BACKGROUND

I was born at Riverside Hospital in Columbus Ohio, and I have spent most of my life here. I currently reside in Lewis Center, which is near Columbus, and it is in close proximity to the Polaris Fashion Mall.

I have always been enrolled into private, religious schools, and now at OSU, I am finally at a public institution of learning. While I did not mind the religious nature of the school, sometimes I was concerned that the need to be religious pressured an agenda that did not always align with academic pursuits. At OSU, I now have the freedom to participate in any club or special interest independently, and nothing will interfere intentionally or otherwise.

As an adult, I am free to make my own choices, which involve waking up by myself, finding time to eat my own meals, and still maintaining both academic and physical rigor. This is such a step forward from the rest of my life, and sometimes I feel as though the pressure will get to me. When I have free time to reflect on my day and my lifestyle, often I am shocked at how well I have been adjusting. Both of my schools prior to college have been tiny schools, with an entire class not surpassing 200 members.

MOTIVATION

I have always been fascinated by travel. I have visited Europe and Central America, and I can honestly say that those experiences are some of my life defining moments. During my visit to Panama, I was met with the truly poor part of the country, not the tourist attractions built by American vacation visionaries. The true poverty that exists over in third world countries such as Panama are so different than poverty that we experience in the United States. When one is poor in a third world country, there are no resources for them like soup kitchens or homeless shelters like in the United States. Theft out of necessity becomes life or death in those situations, and this really affected my view of the world.

That is why I am very vocal against oppression in the system. If you know me, you would be familiar with the fact that I am an outspoken supporter of foreign aid to particularly poor nations.

STRENGTHS

My top five strengths are as follows:

1. Strategic

2. Competition

3. Achiever

4. Discipline

5. Futuristic

 These are going to be very important in my life, now that I have identified my top strengths, I can begin to truly focus on developing these skills to their maximum potential. I have always been comfortable with my strategic and competitive natures, but now I also realize how discipline has played a large role in my life. I am going to start taking more steps to ensure that I am making accommodations to my scheduling and choices to ensure that I am developing my skills properly. Previously, I had always focused on being a well rounded person with few weaknesses, but now I have begun to understand the need for specialization and focus on my strengths. In the future, I will be better prepared for a role in a high stakes situation by increasing my competency in each of my main skills. Strategy will help me to sort out the clutter, and find the best way to accomplish my goals as well as the second and third best ways. Competition will allow me to strive to be best, without being malicious. By comparing myself to the best, I can always have a goal to work for. Achiever and discipline goes hand in hand with competition, allowing me to continuously work the hardest I can to accomplish my goals. My ability to be futuristic will allow me to set my sights for my goals high, and allows me to have a set plan of where I want to go.

Everything that we do can have a purpose, and we need to follow through, helping as many people as we can.