Why am I at Penn State?
If you ask anyone who has encountered me throughout my life, they will tell you that without fail, I am one of the most energetic, outgoing people they have in their lives, and I think these traits are a large reason as to why I chose Penn State. Being a Pennsylvania resident, Penn State had been on my college radar for some time, but it was not until I toured our campus in my junior year of high school that I began to seriously consider PSU for my undergraduate degree. Prior to touring, I was unaware of the multitudes of opportunities offered to me both academically and socially at Penn State, and upon learning about them, I was immediately attracted to this university. I wanted to choose a school that would allow both my brain and my social skills to flourish. Throughout most of my secondary education, I was extremely involved in my community, contributing through music, theatre, and community outreach programs like volunteer work and multiple spirit-based, philanthropic clubs. I hope that in my next four years here I am able to find new outlets to express my outgoing, bubbly personality and put hard work into causes that I care about deeply. I hope to build a skills set that equips me for my future as a successful teacher, and I hope to build connections that will last a lifetime. Even if its small, I want to make my mark on Penn State. I want to leave here knowing I made Penn State a better place.
"From caring comes courage."
I ATTRIBUTE MY PERSONALITY AND WHY I AM THE PERSON I AM TODAY TO THE FRIENDS AND FAMILY I GREW UP WITH.
I was fortunate enough to grow up in a community overflowing with love and support. My parents and my younger brother shaped me to be the responsible, caring, outgoing person I am today, and my friends have been there with me every step of the way as we developed our leadership skills together and taught each other what it means to be a friend. Working with people and being able to influence their lives in positive ways is one of the biggest things I believe in. The kind of person I want to be is determined, hardworking, honest, kind, and selfless. "From caring comes courage", a quote I found five years ago, embodies a lot of what I believe and what I mean when I list the traits of the type of person I want to be. I understand this quote to mean that, if you work hard, if you face fears, and if you genuinely care about what you do, you will need no other fulfillment than the self-fulfillment that comes as result.
What do I believe?
Ethics:
I like to think that I believe in a very basic and fundamental definition of ethics, that being that ethics are my guide in making the right decisions. My specific set of ethics that I've developed through childhood, through mid-adolescence, and into late adolescence consists mainly of and focus on respect, humility, hard work, kindness, and genuineness. I believe that ethics are the "unspoken law of the land" and that each person has a different set of ethics that their life path has allowed them to develop. Having always been the one who looks at issues and decisions from an ethical standpoint (even as a child), I look forward to discovering opportunities in which my ethics can grow and change as I reach my twenties. I know I will keep my aforementioned core values at heart, and will also look for ways to enhance my ability to utilize my morals in challenging situations. Penn State will definitely help me do this in my next four years, as there are an array of different chances for me to get involved on campus, meaning I will find myself in new situations every day.
Questioning:
Questions are funny, because most people ask them with the intent of finding an answer. What I've learned, however, is that you don't always need to have or can have all of the answers at first. Sometimes, it is better to question more than answer, for the real solutions don't always lie in the response, but often in the questions themselves. I enjoy questioning the world and community around me, and I often find myself thinking of ways I could improve my life and the lives of others. That is where good, innovative questions are born, right? From the desire to better something. Before reaching Penn State, I had truly not put much thought into my abilities to question. Being from a relatively small town in a community where everyone knows everyone, it becomes easy to accept everything as it is--as something that cannot be changed. However, being thrown into an entirely different world, and only having been here two months has shown me that there is so much to question, and so much fun to be had with that questioning!
Failure:
If you were to ask me four years ago if I thought failure was okay, you would have gotten an automatic "no". I used to view failure as something that never could happen to me. I used to see it as something that "happened to" those who didn't try to succeed. I realize that failure doesn't "happen" to people, you are the one who fails. And I think there is beauty in that, because you can no longer pinpoint the blame on someone else or an external force for the mistakes you've made. If you were to ask me today if failure is okay, I would say, "absolutely, yes, but you must be careful that the failures you are engaging in are failures that are beneficial to your future successes." There is such a stigma around the word "failure", connoting that it is something detrimental--something that no one can come back from. This is entirely untrue. While yes, some people can afford to fail more than others, it is crucial that we recognize that no one is meant to be perfect from the start. Failing is part of the journey of succeeding.
Ethics in Action
Since I feel such a special connection when working with people, and want to pursue a career as a teacher, I am very eager and excited to not only help younger people learn and discover their passions, but greatly look forward to the mentor role I will play in the lives of my students. If I teach my students nothing other than how to be a good person, I will still be satisfied with the job I have done. When it comes down to it, the world does not go round because we all remember our times tables, or know that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell, or can recall how to conjugate verbs in Spanish or French. We function as a society due to the people in society to actively seek to make life better for everyone. This is the mindset I hope to instill in my students.
Why Question?
I hope to continue advancing my questioning skills into adulthood, and I hope to stress the importance of asking questions to my future students. My goal is to foster a classroom community in which questions are always welcomed and students feel comfortable and encouraged to ask any questions they may have. The ability to comfortably question, I believe, is one of the key factors to success not just in school or work, but in discovering who you are and what role you play in your society. Like I said, sometimes the answers don't lie in the answers, but in the questions themselves.
"But, if I fail, that means I've failed."
Yes, it does mean you've failed. The problem is not with your failure itself, but in how we define and consider failure as something inherently negative. As an educator, of course my hope is to set my students up for success, but I want to accept failure and to have them accept failure as well. It was hard for me, and took very many years to understand that failure is indeed inevitable, and it can take all different kinds of forms. We learn our best lessons from our failures, and almost never are these failures the "be-all, end-all" for our lives. As a teacher, I'd say, "make mistakes while you can. Make mistakes that you can't avoid, and when you do make mistakes that are avoidable, learn from them so that you grow. It is entirely okay to fail." Learning to accept your failures will only help you grow, refusing to acknowledge failure will only keep you stuck in the same spot.
Staying true to myself is something I seldom had an issue with growing up, and I'm proud of the fact that I never felt that I had to conform to what I saw around me. As you get older, it becomes more difficult to understand that being yourself is an OK thing to do, as you become more self conscious and aware of those around you who may pressure you to look or act in a certain way in order to be accepted. But I truly believe that it is quite simple to stay true to yourself as long as you remember to "stop worrying about what other people think." It is difficult to overcome the feeling that you must act for others approval, but once you realize the only approval you need is your own, it becomes remarkably easy to act in ways that will make yourself happy.
Credits:
All photos are owned by author.