How can global experiences and perspectives improve the field of engineering? Please tie your thoughts to your personal experience and interests in engineering. My parents have never allowed me to travel far to experience other cultures and build new perspectives, but my church has offered me many opportunities to extend my knowledge through even local experiences. With my church community, I helped hand out gloves, food, and other supplies to people in need at the Boulder Bandshell for the past three years. Although a local service project, helping in my community is the most rewarding, and this specific volunteer opportunity established an important perspective. The people coming for support and materials they needed to help them live a comfortable life, were gracious and appreciative of the extra help. Getting to connect with these members of my community, helped me realize how grateful I am to be in a position to help others, which then helped me better understand my privilege in the world. Other experiences that my church has supported the youth in doing are mission trips. In my years in youth group, I have done four mission trips, and each one has allowed me to expand my knowledge about other communities. The most influential one I got to be part of was a trip to a Native Reservation in South Dakota. The car ride there was already a culture shock as it was a long, barren highway surrounded by emptiness. The isolating feeling and the lack of cellular service were my initial concerns. However, after contributing and helping out in the community for a week, my shallow thoughts were a distant memory, as I could only feel shame for thinking those things before. The people on the native reservation only displayed appreciation towards us as we helped their community through simple service projects. The reactions of the people I helped, further cemented my appreciation for my position in society which allows me to contribute more than money to those in need. I discovered that actions speak more than words and especially more than an impersonal monetary donation. Through my journeys, both local and out-of-state, I have grown my gratitude and have further experienced different living conditions and cultures, which showed me a new perspective.

I would want to live down the hall from someone similar to my sister. I can talk about how amazing my sister is all day, but she is kind and motivated. She is the type of person I envy because she is hyper-organized and loves to learn. This type of person I want to be, I want to strive to be. Although, this type of person I also view as friendly competition. My sister and I have always had a small competition in how well we perform academically in school. This competition has allowed me to feel driven to accomplish more than I thought I could in academics and extracurricular activities. So, if a person like this was living down my hall I would feel encouraged to work harder and push myself. However, my sister and I continue to collaborate, from less significant things like buying my mom a birthday present, to greater risk things, like a final project or assignment. When the friendly, in friendly competition, comes to the forefront of our relationship, it allows us to combine our thoughts and create a masterpiece. All in all, with all of the tests and trials of my sister's and I's relationship, we continue to grow and work together, which allows us to be compatible siblings, peers, and students. The relationship my sister and I have with one another due to our differences is one I would like to build with a person who lives down the hall from me in the Global Engineering RAP.