Undergraduate / Questbridge - Concept That Intellectually Excites Me; Doctor Gary Meier's class [4]

Tell us about an experience you have had or a concept you have learned about that intellectually excites you. Why does it interest you, and what does this tell us about you?

By attending a Christian school, it is almost assumed that I am just another ignorant Christian who clings to the beliefs of my family. Up until I sat in Doctor Gary Meier's class, I had been.

Gary Meier, a man who has attended school for more years than I have been breathing, inspires his students to seek out their own answers to the multiple questions they have regarding religions. He challenges us to think outside the box and be willing to learn about things you are not necessarily comfortable with. He taught us not only to be firm in what we believe in and why we believe it, but also to branch out and learn about other religions as well. Doctor Meier showed me how to dig deeper when I am reading the Bible, and that the extra time spent to truly understand the topic is well worth it in the long run. In short, he taught us to seek out truth and gain wisdom and understanding as we build our knowledge. I had no idea that this thirst for knowledge would spread into other areas of academics.

Now that I have been taught how to learn for the sole purpose of learning, I have a much greater appreciation for school. While the rest of the class groans at the thirty-six pages of reading assigned in AP Biology, something inside me gets excited about the idea of expanding my knowledge of the world around me. I have used the studying habits that Doctor Meier taught me, and a subject that was already fairly interesting has become alive in my mind. From ecological footprints to cellular respiration, Biology envelops my thoughts. As I go through my day, I find myself examining the interactions between abiotic and biotic factors, and thinking about the impact that each step I take to my next class has on my own personal ecosystem-my body. Instead of viewing the class as just another step closer to college, or as an obligation, I have learned to view it as an opportunity to appreciate the complexity of life and to study more of what makes our world go around.

The sciences have always excited me, and as I pursue the knowledge in the way Doctor Meier taught me, my interest in Biology continues to increase. He taught me that there is always more to learn, and that is certainly the case in Biology. My love for science will give me a definite advantage in the area of medicinal studies, and my hunger for knowledge will drive me to learn in the deepest level possible. I had no idea that passion for knowledge can spread into every area of study; it is not restricted to a single subject. Doctor Meier taught me that, and I am exceedingly grateful for his challenge to me as a student, a hopeful intellectual, and a vessel of knowledge.

Undergraduate / 'Christmas toy drive' - Significant Event & Its Impact On Me Essay [5]

Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.

Upon volunteering for a Christmas toy drive, I anticipated that I would be greatly impacted by those who would attend to receive toys for their children. As in any volunteer situation, the objective is to serve the people to the best of our ability in order to help them. I was unprepared for the amount that this volunteer opportunity would help me as well.

It has often been said to me that there is always someone in the world that is worse off than I am, and this outreach really made that perspective more authentic. As a volunteer with my high school's Student Council, we were given the opportunity to escort attendees of the outreach and aid them in picking out various gifts for their children's Christmas presents. When a woman named Tanya approached me, I could tell immediately that she was exhausted, but her sagging shoulders and tired eyes contrasted her warm smile that she offered as she extended her hand in greeting. As we began to walk towards the toys, she informed me that she was a widowed mother of five children at home, and this would be the first Christmas in three years that she would have toys to give them. Her story began to inspire me in more ways than I could have ever imagined. The most amazing aspect of Tanya was the joy that seemed to ooze from her every word. Regardless of her circumstances, she was thankful for what she did have, and the degree with which she walked this out was something unfamiliar to me. In more ways than one, she reminded me of my own mother, and I felt an overwhelming sense of responsibility to help this woman in whatever way possible. We scoured the toy tables in an attempt to find the perfect gift for each of her children, and with each passing moment she thanked me profusely.

As she gathered her things to leave, she embraced me tightly and continued to thank me. She reminded me that this will mean the world to her children, and that she could not even begin to describe how much my help meant to her. I smiled with tears in my eyes when she had gone, embarrassed of how little my scope on life is. While I am concerned with how I plan on paying for gas money to get to and from volleyball practice, this woman waits at bus stops in subzero weather to get to one of her three current jobs.

This firsthand experience gave me the perspective I needed to view everyone around me equally; we all are broken. Although I have had struggles, I am not alone in that category. My goal should be to help those who are struggling as well, and support them to keep chasing after their dreams. My encounter with Tanya showed me that I could use my life story to lend a hand and make a difference.

Undergraduate / Biographical Essay "Don't be pushed by your problems; be led by your dreams" [6]

Problems and Student Dreams

"Don't be pushed by your problems; be led by your dreams." This anonymous quote has replayed in my head since I began noticing that my family was not quite like everyone else's.

When my mother packed my siblings and me up and headed 10 hours west to Custer, South Dakota, I felt as if it was a fun vacation. Little did I know that it was an impulse decision based on the recent divorce between my recovering alcoholic father and emotionally abused mother. At the young age of four, I understood little of what was going on around me. When my mother got married in South Dakota, we again picked up our unusual family and left for Red Oak, Iowa. I enjoyed the small town, up until the point when I heard a knock on my first floor window, only to find my mother with a black eye asking me to let her back in the house. Her latest husband had enjoyed his beer a little too much, and decided that he would also enjoy punching my mother and locking her outside of the house in the middle of the night. At this point, I was eleven, and began to realize that this wasn't how it was supposed to be. I felt helpless and weak because there was little I could do for my mother to protect her from her second alcoholic husband, and when she finally mustered up the courage to divorce him, that I was relieved is to say the least. Following the divorce, my mother took my father up on a "leap of faith" offer to move back to Minnesota in order for his girls to be closer to him. Because of my mother's financial instability, my father offered to loan her the money needed for the moving costs. She had trouble accepting the charity he offered, but because she knew that it was the best thing for us, agreed to the proposal.

The move up caused more problems than it seemed to solve, and as arguments in our household increased, I found myself hiding in my room and reading books to escape from reality. My early teenage years consisted of wishing that I had a family that was able to eat dinner together without an argument breaking out, and wondering why I had been given such a dysfunctional family. One night as I heard muffled yelling from behind my closed door, I decided that I would purpose to make different choices; I decided that I would use my situation as motivation to break out of the mold. At the time, our family had yet to produce a college graduate, and I was determined to change that.

As I examined how much my mother had to fight and sacrifice in order to provide a somewhat stable environment for our family, I decided that whatever I chose to do with my life, I would pay her back in any way possible. As I attended school and began to show interest in the various science courses, medicinal studies came into the forefront of my mind. My mother's lack of income would prevent any help for my college education, which frightened me to a certain degree. I was repeatedly told that I would be in debt for the rest of my life if I pursued a career in medicine, and that the courses themselves were rigorous and straining. In short, I was told that it was a ludicrous desire. The more I was told that it was impossible for a person in my situation, the more I sought to fulfill the desire.

I began to set goals for myself in order to achieve my ultimate intention of becoming a doctor. Ranging from becoming valedictorian to getting a job in order to begin saving for a future of schooling, I worked long and hard to give my best in every area. Each time I felt discouraged or exasperated, I would remember the desire I had to break out of my family's mold. I would remember all the people who told me that I couldn't possibly attempt such a thing. Most importantly, I would remember my mother, and my hope of buying her a dream home for a restful retirement. My mother acted as a role model for the type of strength and courage I would need in order to chase after my dreams, and there is no doubt that my background forced me to be tough. I used my family's dysfunction and my broken childhood as motivation to succeed and build a stable foundation for my future family, as well as incentive to repay my hard-working mother for everything she had sacrificed in order for me to pursue my dreams.