I'm applying to teach english and math/science in a developing country for a whole year, starting July 2012.
The main prompt is threefold: 1) motivation for applying 2) personal goals you hope to achieve 3) contributions that you can bring to the community.
For the last twenty-one years of my life, I have existed in the comforts and confines of American suburbia. My family, a collection of three males, three females, and a golden Labrador, resides in a quiet forested neighborhood marked by the words 'Trail's End' carved into a wooden sign in Bellevue, Washington. Trail's End sits on the edge of Bridal Trails, a dwindling equestrian community. Horse trails weave behind its cul-de-sac and maze through the neighborhoods, ripe with the fruits of youthful mischief and sheltering a budding independence. In many ways these trails helped form the lens (and restrict its scope) through which I've viewed the world.
I remember the first moment that this lens expanded to include the smallest sliver of a world beyond Trail's End. I was five, my sister three, and our grandparents' were driving us to the airport to greet our parents. A select group had gathered eagerly at the gate. Eventually they emerged from the walkway. Both were disheveled and evidently exhausted: my dad carried all of their carry-on luggage leaving my mom to hold the newest addition to the DeVine family. Sara Grace Thuy DeVine, born Thuy Ti Buoy, wore a smiling face streaked with tears and a blouse stained with rejected baby formula. She was welcomed into our family and, four years later, Sara shared with me a similar experience in welcoming Nathan Stewart Minh DeVine into our family.
Since then, life has continued comfortably in Trail's End. Nathan is nine years younger than me and by the time I was in high school our relationship had developed into some type of hybrid between a brother and an uncle: a mentor of sorts. Between supervising his Vacation Bible School camps in the summer, running team soccer practices as his assistant coach, and walking down the ninth fairway at the Par-3 course, my abilities as a role model were sharpened against the challenges of mentoring. These skills translated directly into the extracurricular leadership opportunities that helped me to be competitive in market for college applicants.
At Whitman my focuses drifted into academics as the anxieties of 'the real world' crept in. Because of my previous coursework, I completed most of my major requirements in five semesters. Still, I struggled to find answer to the pestering questions "what are my career ambitions?" and "how can I set myself up for success?". Frustration was setting in but senior year provided an opportunity for deeper reflection. As my academic responsibilities dwindled, I was re-inspired through some old high school habits: I began volunteering as a mentor at Green Park Elementary and as a math tutor at DeSales High School. I had been tutoring through the Academic Resource Center at Whitman since sophomore year but now I was taking on more tutees with a newfound confidence and focus.
Consciously or otherwise, the pieces to my puzzle were beginning to take some shape. It didn't happen abruptly, I had always considered teaching. But as I wrestle more with its possibility, I find myself well suited for, and willing to accept, its challenges. On the one hand teaching involves a mastery of material but, more importantly it involves an ability to communicate understanding. This intangible, as one of my most esteemed professors puts it, is 'the human touch'. I believe that, given the opportunity, I have the maturity and potential to develop this art.
The chance to live and teach in Chuuk for the year would be the first major hurdle on this journey. Certainly it would give me a chance to contribute, broaden my global perspective, allow me to represent my country, etc. What's more, it would provide a unique setting in which to continue acting as a role model and leader; a setting whose community would teach to me more than I could ever teach to it. It would strip away the extraneous comforts of life, leaving me humbly armed with nothing but an inspired youthful enthusiasm and a genuine desire to connect to people. Along with these I would bring motivation and respect to the community, in hopes of leaving it with the only contribution I see possible: my best impression. From the community, I wish to return not only with humility and perspective but also with their blessing, so that I can share the honest gift of a different world with my own family back in the cozy confines of Trail's End.
The main prompt is threefold: 1) motivation for applying 2) personal goals you hope to achieve 3) contributions that you can bring to the community.
For the last twenty-one years of my life, I have existed in the comforts and confines of American suburbia. My family, a collection of three males, three females, and a golden Labrador, resides in a quiet forested neighborhood marked by the words 'Trail's End' carved into a wooden sign in Bellevue, Washington. Trail's End sits on the edge of Bridal Trails, a dwindling equestrian community. Horse trails weave behind its cul-de-sac and maze through the neighborhoods, ripe with the fruits of youthful mischief and sheltering a budding independence. In many ways these trails helped form the lens (and restrict its scope) through which I've viewed the world.
I remember the first moment that this lens expanded to include the smallest sliver of a world beyond Trail's End. I was five, my sister three, and our grandparents' were driving us to the airport to greet our parents. A select group had gathered eagerly at the gate. Eventually they emerged from the walkway. Both were disheveled and evidently exhausted: my dad carried all of their carry-on luggage leaving my mom to hold the newest addition to the DeVine family. Sara Grace Thuy DeVine, born Thuy Ti Buoy, wore a smiling face streaked with tears and a blouse stained with rejected baby formula. She was welcomed into our family and, four years later, Sara shared with me a similar experience in welcoming Nathan Stewart Minh DeVine into our family.
Since then, life has continued comfortably in Trail's End. Nathan is nine years younger than me and by the time I was in high school our relationship had developed into some type of hybrid between a brother and an uncle: a mentor of sorts. Between supervising his Vacation Bible School camps in the summer, running team soccer practices as his assistant coach, and walking down the ninth fairway at the Par-3 course, my abilities as a role model were sharpened against the challenges of mentoring. These skills translated directly into the extracurricular leadership opportunities that helped me to be competitive in market for college applicants.
At Whitman my focuses drifted into academics as the anxieties of 'the real world' crept in. Because of my previous coursework, I completed most of my major requirements in five semesters. Still, I struggled to find answer to the pestering questions "what are my career ambitions?" and "how can I set myself up for success?". Frustration was setting in but senior year provided an opportunity for deeper reflection. As my academic responsibilities dwindled, I was re-inspired through some old high school habits: I began volunteering as a mentor at Green Park Elementary and as a math tutor at DeSales High School. I had been tutoring through the Academic Resource Center at Whitman since sophomore year but now I was taking on more tutees with a newfound confidence and focus.
Consciously or otherwise, the pieces to my puzzle were beginning to take some shape. It didn't happen abruptly, I had always considered teaching. But as I wrestle more with its possibility, I find myself well suited for, and willing to accept, its challenges. On the one hand teaching involves a mastery of material but, more importantly it involves an ability to communicate understanding. This intangible, as one of my most esteemed professors puts it, is 'the human touch'. I believe that, given the opportunity, I have the maturity and potential to develop this art.
The chance to live and teach in Chuuk for the year would be the first major hurdle on this journey. Certainly it would give me a chance to contribute, broaden my global perspective, allow me to represent my country, etc. What's more, it would provide a unique setting in which to continue acting as a role model and leader; a setting whose community would teach to me more than I could ever teach to it. It would strip away the extraneous comforts of life, leaving me humbly armed with nothing but an inspired youthful enthusiasm and a genuine desire to connect to people. Along with these I would bring motivation and respect to the community, in hopes of leaving it with the only contribution I see possible: my best impression. From the community, I wish to return not only with humility and perspective but also with their blessing, so that I can share the honest gift of a different world with my own family back in the cozy confines of Trail's End.