Scholarship Answers...

I love education.  I love sharing information, learning new things, discovering new philosophies (or just new to me).  I love listening to other people's stories whether it's through spoken words, poetry, writing, art, or actions.  I love helping others.  I love holding a door for someone, offering to help carry something heavy, working with a classmate or friend on homework or a sticky situation.  I love learning about other cultures.  I find cultures different from my own fascinating.  I love making someone laugh.  There is nothing better than seeing a person smile or laugh when you know they are having a hard time.  One moment of levity can mean the world at just the right moment. 

I'm going to be a teacher.  My minor is ESL (English as a Second Language).  We talk constantly about becoming a global community.  I want to be the person who can say, in all honesty, that I am doing everything in my power to insure that everyone has an equal shot at being successful in that global community.  I am taking Spanish.  I want to understand what my students are facing when they sit in a classroom and are having to try to figure out what is being said to them.  I want to know, first hand, what students are going though when they are trying to acquire a new language.  And I want my students to have the opportunity and ability to express themselves and be heard. 

If I could get paid to travel the world and learn the secrets of the World's cultures I would devote every moment of my life thereafter to erasing prejudice, confusion, and hate.  Everyday I would talk to different people from different backgrounds and find out who they are and where they came from.  I would immerse myself in their culture and try to understand it through their eyes.  I would act as a camera.  I love photography for this reason.  You get to look at something from the perspective of someone other than yourself.  You get to see what they are focusing on.  And if you talk to the photographer you find out what inspired them to think that particular sight was beautiful, sad, depressing, nostalgic, fascinating and should be shared.  That is how I would approach learning about others.  I would try to be their camera and focus on what they find important and then convey that to others to try to create some type of universal harmony or understanding.  I would try to get others to understand each other, to stand in each other's shoes.  I would try to inspire others to step outside themselves and look at the world with fresh eyes and opened hearts.  My days would be filled with human poetry, stories, and art.  Some of it would be joyful, some sorrowful but all of it would be real.