Meet Brooke: Astrophysics ‘15
My name is Brooke Adams, and I am a sophomore studying astrophysics at Florida Institute of Technology. The two most common responses I get to that are “Woah! Why so far from home?” and “Ouch! What a hard major.” I grew up in Tooele, Utah, with my parents and younger sister, and Florida could not be more different. One is a desert, one tropical; one very mountainous, the other completely flat. Nothing grows well in Utah except sage brush. Everything grows five to ten times its normal size in Florida. I think you catch my drift.
Why astrophysics?, I have been interested in space ever since witnessing a partial solar eclipse when I was very young. I had a hard time deciding what to study in college all through my senior year in high school. A presentation on black holes at the New York City Natural History Museum and the book, “Empire of the Stars” by Arthur I. Miller paved my future to the stars. The museum and book inspired me to take a chance and go all-out on college, no matter how much it cost or how far away from home I would go.
Outside of school, some of my hobbies include reading, writing, playing the clarinet, and traveling. My reading and writing mostly center on fantasy and science fiction, although I do enjoy reading some non-fiction and the occasional contemporary fantasy. Two of my favorite book series are “Cirque du Freak” by Darren Shan and “Ranger’s Apprentice” by John Flanagan. As for my personal writing, my goal is to finish a rough draft of an entire novel sometime in the near future. Unfortunately, when school gets busy, this goal is usually the first to get put on the back shelf. I currently have eight chapters comprised of 80 pages on my novel , “Sacrifice”, about a drug addict who discovers the existence of people who, once they turn eighteen, stop aging and cannot die. Upon meeting one of these immortal teenagers, he gets caught up in a plot that will bring nuclear devastation across the world.
Playing the clarinet and traveling are my more interactive activities. I have played the clarinet for eleven years now, starting in fourth grade. Over the years I have been in the summer band, pep band, concert band, and field show, and now I continue to play concert pieces in the wind ensemble at Florida Tech.
I even got the opportunity to tour Europe as a Utah Ambassador of Music, visiting the United Kingdom, France, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and Germany in the summer of 2011. We performed in several of these countries, trying to unite various peoples through a love of music.
My first big travel opportunity happened a few years earlier than that, however, when I was invited to travel to Japan as a People to People Student Ambassador. We toured from Tokyo down to Osaka, eating exotic foods, visiting famous castles and World War II sites, and spending a weekend with a host family. I have also traveled all over the forty-eight contiguous states, thanks to my mom’s similar love for traveling.
Besides travelling, writing sci-fi and studying, I’ll also be blogging! I’ll be talking about my experiences here at Florida Tech and my love for astrophysics and astronomy. I hope you come along for the ride and share your thoughts on all things astro.
