Undergraduate / "I want to help countries like my home country" - Personal Statement [5]

My feet ached, my knees trembled, water dripped down my face and I could taste its sweetness. I reached out to feel the new and unknown texture as the water collided with my palms. Goosebumps quickly formed on my skin as my body adjusted to the frigid water. The world with which I had familiarized myself changed within seconds. Similar to shooting a new subject in photography the angle changes, the light meter needs adjustment, the aperture opens or closes to a light, and the photographer must find a new focus. Behind these waterfalls, found after a three hour hike, my body adjusted to a new environment. The hike, although long, showed me a hidden world behind the cities and paved roads of my daily life. I had never been introduced to the outdoors in such an intimate manner. Following hours of stumbling on rocks, admiring the 90 ft waterfalls, and climbing over slippery slopes, I realized how comfortable I felt enveloped by nature and the tumbling waterfalls. After leaving my comfortable home to enter a foreign world, I realized what made me successful in my life; being able to commit myself to new environments and foreign situations with a swift and undisturbed manner.

In my life I have needed to adjust to new environments and foreign situations on more than a few occasions. My family moved from Venezuela when I was only six years old and had no grasp of the English language. I attended many different schools, but in the end returned to a public high school. In my four years at Henderson I was able to help in many ways and I also left my own small legacy at the school. Learning to succeed in new environments at an early age, then influenced my abilities to adapt in club sports teams and other activities outside of my academics. I enveloped myself in Mock Trial, to familiarize myself with what I thought would be the best career for me.

Similar to entering a court room or navigating through a forest towards a waterfall, with dedication and commitment I know I can achieve any goal in life because I put my whole heart and soul into everything. This is the kind of motivation that lead me to my interest in the arts and in my community. I used my talents in the arts to help others rather than just for myself. I have discovered so many beautiful aspects of the world that only a camera can really capture. I was able to see the expressions of others when they saw my pictures. I saw a new perspective of people and my community. This inspired me to base my grad project on the community center and photograph the faces of the children. I noticed everyday how people reacted to the pictures on the wall. People from the community were inspired by my pictures and also wanted to help the center. My Hispanic culture was a large influence in my life, and is what led me to do so much community work. Coming from a community with no structure and many evils drove me to want to help others in situations like the once in Venezuela.

I also joined Amnesty International to see how one action could change so many people's lives. As a group we joined forces and signed many petitions in order to become part of a united force to help protect the individual rights of people. I have seen the anguish of people in third world countries, whose sons and daughters have died. Joining Amnesty opened my eyes to the change I was capable of accomplishing. The emotions that I hold for my country are no longer anger, but hope that I can help save a life or help a parent, like my nana, deal with the unjust death of their son.

Being able to adapt to any environment has driven me to choose a career that involves a multitude of situations and cultures. Due to my culture, the country I came from, and my high school career, I came to the conclusion that in my lifetime I wanted to be part of the monumental change that must happen in this world. A major in international studies and political science would help me become part of this change. In high school I was able to see how my small actions for the community could change so many people's lives. I now want to see how these small actions can turn into massive changes.

Undergraduate / 'Photography and community motivation' - Lafayette Supplement [2]

Lafayette offers the opportunity to create your own major or start a new club. If you could pursue either option, what would the major or club be, and why is that an interest of yours?

Photography is a very large part of my life, but like any art it tends to be a selfish act. Lafayette offers the option of creating a club or major that is not necessarily on the roster. I would like to create a club that focuses on bringing photography to the community. The club would focus on certain groups and actions around Easton, in order to dedicate sufficient time to the cause. The goal of this club would be to photograph impactful moments or faces to reach out to the community in a different way. Instead of speaking the club would show. We would receive permission to post large prints of these moments and faces around school and around the town.

I accomplished this type of club in my own community, which is what has lead me to further pursue this new type of public awareness. The community center in my town was forgotten and needed a lot of work to be done to the infrastructure. In order to attract attention to the community center, I photographed the faces of the children in their most natural element, smiling and playing. The pictures were then pasted on the walls of the center. This project affected many people in the community. It attracted other students to help with other art projects, it attracted companies to give donations to open the pool, and it helped the staff of the community center become more motivated.

It is human nature for people to want to see rather just hear. When leaders speak of needing change, only a few impacting words are fixed into the people's brains, but when humans see a sad lonely face, or happy smiling child; the image is imprinted into their hearts and minds. This club would help attract all the greatest photographers, and not only help the community, but also help them tap into a new subject or reason to photograph. Artist always need motivation in order to create new and amazing work, what better motivation than your own community? The club would introduce a new type of awareness to the community and to art.