• Question: Did you think you'd make it as far as you have?

    Asked by anon-233322 to Varun, Sammie, Rebecca, Anna, Alin, Adam on 12 Nov 2019.
    • Photo: Rebecca Shaw

      Rebecca Shaw answered on 12 Nov 2019:

      This is a lovely question.. At school I had so many aspirations and I’ve been quite lucky to live out a few of the things I dreamed about.

      I think an aspect of luck has always been on my side, but I really did work relatively hard and have had to deal with rejection, failure and times where I just wanted to run away (and still have these moments at times too!). So I am grateful for the opportunities I have received, but ultimately I think my determination would’ve weighed out and I would’ve gotten somewhere similar had I not had that bit of luck!

      One of my views on life is that you can always do better and so I will always strive to challenge myself that little bit more – so I still think I have a long way to go!

    • Photo: Varun Ramaswamy

      Varun Ramaswamy answered on 12 Nov 2019: last edited 12 Nov 2019 2:41 pm

      Not at all.. I still remember how playful I was and how I hated studying as a kid and my mom would help me study. I remember thinking “studying is so boring, I can’t believe I have to do this for 6 more years in school!”

      and now I am exactly the opposite- I love studying AND I also enjoy teaching!

      Sometimes, I do find it crazy to think back and see how things have changed..but that is life. You cannot predict every step in the future. There will be moves you make that you like, or you don’t. But at the end of the day, we are all where we are for a reason.

    • Photo: Adam Washington

      Adam Washington answered on 12 Nov 2019:

      Looking back on it, I can honestly say that the answer is no. I’d hoped that I might become an instrument scientist, but I didn’t think that I would be working on an instrument this powerful, at a facility this advanced, and living this far from home.

    • Photo: Anna Kalorkoti

      Anna Kalorkoti answered on 13 Nov 2019:

      Definitely not. This is going to get personal, but when I was at university I experienced some pretty bad depression, and for a while I wasn’t even sure I’d still be alive at this point–I just couldn’t picture any sort of a future for myself. Know that if you ever feel like that, there is help out there & it’s okay to ask for it. I did, and I’m in a much better place now.

    • Photo: Samantha Firth

      Samantha Firth answered on 14 Nov 2019:

      No, and if you’d have told me when i was 14 that i’d be doing what i’m doing, i would’ve laughed!

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