Growing up in apartments scattered about the city of Los Angeles, I never understood the close-knit communities I saw represented on television. I was conditioned from birth to avoid neighbors, never speak to them, and understand that our relationship was maintained only by the walls we shared. All of the informational materials from my current institution, Hollins University, promised a small community and a great sisterhood. Settling into this school was a jarring experience, to say the least, because the school so aptly delivered on its promises. Doors were left unlocked, trusting hands left phones on cafeteria tables, and smiles were openly exchanged with strangers on the way to class. While I have grown fond of this small community living in the Hollins Bubble, I need to reconsider my place here for several reasons. My mother solely supports me and my two siblings, one of …show more content…
which is planning to attend college in a year's time. As it stands, she can no longer afford to pay for my tuition and I have reached the maximum aid limit. In order to remain in Virginia I would have to borrow an exorbitant amount of loans and use the entirety of my savings to pay for transportation to and from California. This realization, while unfortunate, has propelled me to apply to both public and private universities across the United States. I have a lot of love for Hollins; in my time here I have matured immensely as a person, delved into the world of academia, and formed many happy relationships with my professors and peers.
However, I have felt for some time that I might benefit from a larger private institution. I am a double major in Spanish and art history; both of these are very small programs here at Hollins. While I find my studies generally satisfying I am often dismayed by the lack of resources or diversity in courses with respect to my two disciplines. For example, I have had immense difficulty in the past finding any articles in both subjects for final papers. I wish to pursue a doctorate in Art History and specialize in Latin American art, but there are currently no courses or professors that concentrate on that area of study. I understand that these programs are small because their popularity is also small, but I do find myself frustrated from time to time, repeatedly encountering the same problems and people. Perhaps a new university would provide a much needed influx of change and diversity in
coursework. Although I am still very much a city dweller at heart, I have learned to value communities. As a Residential Assistant I have built a happy community from the ground up by collaborating with my residents. I belong to various organizations on campus and I greatly enjoy the time we spend together; our talks are always fueled by our common interests, be they LGBTQAI+ rights or how to correctly pronounce “Je voudrais un café s'il vous plaît”. Attending such a small private school has presented me with countless opportunities that seem so unique to this institution. I do worry slightly about transferring. I have created a familiar nice in the comforts of this university. While this thought makes me smile, I would prefer to revel in new environment. In my observations, whenever I have chased the unfamiliar I have ignited my creativity and accelerated my personal growth. The commonplace anxieties of fostering new relationships and settling into a different space do fester within me, but I find comfort in the fact that I have already acclimated to a place that was once new, Hollins. I am certain I will find another private university that can satisfy my needs and cater to my ambitions just as well, if not better.
Mifflin, Houghton. (2008). “Communities: Social Studies Curriculum, California Edition.” Series: Houghton Mifflin Publishers: Liberty Edition.
By embracing, and not just celebrating diversity in our colleges, we can create a more broad, educated, and interesting view of the
Readers are persuaded to get to know their neighbors because of how Lovenheim describes the joy of forming a bond with neighbors. He points out that people have become fragmented by ethnicity and status quo as a society. They have isolated themselves from each other by dividing themselves with an invisible line. Neighbors living a few doors down from each other don’t know their neighbor’s names. Lovenhem cited a study from Robert Putman’s book “Bowling Alone,” that the decline began 20 years earlier, and that neighborhoods are less than half as strong as they were in
Many folks go their whole lives without having to move. For them it is easy; they know the same people, have loads of friends, and never have to move away from their families. As with me, I was in a different situation. I grew up my entire life, all eighteen years of it, in a small town called Yorktown, Virginia. In my attempt to reach out for a better life style, my girlfriend and I decided we were going to move to Shreveport, Louisiana. Through this course of action, I realized that not two places in this country are exactly alike. I struggled with things at first, but I found some comforts of home here as well.
Colleges try their best to form a sense of community, but the reality is that everyone has their individual path and schedules, and one must really put in effort to have similar paths and schedules as their peers. For example, Nathan writes that everyone has different classes, meal plans, as well as extracurricular activities, which makes it hard to form a sense of community. In addition to a lack of community, Nathan also notices the lack of diversity. Again, colleges try their best to have very diverse communities, but the reality is that the majority of students are Caucasian. The lack of community and diversity shocked Nathan, because colleges make it seem like the
Next year, as I embark my first year at university, I hope to fully integrate myself into the community by getting involved in the Students' Union, joining the cheer team, volunteering where I can and making many new friends along the way. At university, I hope to maintain a high grade point average, granted that my education is extremely important to me and that I am extremely ambitious about achieving my goals.Therefore, I will commit lots of my time to my studies in hopes of being a successful student. Nevertheless, I am still looking forward to being a part of the community by devoting my extra time to helping those around me. In classes, I intend on being an active learner, a respectful student, and a helpful classmate; someone who is always willing to lend a hand to others. Through engaging in my community, I hope to bring joy to others around me by spending my time supporting local events, volunteering for fundraisers, and helping plan and organize campus activities.
I was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. I lived in a very welcoming neighborhood. As a child, I had many friends on my street. We would ride bikes, climb trees, visit the playground at the local park district, and stay outside until the streetlights turned on. The families on my street always looked out for each other, so we didn't worry too much about safety. All of my friends attended the same school and participated in the Chicago Park District's activities such as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, music and dance lessons, and open gym events. The park district hosted an annual gym show so the kids could perform for their families. Residents would get together on most Sundays to talk about issues in the neighborhood and share meals and stories.
Thesis: Growing up in a certain neighborhood doesn’t have to determine where you go in life.
Prompt: In 500 words or more, describe your collegiate experience thus far. How has this experience and the knowledge you've gained influenced what you plan to study? How have they influenced your decision to apply to St. Edward's?
In essence, my hopes for wanting to be a part of the ASPC Committee revolves around my desire to bring change to the students of Pomona for the better. Though I have yet to serve as a part of an organization that focuses on student advocacy, in regards to policy change, my first year at Pomona has allowed me to better know the campus, faculty, and student body and the way we engage with one another within the Pomona community. Given that my Sophomore year is fast approaching, I am now reflecting on my own first year experiences: "What did I enjoy? What could have gone better? How have I contributed to my new community, thus far?" However, with the opportunity to be a part of ASPC, I now find myself asking "What can I do for the incoming class of Pomona, or the overall the community at Pomona College, to further create an atmosphere where constructive decisions can be made to improve the community we have created over the years as
One of the most unique aspects about Rice is our residential college system. Rice has eleven different residential colleges that students are a member of for their entire time here at Rice! Each college has different traditions, public parties, and cultures. One of my favorite aspects about my residential college (Duncan College) is our quad culture.
The experience that I went through a couple of years ago is what influenced me to go to
My love for politics and law flourished during this year's election process and I would only find myself continuing to pursue that love whether it was taking it to Youth and Government, Student Council, or Mock Trial, hence me deciding to major in Political Science and possibly minor in journalism. I believe USC will not only give me the necessary tools to go out and change the world, but I also feel I will become most one with my opinions and with myself. At USC, like Brophy, I plan on joining student government and Mock Trial, as well as engaging in the ethnic clubs available, especially the Black Student Union. The BSU has been so pivotal to my experience at Brophy, and being able to expand on that experience as a leader at USC would only
Now living in an area not only more racially and ethnically diverse than my hometown, but with a far larger socioeconomic gap as well, I saw yet another side of human life that shed light on the reality lived by so many people. While I lived in my fraternity house deep in a low income area of Long Beach, my interaction with the community around me was life changing. Passing homeless people, gang members, and drug addicts on the street among other struggling, hard working people every day showed me for the first time what my parents had been telling me when I was younger. My first time seeing the look on someone’s face whose only concern was where their next meal was going to come from, or where they were going to sleep that night was chilling, but one that ended up opening my mind and making me a better person in the process of developing my understanding. In addition, this was also the first time in my life being exposed to drastically different political opinions as I interacted with the members of my fraternity and the people in my classes. My interactions within these settings helped form my belief as well in that both provided safe and respectful environments for everybody to express their views, but in the end, put aside any differences in order to come together as friends and
The two neighborhoods that I chose to use for this assignment are vastly different. The main reason is because they are on opposite sides of the country. The first neighborhood that I visited is the one that I grew up in. This neighborhood is in Connecticut, on the East Coast, all the way across the country from the neighborhood that I currently live in here in West Hollywood. Most of my family lives in Connecticut and Massachusetts and I’m the only one who lives on the West Coast. A big difference is that the neighborhood in Connecticut has houses that are more spaced out, have larger lawns, and very many more trees. There are very few apartments there, unlike where I live now where my entire street is almost all apartment buildings.