Submission Number: 413
Submission ID: 1360
Submission UUID: 67b34fa5-710e-4c4e-b201-fab261e29b01

Created: Sun, 04/14/2024 - 18:18
Completed: Sun, 04/14/2024 - 18:18
Changed: Sun, 05/11/2025 - 08:00

Remote IP address: 73.78.235.150
Submitted by:Anonymous
Language: English

Is draft: No

Locked: Yes
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Arielle
Zaretsky
she/her
Aurora
Colorado
United States of America
80016
Biomedical Engineering
English (5), Spanish (3)
During my junior year, I continued to develop my knowledge of the Spanish language and Spanish-speaking countries. That year, the world languages program offered a school trip to Spain and France. I was very nervous about interacting with native speakers in Spain. When I spoke to native speakers in Spanish, many detected my American accent and started speaking English or said they didn't understand what I said. I noticed that I had to mimic the dialect of Spain to communicate. After a day or two, I learned simple phrases and tenses that helped me clearly express my thoughts. When ordering lunch, I used the word "gustaría" to say "I would like . . ." as opposed to the less polite "pido," and the d's turned into "th" s to fit the Spanish accent of Spain. While eating lunch, I noticed how people spent lots of time talking to their friends and family during long meals together. While walking through Madrid, I noticed how many tapas vendors were on the streets. Often, I would find friends chatting while eating snacks on the side of the street. I noticed that people in Spain enjoy being outside while eating and loved spending time in groups during lunch and dinner. I appreciated the sense of community in Spain and would like to bring some of this culture into my college life. Another time, I went on a trip to Jordan with my family. I had the opportunity to see how the Bedouin people live in the Wadi Rum desert. I noticed they shared a communal tent and shared tea and coffee with us when we visited. Living in the desert sounds lonely, but the Bedouins' strong community traditions help them stay connected. Through the heat and cold of the desert, the Bedouins' generosity and shared living spaces helped them build a stable community. If accepted into the Global Engineering RAP, I would love to create outdoor eating areas for students to bring some of Spain and Jordan's traditions into the college community and build stronger connections between students.
The person I would want to live down the hall from me would be passionate, empathetic, and creative. I would like to talk to this person about activities we are both passionate about and our future careers. In my International Baccalaureate program, I have learned that different perspectives are valuable in becoming a critical thinker. Various points of view are necessary to look at the bigger picture and find practical solutions to benefit everyone. I would love to learn more about other engineering majors' life experiences to further our education together. At the same time, I know that college can be stressful. Talking to someone about shared struggles during our college experience would be nice. I hope to find an engineering community full of creative and diverse people who support each other and have the drive to create a more accessible and fair world.
Since I started working at Craig Hospital, I have become more aware of accessibility and the different challenges disabled people may face in day-to-day life. At Craig Hospital, I would usually clean and organize craft cabinets in the recreational therapy room while setting up activities for patients. The more I worked there, the more I noticed the small ways the hospital was made more accessible for disabled people. For example, the elevators were large, and the doors remained open longer than the average elevator. This ensured patients' wheelchairs could fit and had time to get into the elevator. These adjustments created a very accessible and welcoming environment at Craig Hospital. So far, my engineering experience has been limited to biomedical engineering and the perspectives of disabled individuals. I would love to learn more about different engineering problems worldwide while learning from others' experiences with engineering. I also want to learn how different engineering specialties can work together to solve a common problem. At Craig Hospital, it took multiple different types of engineers to create an accessible place for patients. If accepted into the Global Engineering RAP, I plan to build a community that is passionate about helping others through community service.
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