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Submission information
Submission Number: 411
Submission ID: 1358
Submission UUID: bd5776ae-5770-4889-aa1a-830c7a42ea32
Created: Sun, 04/14/2024 - 10:14
Completed: Sun, 04/14/2024 - 10:14
Changed: Wed, 05/07/2025 - 00:14
Remote IP address: 64.92.150.69
Submitted by:Anonymous
Language: English
Is draft: No
Locked: Yes
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Tiernan
Pittz
he/him/his
Carbondale
Colorado
United States
81623
Open Option Engineering, considering Biomedical
English(5), Spanish(5), Norwegian(1)
Pursuing a global perspective has always been a major part of my life. From a young age, I have been able to travel abroad to many Spanish-speaking countries and immerse myself in many cultures, including Spain, Peru, and Mexico. Every trip has opened my eyes to new cultures and practices, challenging the way that I see the world.
The most impactful trip abroad that I have experienced was studying in Mexico in fourth grade. My family and I spent the year outside of the US, with the most time in Oaxaca, Mexico, where I enrolled in a fully immersive Spanish-speaking school. In the five months we spent in Oaxaca, I was exposed to a new culture and honed my Spanish speaking skills at school as well as interaction with the host families we stayed with. The immersion in the Mexican culture there changed me as only a global experience can: through friends, daily life, language, and feeling what it is like to live in a large city with rich cultural heritage.
More recently, I had the opportunity to travel with my family to Ecuador for a month, where we traveled the country by bus and had the opportunity to join a mountaineering expedition to a volcano there. In Ecuador I was able to speak Spanish to connect with people even as they were going through economic and political unrest, offering me a glimpse through another window on the world.
I have also had chances to use my language skills in concert with adventure, competition, and research through a weeklong trip to the Spanish Pyrenees for a ski race in March of 2023. I had this opportunity as a member of the US National Ski Mountaineering Team, and my Spanish-speaking skills were invaluable and enhanced my experience there with the other athletes from Spain and Chile as well as the race organizers and officials. While this trip was predominantly focused on skiing in the international community, I was also able to conduct some personal research for a Geology class that I was taking at the time about the geologic context of the Pyrenees, which was an amazing experience in conducting research abroad.
Another trip that I embarked on recently was a trip to the Sea of Cortez, in Sonora, Mexico, on a Marine Biology-focused trip with my school. We were housed by the Prescott College Center for Cultural and Ecological Studies, and this was another incredible opportunity to see the applications of science in the real world while also having the opportunity to use Spanish to connect with the greater community of Kino Bay.
The most recent trip abroad that I have taken was a weeklong trip to Norway for a Youth Ski Mountaineering World Cup, representing Team USA. While this may seem like it doesn't fit with the theme of other trips I have taken, my experience there was unique especially from an engineering standpoint, as I could experience the various bridges, tunnels, ferry systems, and other infrastructure that they have developed to move efficiently around the fjords.
The most impactful trip abroad that I have experienced was studying in Mexico in fourth grade. My family and I spent the year outside of the US, with the most time in Oaxaca, Mexico, where I enrolled in a fully immersive Spanish-speaking school. In the five months we spent in Oaxaca, I was exposed to a new culture and honed my Spanish speaking skills at school as well as interaction with the host families we stayed with. The immersion in the Mexican culture there changed me as only a global experience can: through friends, daily life, language, and feeling what it is like to live in a large city with rich cultural heritage.
More recently, I had the opportunity to travel with my family to Ecuador for a month, where we traveled the country by bus and had the opportunity to join a mountaineering expedition to a volcano there. In Ecuador I was able to speak Spanish to connect with people even as they were going through economic and political unrest, offering me a glimpse through another window on the world.
I have also had chances to use my language skills in concert with adventure, competition, and research through a weeklong trip to the Spanish Pyrenees for a ski race in March of 2023. I had this opportunity as a member of the US National Ski Mountaineering Team, and my Spanish-speaking skills were invaluable and enhanced my experience there with the other athletes from Spain and Chile as well as the race organizers and officials. While this trip was predominantly focused on skiing in the international community, I was also able to conduct some personal research for a Geology class that I was taking at the time about the geologic context of the Pyrenees, which was an amazing experience in conducting research abroad.
Another trip that I embarked on recently was a trip to the Sea of Cortez, in Sonora, Mexico, on a Marine Biology-focused trip with my school. We were housed by the Prescott College Center for Cultural and Ecological Studies, and this was another incredible opportunity to see the applications of science in the real world while also having the opportunity to use Spanish to connect with the greater community of Kino Bay.
The most recent trip abroad that I have taken was a weeklong trip to Norway for a Youth Ski Mountaineering World Cup, representing Team USA. While this may seem like it doesn't fit with the theme of other trips I have taken, my experience there was unique especially from an engineering standpoint, as I could experience the various bridges, tunnels, ferry systems, and other infrastructure that they have developed to move efficiently around the fjords.
Down the hall from me in the RAP I would want to find someone driven not only to challenge themselves academically but also to achieve the goal of the RAP: implementing a global perspective to understand the implications and importance of our work as engineers. This person would not only take that responsibility, but challenge everyone else on the floor to do the same. The person down the hall would not be interested in engineering solely due to a drive to challenge themselves academically but rather because they see the skill set that we challenge ourselves to learn as a tool for the world and for the greater good. They also realize that these effects that engineers can have on the world are not limited to engineers in the full-time workforce, but rather, that we can have an effect on the world as students as well, inspiring everyone else on the floor to embody the change they wish to see in the world.
I would want the people living down the hall from me to be dedicated to their academic excellence, and take advantage of the seclusion that Williams Village has from the rest of campus to maintain a regular and healthy sleep schedule. As an athlete, this regular schedule is important to me, and I want the person living down the hall from me to recognize that and aspire to this goal of regular sleep for themselves as well. I want the person living down the hall from me to be excited and willing to explore the greater Boulder area, whether that be to experience the city of Denver or seek out the quiet and serenity of the mountains to the West. These two aspects of their life work together to make this person an excited individual with energy to devote to the things they love.
I would want the people living down the hall from me to be dedicated to their academic excellence, and take advantage of the seclusion that Williams Village has from the rest of campus to maintain a regular and healthy sleep schedule. As an athlete, this regular schedule is important to me, and I want the person living down the hall from me to recognize that and aspire to this goal of regular sleep for themselves as well. I want the person living down the hall from me to be excited and willing to explore the greater Boulder area, whether that be to experience the city of Denver or seek out the quiet and serenity of the mountains to the West. These two aspects of their life work together to make this person an excited individual with energy to devote to the things they love.
I want to be a member of the Global Engineering RAP at CU Boulder because I believe that my degree from the school would be much more valuable to myself and to society if I have an idea of how my actions as an engineer impact the greater area around me, be that Boulder, the greater Denver metro area, Colorado, the United States, and the world. The skills that I will learn through the College of Engineering and Applied Science are meaningless if I cannot grasp the context of my work. For this reason, I believe in the mission of the Global Engineering RAP and want to be a part of recognizing our impact on the world, rather than moving forward through classes and into the world and workforce without a reason for being an engineer. Another reason that I want to be a part of the RAP is in order to make the larger CU Boulder community feel more cooperative and a little smaller by surrounding myself with other people with similar goals in their education.
The main reason that I wish to be an engineer is to change lives and positively impact the world through development of various products and projects, from pharmaceuticals as a Biomedical Engineer to roadways as a Civil Engineer. Since this is my main goal as an engineer, I see the Global Engineering RAP and Minor as invaluable opportunities to surround myself with engineers with the same goal, which would allow me to fully pursue that aim of contributing globally.
As a member of the residential community, I plan to be as similar to the person that I described above that I can be: a positive, motivating force in the dorm that inspires others to be their best selves and put their best foot forward as students and members of the community. I also want to bring my active lifestyle to the dorm, with the hope of inspiring others around me to explore the amazing access that Boulder has to surrounding natural areas, from the Flatirons to Eldora to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain NP. I would like to create a group from the RAP that is interested in skiing, mountain biking, or hiking on the weekends.
One of my goals is to participate in a study abroad program or Engineers without Borders as a way to challenge myself; I plan to learn another language, in addition to Spanish, that would prepare me to connect with the community impacted by the work designed in the program. I believe that language can allow us as engineers to bridge gaps between theoretical work and impactful engineering.
The main reason that I wish to be an engineer is to change lives and positively impact the world through development of various products and projects, from pharmaceuticals as a Biomedical Engineer to roadways as a Civil Engineer. Since this is my main goal as an engineer, I see the Global Engineering RAP and Minor as invaluable opportunities to surround myself with engineers with the same goal, which would allow me to fully pursue that aim of contributing globally.
As a member of the residential community, I plan to be as similar to the person that I described above that I can be: a positive, motivating force in the dorm that inspires others to be their best selves and put their best foot forward as students and members of the community. I also want to bring my active lifestyle to the dorm, with the hope of inspiring others around me to explore the amazing access that Boulder has to surrounding natural areas, from the Flatirons to Eldora to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain NP. I would like to create a group from the RAP that is interested in skiing, mountain biking, or hiking on the weekends.
One of my goals is to participate in a study abroad program or Engineers without Borders as a way to challenge myself; I plan to learn another language, in addition to Spanish, that would prepare me to connect with the community impacted by the work designed in the program. I believe that language can allow us as engineers to bridge gaps between theoretical work and impactful engineering.
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