The Importance Of Self-Development

I had a vague understanding of myself when I left high school, and an even vaguer understanding of why I didn’t succeed like I felt I could have. This is a fairly common predicament, if not the standard. I felt that I wouldn’t succeed if I moved on to college, so I waited. During this postponement I made spontaneous decisions trying to induce some considerable self discovery. Maybe, I thought, this vague understanding of myself would sharpen and then I would finally know what to do and how to succeed in college. It didn’t work. I wasn’t able to define myself any better than before I now accept that I may never reach the goal of getting to know “who I am.” I realized a mythological quest for self-discovery was inherently flawed. Instead, I began to focus more on developing myself. Self-development was my intent upon entering the Evergreen State College and remains so in applying to the University of Washington. At Evergreen I developed my interests while exploring many areas of academia. I performed exceptionally in the cross-disciplinary programs I’ve taken. This marked difference from my high school performance is due to an intentional rigorous engagement with my education. In high school I merely accepted my future as it came to me. Now I’m actively building my

I became an official ambassador for the youth volunteer program. I worked with the WTA to introduce other students to the program and coordinated trailwork parties in my community forestlands. During my senior year of high school I acted as president of the Green Club, our school’s environmentally focused organization. As president, I worked with the members of the club, the community, and faculty to organize a rain-garden installation in our town. The project took a long time and a lot of footwork, but was finished due to the hard work of everyone