Scholarship / Which of the world's great fights will you fight-and why? UT Austin Freshman Honors Application [3]

We want every Liberal Arts Honors student to aspire to be a Rhodes Scholar, excelling in and out of the classroom with the goal of serving one's family, community, and country. In creating the scholarship, Cecil Rhodes sought young people who have the "moral voice of character and instinct to lead," young people who would "fight one of the world's great fights."

Which of the world's great fights will you fight-and why? (No more than 200 words)

" Water, one of our most powerful natural resources on earth, is now at its lowest point of drinkability for humans. Less than one percent of freshwater is now available to the world, this affecting our usage to function in our daily lives as humans in categories such as: using water for personal hygiene, hydrating, and even growing crops. A plethora of people all over the world do nothing to preserve this small amount of freshwater we have left. Sociologist have come to a conclusion that the severe lack of water preservation throughout the world will lead to a World War 3 if it is not aided. I believe water preservation should be exercised by everyone worldwide in order to continue our life on earth and serve for future generations. We, the human population, consume most of this percentage of water and should be the ones to stand up and save this great problem. I will fight for the silent scream in humanity for water preservation. I will fight for the greater good."

Please write five sentences describing yourself, your life, and your experiences that form an accurate portrayal of who you are. Do not list information provided in your résumé or on the ApplyTexas application. Be creative!

Please number the sentences 1 through 5.

1. I am a strong believer of everything happening for a reason.
2. I have always loved volunteering, especially helping the elderly!
3. Reading is one of my favorite hobbies along with musics, crafts, and art.
4. Due to my parents being minorities and going through major hardships, I have became strong minded in order to achieve my goals.
5. When I set my mind to do something I do not stop until I accomplish it; I am very hardworking and have yet to fail any goals I set out for myself.

Scholarship / Describe and evaluate one experience that significantly influenced your academic interests. [5]

Describe and evaluate one experience that significantly influenced your academic interests. The experience might be a class, a job, a relationship, an extracurricular activity, or a profound event. Be sure to explain how this experience led to your setting the goals you have now for yourself, and why you think your chosen academic program(s) will help you to reach those goals. (500 word limit)

During my sophomore year of high school, I participated in a student global issue conference named Zooming out for a global view at Texas A&M. The conference delivered information about current global issues and possible solutions for them. Not only did I present my project, but participants were also allowed to view the universities student's presentations about their own global issues and solutions. In each conference they spoke about diverse issues currently affecting not only the human population, but our environments as a whole. As I sat attentively hearing the presentations, I was shocked about the very urgent crises that no one really bothers to speak out and fight for, due to society never focusing on these critical issues and much rather turn their attention in social media towards celebrities and fashion. In one presentation, one of the college students spoke about water conservation being a very critical global effect for all humankind due to the incredibly small percentage of freshwater we have on earth and our lack of conservation for it. When the conference finished, I was so amazed by how many issues affect not only the human population, but earth as a whole and the lack of importance and unawareness it has on others. Also hearing that students even went to third world countries to make a change in their desired pathway motivated me so much to make a change for not only the world, but myself. Helping others and making a change in the world has always been one of my greatest aspirations in life. I believe that from those aspirations, I have the ability to reach other goals I have set out for myself in such by being successful, graduating from college, and overall being happy with not only my career, but my life. I believe my chosen academic programs will allow me to reach my goals by helping me mold myself into the person I want to become. Gaining more knowledge in my desired pathways can allow me to be successful, learn how to help others, make a change and allow me to help the world. Even if it's a small change that I can make, a change has to start from somewhere. I believe the liberal arts program at the University of Texas at Austin will allow me to go beyond my goals and strive for whatever I desire.

Undergraduate / I had a round table discussion assignment on current supreme court cases the following week. [4]

Describe a setting in which you have collaborated or interacted with people whose experiences and/or beliefs differ from yours. Address your initial feelings, and how those feelings were or were not changed by this experience.

During the summer of my sophomore year, I had a round table discussion assignment for my dual credit government class in which we would debate current supreme court cases the following week. As I looked at the paper on what topics my professor had assigned, one supreme court case stood out to me. All around the United States, people had been anxious about the result the supreme court would announce that weekend over same sex marriage. While millions were protesting for this case to not become a right, others were cheering and joining together in parades for this case to finally become a law for all U.S states. The following day, the results were in, same sex marriage was now legalized in all states in the U.S. on June 26, 2015. As I wrote my discussion assignment over this case, I watched the news in which they showed the hatred that was initiated all over the states from religion interference and conservatives.

When Monday came along, and my chosen debate topic was in discussion, we had to turn our sign green or red to show if we were against or for the supreme case. As I turned my paper to green, I was not shocked for many of my classmates to turn theirs red. Due to Texas being a republican state, I was aware that many Texas residents were conservative. As we began to discuss and portray our chosen side, I heard my classmates opinions on the topic. A few spoke about how religion interference affected the case as well as the undermining of morals and ethics. My initial feelings toward their responses for the case were concerned and biased. I was very confused on the fact that people were making cruel statements such as "I don't want my kids to grow up and think that is ok" in the discussion inputting their full beliefs and thoughts about the rights coming into action.

Soon after I finished hearing the negatives, I became very open minded of the statements made, embedding them into my thoughts before I discussed my side for same sex marriage being legalized. When it was the green sides turn, I discussed how I believed that same sex marriage was fair to become a law in which it did not discriminate homosexuals from their rights to get married. I spoke about my beliefs that every human should be treated equally and has the right to be happy and married to the person that they love. Although I thoroughly understood my opposing side due to them being raised on believing same sex relationships wrong due to their morals and ethic beliefs, I was open minded to the fact that we should respect others opinions and learn more about their beliefs.

Although my classmates beliefs were very diverse from mine in this case, I learned to become a very open minded person especially when you begin to debate critical topics. Although my beliefs were not changed, the experience I gained allowed me to become more understanding. I am now more observant and interested to learn on others beliefs and reasoning behind it.