial opportunity that comes my way so I can accomplish my ultimate goal. I want to complete my major requirements for a B.S. In physics, and then complete my DECs with a minor in philosophy. Along with physics, I really enjoy philosophy because of the thought experiments and its many uses. I plan on becoming an all around philosopher in the future; one who studies the physical and the classical philosophies.