Learning drives and defines Yale-bound biology major Ronit Abramson
2:00 a.m. July 26, 2009
Ronit Abramson (right) worked on an experiment with high school lab partner Sara Zlotnik in 2007. (Union-Tribune file photo) - “She has this drive in her, this enthusiasm for learning, and it's been wonderful to watch.”
CAROLE ROTH-ABRAMSON, Ronit's mother
An early love of science – age 7, above – was fueled in part by the summers she spent at Herzl Camp in Wisconsin, near the Minnesota border. (Abramson family photos)
Ronit Abramson returned to Herzl Camp this summer as a counselor. She hoped to spend part of the time convincing the young campers that science matters. (Photo courtesy of Ronit Abramson)
For as long as anyone can remember, Ronit Abramson has pushed herself. Science fairs. Swim teams. Internships. Every door that opened, she walked through.
When it all paid off with admission to Yale University, the stage seemed set for the 18-year-old Carmel Valley resident to spend this summer relaxing.
So why is she working as a camp counselor in the woods of Wisconsin, dodging mosquitoes, teaching crafts to kids and sleeping in a bunkhouse?
She's coming full circle.
For seven straight summers after the second grade, she went to Herzl Camp, near the Minnesota border. It's where a passion for science and the environment sprouted. It's where she learned to get up at dawn and stay busy until dark.
It's one of the places Ronit became Ronit.
“I really wanted to come back,” she said by phone recently from the camp. “But when I told people how I was spending my last summer before college, they looked at me strangely. They shook their heads.”
She's used to it. People have been shaking their heads about her, though in a good way, for a long time.
In April, when she captured a sweepstakes award at this year's Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair, she became the first three-time winner of that top prize. She moved on to the state fair in Los Angeles, where she was named Student of the Year, and the international fair in Reno, where her project took first place.
She applied to 10 colleges – not just Yale, but other Ivy League schools, University of California campuses, Stanford – and was accepted at all of them.
Ask Wendy Slijk, a biology instructor at Canyon Crest Academy, to rank Abramson among the students she's had in 26 years of teaching and she says, “It can't be done. There isn't anything close to her. I've had a handful of students I just knew were going to go on and do great things. She's certainly in that category.”
Ask Mark Hildebrand, a research professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, how Abramson fit in when she came to work in his lab at age 16 and he says, “She really is a prodigy, and not just because she's intelligent. She just loves to learn things, figure things out. I've never met anyone who has had such a natural talent in the lab.”
Hear enough stories about Ronit and it's almost refreshing when she's asked for a relative's phone number and gives the wrong one. A chink in the armor!
“I've done that before,” she admitted.
Hard to blame her, with a plate as full as hers. During the past year, a typical day for Ronit (pronounced Roe-NEET) started at 5:30 a.m. for swim practice.
She rode to the pool on her bicycle because it is more eco-friendly than a car. After practice, she pedaled to school for classes, many of them Advanced Placement.
Lunch was spent on meetings of the Inquiry Club, an organization she started for kids who wanted help with science projects.
After school, she went to Scripps for experiments involving diatoms, free-floating microscopic organisms that have shown promise as bio-indicators – canaries in the ecological coal mine. (Diatoms were the focus of her sweepstakes-winning science projects.)
Or she used her after-school time to give talks to various groups about polar bears, a subject she studied during a 10-day fellowship in Manitoba, Canada, in 2007.
At night she did homework, sometimes while listening to her iPod, sometimes while watching “Grey's Anatomy.” Sometimes both.
Her dad, Joel Abramson, said he learned not to worry about that kind of multitasking. He also learned to stop “helping” with her studies after she showed him what he thought was a math problem. It was chemistry.
Nighttime was also spent writing essays for college applications or scholarships; she won more than a dozen. In one, she wrote about standing up to a tough judge who challenged the validity of her science-fair project. She later learned he is a Nobel Prize winner.
And if all that wasn't enough, Saturday mornings were for mentoring middle-school students on their science projects.
No wonder her mom, Carole Roth-Abramson, laughed in surprise when Ronit's Canyon Crest friends wrote yearbook notes thanking Ronit for being a good listener, for always being there when they needed someone. “How did she have time?” Carole wondered.
Carole, a speech-pathologist, and Joel, an investment manager, said they've always encouraged Ronit to pursue her passions. Early on, that was aerospace engineering, so they sent her to space camp. Then it was life sciences, which meant multiple trips to the pet store to buy pumps for aquarium experiments.
“She has this drive in her, this enthusiasm for learning, and it's been wonderful to watch,” Carole said. “Somewhere along the line she became comfortable with being unique, and liked being recognized for being unique.”
They've also encouraged her independence. “She's not bashful about trying new things,” Joel said.
That independence showed when it came time to choose a college. She was offered several full rides, but turned them down because she didn't think the schools were right for her.
Although she's won a good chunk of money in scholarships – including one worth $36,000 – the family will be picking up the rest of the tab for her to go to Yale.
“She was worried about the money and said she would go somewhere else if that would help,” Carole said. “But she's worked too hard for this. She has so much to offer. We can't hold her back.”
Wendy Slijk, the biology teacher at Canyon Crest, said Ronit is “an old soul in a young body” because of the way she analyzes situations and takes advantage of opportunities.
“She knows that small steps can lead to big ones,” Slijk said.
Even going back to Herzl Camp this summer had a bit of calculation to it. The past was calling to her, but so was the future.
“She knows she can talk science, and she's comfortable talking with adults, but not as confident in just hanging out,” her mother said. “She saw this as something that would be good for her personal development.”
Ronit plans to major in biology at Yale, and maybe add a second major. She's been thinking ahead to grad school. At a recent scholarship-award dinner, she said she'd like to be a presidential cabinet member one day.
For now, though, it's camp. She said she enjoys being outdoors and serving as the “mock parent” for the youngsters.
Whenever she can, she talks to them about science. Except she doesn't call it science – they might tune her out. She calls it “discovery” or “exploration” or “adventure.”
“I don't understand why people think science is a dull subject,” she said. “Science is involved in everything we do. It's in the alarm clock that wakes us up in the morning. It's what happens when you turn the light off at night. It's why you open both windows to get a breeze going.”
She paused to catch her breath. “It always comes out with me,” she said. “Science is everywhere. I believe it. I live it.”
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