CHS Senior Profile: 'I'm Interested in Being a Part of Change'

If 10, 20 or 30 years from now, we’re driving solar-powered cars, there’s a decent chance Amaris Kobolak will have had something to do with it.

The 17-year-old Cinnaminson High School senior, who graduates Thursday, will attend the University of Pennsylvania this fall to study environmental sustainability (and run track and field).

Kobolak, whose interest in the field took root during an AP environmental science course she took this year, hopes to get involved in research into environmental technology, e.g. clear solar panels that double as windows. 

Solar is the “best bet”—at least in the short-term—for alternative energy, she said. “Wind and water are very impractical ... Nuclear’s very dangerous right now.”

In a few years, Kobolak sees herself possibly working for an energy corporation, perhaps performing field studies and obtaining more information about sustainability—but definitely not anchored to a cubicle.

“I just think it’s very important what you choose to do is something you’re very passionate about,” she said. “I don’t see myself at a desk job 30 years from now.”

Kobolak is understandably anxious about the lifestyle change coming her way in the fall. She said what she’ll miss most of all are the simple things, like popping into her family’s kitchen to grab a snack and talk to her mother. But she’s ready to strike out on her own.