My name is Natasha Ziolkowski and I am a Biomedical Engineer.

This has been a recent title given to me by Stony Brook University following four long years of – and in some cases I mean quite literally – blood, sweat, and tears (emphasis on the tears). With my original title being some derivation of “Cathy and Nat’s kid” or “Mr. Ferentinos’s granddaughter” or eventually “the girl with tattoos,” (in a place as small as my hometown of St. James, New York it’s difficult to escape such labels) one can understand why I now throw the whole “engineer” title around as much as I can.

Of course, one cannot just go from being the kin of another to an engineer overnight. Between these, I have worn many hats. Quite to my parent’s and entire family’s despair, I was determined to keep everyone on their toes from the moment I could stand steadily on my own. It also didn’t help to have an older, comparatively docile brother, Nathaniel, who didn’t share my interests in heights, heavy machinery, and moving objects. I was the “wild child” – perhaps the one title I have yet to relinquish.

I believe my first dream was to be an artist. Of course the only way to break this exciting news to one’s parents is to find the nearest permanent marker and have at the walls and what I’ve been told was a very nice painting my grandmother had given us (I obviously thought it needed a little work). My second dream was to become a chef – demonstrated by almost burning the house down once or twice and being burned myself on countless occasions. In the following years, my dreams would take me to a quiet area where I could write novels, into space where I could befriend the stars, and into a court room where I could argue and debate (something my parents found me to be very good at). Eventually, I found myself working in the restaurant industry when I was 14 years old. Since then, I’ve worked in almost every position available in the industry and have even been given managerial responsibilities while working as a server. Yes, my life has been a constant whirlwind of ideas, dreams, curiosity, and catastrophes. In the midst of cooking and baking, destroying gifted paintings, flying airplanes, operating bobcats, swinging hammers, climbing trees, and otherwise making my parents wish they stopped after one child I, somehow, was able to touch ground and find my place at Stony Brook University in the Biomedical Engineering department. Every hat that I’ve worn throughout my life has taught me numerous lessons and given me the resilience that I pride myself on today. In every position I’ve ever held, I have exceeded the expectations of my superiors and have always attempted to go the extra mile. I’ve acquired skills in organization, public speaking, machining, building, teaching, time management, dealing with stressful situations, collaboration, and so much more.

These days I’ve found myself working in the machine shop on campus (can’t get away from the heavy machinery), providing private tutoring, and working as a lab assistant. In addition to this, I’ve recently become the mother to a 90-lb German Shepherd “puppy” who I can only imagine is some early form of payback for my previous title as the “wild child.”

All in all, while my life thus far has been filled with numerous lessons, tragedies, downfalls, uprisings, hard work, and the aforementioned blood, sweat, and tears, there is so much excitement for the future. My goal is to keep surprising those around me. To continue to keep everyone on their toes, as I tiptoe on mine in an effort to reach my summit.