Prize Recipient

Alex Burger

Background:

My name is Alex Burger, and I am the son of a first-generation Colombian immigrant.  I am inspired by my grandparents on my mothers side, who left everything they had in Colombia and immigrated here to provide their children with a better education and way of life.  For the past eleven years I have lived in The Woodlands, Texas, and I am a recent graduate of The Academy of Science and Technology located at The Woodlands College Park High School.  Next year, I will be attending Rice University in Houston and majoring in physics.  I will also have a pre-medicine focus, as I hope to become an orthopedic surgeon in the future.  I am choosing to major in physics because I am very interested in the subject, and I appreciate that physics emphasizes logic and problem solving skills rather than memorization.  I believe that majoring in physics will help to discipline and train me in problem-solving, which will undoubtedly be a necessary skill in the field of medicine.  Since physics was one of my favorite classes in high school, I am very enthusiastic about my decision to major in physics in college.  I think that it will teach me to become a better thinker which will be beneficial to me throughout life.