Please tell me what you think of it! It is the Rice Supplement question about unique life experiences and cultural traditions that lead to a unique perspective to bring to Rice.
Thank you so much!
Prompt: The quality of Rice's academic life and the Residential College System are heavily influenced by the unique life experiences and cultural traditions each student brings. What perspective do you feel that you will contribute to life at Rice?
I am an artist. I am a musician. I am an athlete. I am a scholar. But what I know I will always be is a Rhode Islander. No matter where I go, no matter what path I choose to take in life, I will always be a Rhode Islander. In my state, as in any other place on the planet, we are defined by our values. Our most prominent value is written clearly on our state flag: hope. The word is made of four simple letters that Rhode Islanders seem to take very seriously. It comes from the phrase in the bible, "Hope we have as an anchor of the soul." In my town of Narragansett, it means something to every member of the community, as hope is what brings us together.
In the 1800s, before the bustling casino in my town burned down, there was a coast guard station right on the coastline. Years later, in 1945, the station opened as an ocean side restaurant: The Coast Guard House. It has been an iconic symbol of Narragansett ever since. Less than fifty years after its initial opening, Hurricane Bob hit Rhode Island and destroyed the restaurant in 1991. The first floor was flooded and the structure was torn down by violent, crashing waves. Community members came together in support to get the restaurant running again. The owners of the restaurant decided to rebuild the restaurant to be better than ever and the members of my community were able to once again see their beloved Coast Guard House everyday on the way to work and school again.
This was before I was born but again in 2012, the Coast Guard House suffered the same fate as in 1991. Hurricane Sandy came forcefully up the east coast this past October and leveled our coastline. The seawall put up to keep waves off of the land was destroyed, many feet of our beach was washed out to sea, and the beach road was covered in a foot of sand and debris, nearly 50 feet away from the shoreline. The day after the storm, as the sun was rising, my family and I traveled to the pier in the center of town to see the damage along the coast of our town. It seemed as if the whole town was gathered there to do the same. What everyone began to realize was that the Coast Guard House was severely damaged again. Chairs from the dining room were found floating two streets over, the windows were shattered, and the kitchen freezer was floating in the main dining area. Our town was devastated but the symbol of our community that we had come to know and love was ruined.
For the first time in my life, I saw what it meant for a community to come together. College students came home to assess the damage and people from all around town congregated towards the pier to help restore Narragansett. Never once did we lose hope. Hope is what brought us together in optimism that we could rebuild our town. Now, the Coast Guard House Restaurant is on its way back to its original state. Everyday on the drive to and from school, I see crews working to build back the seawall, fix the beach and restore the town. Never once did I doubt that together, we could build back our beach and our home. In the past couple of months, every person in my community, including myself has represented what a true Rhode Islander is - a person filled with faith and hope. From picking up trash and debris on the beach, to helping neighbors repair destroyed homes, I have been humbled by the spirit of those around me and those who make up the culture in which I live.
When I was old enough to realize the effects of natural disasters in Rhode Island, I completed Incident Command Training through the Incident Command System courses offered through FEMA. When Hurricane Sandy hit, I stepped in to help my town recover. I know what it means to be a part of a community and provide assistance when it is needed. I have seen how residents of an area can come together to build each other up and become stronger. Houston and Galveston are two regions that know what it is like to experience natural disasters and come together as a community. From housing Hurricane Katrina victims to suffering their own damages in the past few years from hurricanes such as Ike and Rita, just to name a few. Houston is a community that lives by the Rhode Island motto of hope and what it stands for. Community members there know that hope can bring a group of people together and strengthen them.
Thomas Friedman in The World Is Flat expressed that in order to succeed, one needs hope and opportunity. My community and the community at Rice University know what it means to have hope. Rice University provides the opportunity needed to succeed. My culture and my experiences have taught me what it means to be part of something bigger than myself and I will carry that with me no matter where I go in life. Using the hope that I have for a brighter future, I can push myself harder to succeed and help others to do the same. Just as I have come together with those in my town, I can come together with my peers in college to become a strong unit that works hard towards success. This drive that comes as a result of optimism and a sense of community is stronger than just simple motivation alone. The strong drive that is found and developed within Rice students is clearly evident through their success. With a little bit of hope and a stronger bond between peers, the success and drive could be even further enhanced.
Today, sitting at a funeral for the father of one of my good friends, a Rhode Island State Police Officer, I saw embossed on every badge of every other officer the word "HOPE" in the RI Coat of Arms. Once again the community came together in hope and strength. I felt as if every person in the room, in addition to the police officers, needed a badge that said hope on it, for every person there embodied what it means to have hope. I come from a strong culture that exemplifies these values and no matter where I may end up, I will carry them with me as a member of this culture. I may be an artist, musician, athlete and scholar, but because of where I come from, I am a dreamer and with hope and opportunity, I can be an achiever. I am the true meaning of what it means to be a Rhode Islander and maybe in the future, I will be a Rice owl.
