2012-2013, My First Year
If I had to choose one word to describe my first year at UC, it would have to be “eye-opening”. But it wasn't eye-opening in the usual ways. Being the third and final kid in my family to go to college, I expected to deal with some common first-year troubles of adjusting to college classes and exams, sharing a tiny dorm with multiple roommates, etc. What I didn't expect was that my first year at UC would become probably the most important year of my life so far and that I would learn more about myself in those nine months than I ever have before. It feels by now like a story I've told a million times, but thanks to my poor decision making skills and my honors seminar this year, I figured out exactly what I want to do with my life.
I came to Cincinnati thinking I really wanted to do anthropology. All I wanted was to work in a museum or a library. But by the end of my Gateway To Honors class in the fall, I had switched paths. I hadn't liked anthropology as much as I thought I would have. I was most struck by the fact that anthropologists were faced, in their research, with so many heartbreaking world issues, yet their only job was to document them, not solve them. Once I considered the aspects of my anthropology classes that I was actually interested in (genetically modified foods, overgrazing, the water scarcity crisis, etc.), I found my new passion for environmental science and realized that I wanted to help solve our water scarcity crisis, which has been primarily caused by wasteful water habits and climate change.
I switched majors right away to Environmental Studies, but it wasn't until my first honors experience, the Crowded Greenhouse seminar, that I discovered what I was most passionate about: the clean water movement. I had the opportunity in the class to present about water conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa (which you can see more about on my Crowded Greenhouse page), and realize that their water crisis--like others in developing areas of the world--was not only caused by drought from climate change, but by their lack of infrastructure. They have clean water in the area, they just can't get to it, and with the drought, the amount of surface water they have access to is even more limited, and the supplies of it are dirty as they also lack sanitation systems. Seeing as water is vital to all living things, I decided that helping these people who need water was what I really wanted to do with my life. So now I know that I want my career to focus both on helping others obtain clean water and sanitation while also working to solve our own water scarcity crisis.
I knew I was always more passionate about the global studies aspect of University Honors, so I'm glad now that I have a real reason to travel. I actually think that taking a trip with a class to one of these developing countries to help a charity organization, such as Water.org, build wells and install toilets for the community would be awesome. It would essentially encompass all of the aspects of university honors: community engagement through bringing together those communities in developing countries, global studies because of the travel aspect and learning about new cultures, research and creative arts because putting in sanitation systems isn't that simple and requires a lot of research and creativity beforehand, and leadership because it requires each of us to be leaders in some way to get the job done as it is a huge undertaking. Some potential countries to go to would be Ethiopia, Haiti, Bangladesh, or Uganda. This type of non-profit work is precisely what I want to do in the future, so getting an experience through university honors would be a great step towards being able to do that. Below I've included some images from Water.org's website of their work to help show what this experience would consist of, if it could be done.
This year I have learned that sometimes what seem to be poor decisions end up leading you to what was the right path all along and that I am more passionate about environmental science than I have been about anything else. I learned that I want to use my knowledge both to help people who are suffering now from the consequences of humans harming nature, and prevent others from suffering that badly. I hope during my next three years in Cincinnati, I can become knowledgeable enough in my chosen field of study to be able to achieve all of my dreams. As far as that goes, I feel that I need to focus mainly on learning how to effectively communicate my ideas in science to the general public since that tends to be a problem in the field of environmental studies. I also really hope that I can do an honors experience like the one I described above because it would put me in the best position after graduation to get a job doing what I love and be one step closer to accomplishing my goals. I think having connections from that experience would allow me to further assist those charity groups on their missions and really do what I love. That combined with my developed knowledge and communication skills could in three years help me become a public figure for the clean and sustainable water movement, which is ultimately what I hope to be. I feel that I have a lot to share with the public about what I have discovered in the past year in regards to the environment and even just society, so I hope that through my next three years at UC, I will be able to share these things with our campus and start speaking out against water waste.
I came to Cincinnati thinking I really wanted to do anthropology. All I wanted was to work in a museum or a library. But by the end of my Gateway To Honors class in the fall, I had switched paths. I hadn't liked anthropology as much as I thought I would have. I was most struck by the fact that anthropologists were faced, in their research, with so many heartbreaking world issues, yet their only job was to document them, not solve them. Once I considered the aspects of my anthropology classes that I was actually interested in (genetically modified foods, overgrazing, the water scarcity crisis, etc.), I found my new passion for environmental science and realized that I wanted to help solve our water scarcity crisis, which has been primarily caused by wasteful water habits and climate change.
I switched majors right away to Environmental Studies, but it wasn't until my first honors experience, the Crowded Greenhouse seminar, that I discovered what I was most passionate about: the clean water movement. I had the opportunity in the class to present about water conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa (which you can see more about on my Crowded Greenhouse page), and realize that their water crisis--like others in developing areas of the world--was not only caused by drought from climate change, but by their lack of infrastructure. They have clean water in the area, they just can't get to it, and with the drought, the amount of surface water they have access to is even more limited, and the supplies of it are dirty as they also lack sanitation systems. Seeing as water is vital to all living things, I decided that helping these people who need water was what I really wanted to do with my life. So now I know that I want my career to focus both on helping others obtain clean water and sanitation while also working to solve our own water scarcity crisis.
I knew I was always more passionate about the global studies aspect of University Honors, so I'm glad now that I have a real reason to travel. I actually think that taking a trip with a class to one of these developing countries to help a charity organization, such as Water.org, build wells and install toilets for the community would be awesome. It would essentially encompass all of the aspects of university honors: community engagement through bringing together those communities in developing countries, global studies because of the travel aspect and learning about new cultures, research and creative arts because putting in sanitation systems isn't that simple and requires a lot of research and creativity beforehand, and leadership because it requires each of us to be leaders in some way to get the job done as it is a huge undertaking. Some potential countries to go to would be Ethiopia, Haiti, Bangladesh, or Uganda. This type of non-profit work is precisely what I want to do in the future, so getting an experience through university honors would be a great step towards being able to do that. Below I've included some images from Water.org's website of their work to help show what this experience would consist of, if it could be done.
This year I have learned that sometimes what seem to be poor decisions end up leading you to what was the right path all along and that I am more passionate about environmental science than I have been about anything else. I learned that I want to use my knowledge both to help people who are suffering now from the consequences of humans harming nature, and prevent others from suffering that badly. I hope during my next three years in Cincinnati, I can become knowledgeable enough in my chosen field of study to be able to achieve all of my dreams. As far as that goes, I feel that I need to focus mainly on learning how to effectively communicate my ideas in science to the general public since that tends to be a problem in the field of environmental studies. I also really hope that I can do an honors experience like the one I described above because it would put me in the best position after graduation to get a job doing what I love and be one step closer to accomplishing my goals. I think having connections from that experience would allow me to further assist those charity groups on their missions and really do what I love. That combined with my developed knowledge and communication skills could in three years help me become a public figure for the clean and sustainable water movement, which is ultimately what I hope to be. I feel that I have a lot to share with the public about what I have discovered in the past year in regards to the environment and even just society, so I hope that through my next three years at UC, I will be able to share these things with our campus and start speaking out against water waste.