Student Recommendation Information Form

Student: Ignacy Bartnik Date submitted to Counselor: 30/08/2016

University information:
(1) What college major(s) are you considering now?
Chemistry, Chemical Engineering

(2) For what career or careers are you planning on pursuing now?
Something to do with Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Teaching

(3) Are you doing early decision or early action in the US? Where?
No

(4) Are you applying to early application programs in the UK?

Yes, to Cambridge.

(5) What independent reading, university classes, internships, service, or employment are you
doing
I volunteer sometimes, participate Foldit, a citizen science project. I read books, Polish
classics, and I have started a publication of Feynmans lectures The Character of Physical
Law.

(6) What has been the most significant activity listed above which you feel has prepared you
for your university studies?
Preparing for university is a gradual process that I feel was a natural part of growing up,
therefore I cannot pick one thing that prepared me for university. Especially since I did not go
to university so I cannot know if I am actually prepared.

Academic information:
(1) Have any outside circumstances interfered with your academic performance (home
responsibilities, illness, emotional issues, parental pressure or limited English proficiency)?
My grandmother died because of cancer right before Christmas but the last 4 months were
hard. She broke her hip and my mother was almost constantly by her side in Poland. It
might have had an effect.

(2) Is your academic record (GPA and/or IB prediction) an accurate reflection of your ability?
Why or why not?
My IB prediction is not known to me but my GPA seems quite fair, in so far as the things I
do in school. However I have noticed that school does focus on some very specific

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 aspects and others are completely left out. For example the school seems to ignore the
fact that I go to a separate evening school for Polish.

(3) What has been your most important contribution to DISV?

I find it hard to answer this question because I have grown up in DISV and have been here
longer than probably the majority of teachers. I am an inside observer and cannot see what I
do.

(4) Describe an academic experience which was the highlight of your high school years?
Do you mean like a particularly fun lesson?

(5) What is the title and theme of your extended essay?

I dont actually have a title yet.

Personal information:

(1) How would you describe your role at DISV?

I am a student, I learn at DISV

(2) List five key words that describe your personality:

Should I describe the person I am or who I want to be because I find that there is a gap
between those two and that is a very good thing, because if there was not gap, I would quite
full of myself. Id like to be kind, modest, honest, joyful and sassy or something of that sort but
am I even one of those is not my judgment to make.

(3) How has your environment influenced your way of thinking and living?
I have moved once in my life when I was six, therefore I have absolutely zero comparison and
have no clue what I would think and how I would live in a different place. But I think that I
could never know how the environment influences me really. Hopefully I could notice if it was
a positive or negative effect but the environment influences people in such a subtle way. It is
not something that one can notice on a day to day basis. I have noticed that being around
such wealthy and objectively speaking spoiled kids (I do not exclude myself from this group
and do not mean to look down upon it) does change my perspective. How exactly? I cannot
say.

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(4) What is the most important outside-of-school activity you participate in or have participated
in and about which you are most passionate?

World youth day, it was cool. I met a lot of people. It was an experience, I cannot describe
something that happened with the very fiber of life within me. I wish it would be a more
permanent change.

(5) Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they
believe their application to university would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like
you, please share it.
I have too many stories to fit on one mere piece of paper.

(6) Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what
lessons did you learn?
I was windsurfing with a sail and board borrowed from my uncle and it was really intense. And
the sail broke. My uncle is pretty passionate about his things, probably a habit from
communism when every object had a totally different value. But he was surprisingly okay with
me loosing the top reinforcement of the sail. He had a spare but it was too long. There was
another man, Mr. Wojtek who also sailed with that sail. When he heard what had happen he
showed us a piece of a sail that he ripped off because it was barely holding on a while earlier.
It was the piece that was supposed to hold the reinforcement in place. I sewed it back in
place, this took a lot of energy and about 4 hours because sails have a very thick material and
I had to hammer a hole before putting the needle through. Exhausted from the work, I went to
read a book. My uncle had told me to wait for him before cutting the too long reinforcement so
I decided to wait. But when I came back to the tent for some food, I found Mr. Wojtek and my
grandfather had cut the reinforcement, but they had cut it the wrong way around. Shortly
afterwards my uncle came and said Didnt I tell you to wait for me? after which I proceeded
to be quite cross at Mr. Wojtek and my grandfather. But we reconciled before the day was up.
From this I learned a couple things. First of all, have empathy for others and understand that
they mistakes just like I do. Second of all, if you let someone else touch your work, it will not
end well. Group work is terrible. Dont leave your work unattended, someone will break it. And
thirdly you have to watch over everybody, even if they are thrice your age.

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(7) Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act?
Would you make the same decision again?
One time I really started doubting if God existed. I decided he did. Still think so.

(8) Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or
experience there and why is it meaningful to you?
I feel pretty content most places as well as I get a passable bed, basic hygine and food. Food
is very important. But other than food, my being content comes from within not from the
outside. Sure, I do enjoy sailing on a yacht through the beautiful Adriatic Sea. But Im also
pretty content in Vienna, or at home in Poland. But then again, this could be down to me
having a pretty nice life. I know people who do not have it as good as me and they emanate
with joy. Those are the people I want to become, but I dont know how.

(9) Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal that marked your transition from
childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.
I had my confirmation where you pick if you staying or not really staying with the church and
that was a symbolic transition from childhood to adulthood but I find it strange. It is not like
there is one thing that happens and youre not a child anymore. The whole notion is silly.
At the same time, there are some landmark events that do symbolize the beginning of
something new such as moving out, getting married or having children. However my brother
moved out and then moved back in, he doesnt seem less adult than he was before. My
parents had 4 children and many times I find them less stressed out than my friends (although
that could be my parents realizing and accepting at the third and fourth child that pretty much
no matter what they do, they still dont know what this child is going to do in the future).
Adulthood has always seemed like a little bit of a myth to me. Britannica says adulthood is a
period of optimum mental functioning when the individual's intellectual, emotional, and social
capabilities are at their peak to meet the demands of career, marriage, and children.

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Intellectual properties peak at around 26, so I guess I will be an adult when I turn 26, and stop
being adult when my brain starts degrading so at around 30.

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