Submission Number: 387
Submission ID: 1326
Submission UUID: 8f09caad-7860-4a9b-9c48-ec870cff8afe

Created: Sat, 03/23/2024 - 13:18
Completed: Sat, 03/23/2024 - 13:18
Changed: Tue, 09/03/2024 - 20:06

Remote IP address: 72.19.171.244
Submitted by:Anonymous
Language: English

Is draft: No
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Alyson
Meyers
she/her
Conifer
Colorado
United States
80433
Aerospace Engineering
English (5), Spanish (3)
Last summer I traveled to South Africa for two weeks through Education First Tours with my biology and world history teachers. We started our trip in Johannesburg and ended it in Cape Town. The tour was mainly focused on exploring cultural and environmental sites; we explored the birthplace of mankind, went on a safari, and learned more about the history of Apartheid and colonialism in South Africa. Through these experiences, I was not only able to consider the research of evolution in Africa, exploring the scientific side of the country, but also make connections between their history and current social tensions to the history and cultural climate in the United States. South Africa has a very educational and open culture, where the people there are open and willing to discuss current and past tensions. My biggest takeaway from the trip was the way everyone we met strove to help educate others on their history. South Africans take a large pride in their accomplishments and their history, however, even with this sense of national pride, they were also very willing to be critical of national problems, considering it even more patriotic to strive to improve a country than blindly love it. South Africans believe in improvement and by immersing myself in their culture and learning more greatly about what formed this identity it is a mindset that I have come to adopt. Engineering requires this mindset, for if everyone believed everything was perfect the world would still be sending messages by carrier pigeon. Improving is the core mindset of engineering, that belief that nothing is ever perfect. Traveling to South Africa not only instilled this mindset into me but also made me more ready and open to confront new ideas and try new things. Being abroad helped me gain confidence in new settings, allowing me to approach strange situations with an open and ever-considering mind.
Surrounding oneself with peers of similar motivation and drive is an important factor in successful community building. It helps set one up for achievement in their field when surrounded by others who hope to achieve similar goals and have a strong work ethic to accomplish these goals. This is the type of person that I would want living down the hall from me in the Global Engineering RAP. I would want to be living with someone who is highly academically driven and open to collaboration. They would not only strive for precision in their classes but in everything they do, driven towards improving upon their skills in the things that they love. This person would not only do things as a resume booster but rather because they have a genuine interest and love for what they want to do. They would also not just be motivated toward engineering but also other interest areas, whether that be art, history, sports, or the outdoors, finding themselves in things outside of their career. In short, I would like to live next to someone who is a well-rounded high achiever.
Being a member of the Global Engineering RAP at CU Boulder will help me surround myself with a diverse community of prospective engineers dedicated to the general improvement and globalization of the field. The program offers a unique opportunity to take a career in engineering beyond the United States and will help me develop skills applicable to solving global problems. What most attracts me to the program however is the community it strives to build on campus. Engineering is a career field that requires collaboration and living in an engineering-focused community on campus will help me build connections and further my education through collaboration with my peers. It will also personally help me to work better alongside others, developing my collaboration and communication. Global engineering is a field that is often unexplored by most engineers, however, by joining the program at CU Boulder I face the opportunity to gain a world-class engineering degree and further improve my Spanish language skills. While I already bring intermediate-level Spanish language skills to the program it will help me develop greater fluency and cultural awareness, giving me a foot in the door to global concerns. I also have experience with travel and international connections and my love for the global community adds to my desire to apply my future career towards the betterment of technology not just for one country but for the global community as a whole.
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