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Submission Number: 102
Submission ID: 441
Submission UUID: 4f701817-394f-46f5-b531-b711b4163f56
Created: Thu, 05/20/2021 - 16:40
Completed: Thu, 05/20/2021 - 16:40
Changed: Mon, 05/12/2025 - 09:54
Remote IP address: 99.149.236.37
Submitted by:Anonymous
Language: English
Is draft: No
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Ben
Krueger
He/Him
San Marcos
CA
United States
92078
Aerospace Engineering
English (5), German (5), Spanish (3)
Being born in the U.S. as the child of German immigrants has given me a unique perspective on both cultures. I have grown up bilingually, speaking fluent German in addition to my native English language skill. In turn, the ability to converse in multiple languages has facilitated my ability to understand and appreciate cultural differences, such as the more outgoing vis-a-vis a more reserved interaction style in the U.S. and Germany, respectively. Travel to and longer stays in Germany have helped me further develop and practice this intercultural understanding. I believe this has prepared me well for appreciating and celebrating cultural differences beyond the ones I was born into.
Other experiences that have taught me a lot about different cultures are my family's domestic and international trips. I have traveled to many different major cities within the United States such as New York, Austin, and Seattle. While I simply enjoy traveling and seeing new places, another reason I always look forward to these trips is that I find it fascinating how different geographical regions or cities are within the same nation. While this may not be surprising in such a large country, I am always amazed at how much different each city's cultures are and how they differ from my hometown of San Diego, California, not only geographically, but also based on their traditions and energy.
For example, in San Diego, most people are laid back and relaxed. In their spare time, people go to the beach and surf and watch the sunset. I realize that geographically, in other cities such as New York going to the beach is not realistic. However, after spending a week in New York, I realized everyone is always in a rush to get to where they need to go. You can constantly see and hear people calling for taxis or speed walking to their next meeting. It’s almost as if everyone is holding their breath and is frantically running around. In San Diego, the pace is much slower, with people finding much more time to breathe. These differences exist despite these two cities both being dense population centers near a coast, with large companies, and in the same country.
Looking at culture on a larger scale, on an international level, the differences between cultures become much more extreme. In addition to traveling to Germany, I have also traveled to Australia and Ireland with my family. Between these countries I have noticed many differences. Examples of these are food, people’s temperament and their traditions. For me, food has always represented one of the major cultural differences between the United States and Germany. In Germany, you can go to the nearest bakery and pick up a loaf of freshly baked bread at any time of day. This is not true in the United States. Baking fresh bread is just not something that is typical for America. Another major difference is temperament. In Germany, people tend to be more reserved and impatient, verging on unfriendly. However, during my time in Australia, I met some of the nicest, most helpful people I have ever met.
Many cultural differences between countries and states exist because of geographic differences. Other differences, such as people's temperament, exist because of the people who live there. I have had the opportunity to see many of these cultural differences, and I want to use the experiences and knowledge I have accumulated of different lifestyles in order to contribute and help a new culture or way of life that I have yet to discover.
Other experiences that have taught me a lot about different cultures are my family's domestic and international trips. I have traveled to many different major cities within the United States such as New York, Austin, and Seattle. While I simply enjoy traveling and seeing new places, another reason I always look forward to these trips is that I find it fascinating how different geographical regions or cities are within the same nation. While this may not be surprising in such a large country, I am always amazed at how much different each city's cultures are and how they differ from my hometown of San Diego, California, not only geographically, but also based on their traditions and energy.
For example, in San Diego, most people are laid back and relaxed. In their spare time, people go to the beach and surf and watch the sunset. I realize that geographically, in other cities such as New York going to the beach is not realistic. However, after spending a week in New York, I realized everyone is always in a rush to get to where they need to go. You can constantly see and hear people calling for taxis or speed walking to their next meeting. It’s almost as if everyone is holding their breath and is frantically running around. In San Diego, the pace is much slower, with people finding much more time to breathe. These differences exist despite these two cities both being dense population centers near a coast, with large companies, and in the same country.
Looking at culture on a larger scale, on an international level, the differences between cultures become much more extreme. In addition to traveling to Germany, I have also traveled to Australia and Ireland with my family. Between these countries I have noticed many differences. Examples of these are food, people’s temperament and their traditions. For me, food has always represented one of the major cultural differences between the United States and Germany. In Germany, you can go to the nearest bakery and pick up a loaf of freshly baked bread at any time of day. This is not true in the United States. Baking fresh bread is just not something that is typical for America. Another major difference is temperament. In Germany, people tend to be more reserved and impatient, verging on unfriendly. However, during my time in Australia, I met some of the nicest, most helpful people I have ever met.
Many cultural differences between countries and states exist because of geographic differences. Other differences, such as people's temperament, exist because of the people who live there. I have had the opportunity to see many of these cultural differences, and I want to use the experiences and knowledge I have accumulated of different lifestyles in order to contribute and help a new culture or way of life that I have yet to discover.
I consider myself to be an introvert. During high school, I was mostly friends with extroverts. Being around people who had a different personality type than myself helped me be more outgoing and come out of my comfort zone. I don’t think this would have been possible if I were friends with only shy people such as myself. In terms of personality, I would want someone who is outgoing, someone who is confident, and someone who can encourage me when I need it to break out of my shell and be more confident in myself. However, even with this, I think there needs to be a balance. I don’t think I would match particularly well with an extremely extroverted person. The person I am looking for should not be so totally extroverted that they don’t see things from the perspective of an introvert.
Many people might say that they want someone living down the hall who agrees with them, who has the same opinions, ideologies, or beliefs as them. I agree, this kind of combination might make for a functional and safe friendship. However, I don't think this is how a successful team should be built-- be that a research team, a project team, or a team of friends. I believe in order to accomplish something, these teams must be diverse. Diversity, in any organization, stems from differences among, or the individuality of, its members. Leveraging diversity for an organization’s success arises from recognizing, inviting, and celebrating as equal the individuality and its contribution to the organization by self and others, undeterred by conscious or subconscious biases we may be subject to. Because of this, I want someone living down the hall who can contribute to my team's success by seeing things through a different lens than my own. I want someone who is able to understand and recognize my ideas and the values they might bring, who then brings another idea to the table that I hadn’t thought of. Someone with a different background than myself would be great because different experiences lead to different perspectives and different perspectives lead to different ideas.
Finally, I want someone who lives down the hall from me, to be honest. Honesty is something I value because it is a big part of trust. If I can’t trust someone generally, I can’t trust them to be honest with me, and then I can’t rely on helpful feedback from them. I want the person living down the hall from me to tell me if I made a mistake, or if they believe my idea won’t work. Then, we can work on it together and problem solve to find a resolution. On the other hand, if one of us finds a solution to a problem, we should both be able to acknowledge and celebrate the other’s success instead of being jealous that we weren’t the one to find the answer.
Many people might say that they want someone living down the hall who agrees with them, who has the same opinions, ideologies, or beliefs as them. I agree, this kind of combination might make for a functional and safe friendship. However, I don't think this is how a successful team should be built-- be that a research team, a project team, or a team of friends. I believe in order to accomplish something, these teams must be diverse. Diversity, in any organization, stems from differences among, or the individuality of, its members. Leveraging diversity for an organization’s success arises from recognizing, inviting, and celebrating as equal the individuality and its contribution to the organization by self and others, undeterred by conscious or subconscious biases we may be subject to. Because of this, I want someone living down the hall who can contribute to my team's success by seeing things through a different lens than my own. I want someone who is able to understand and recognize my ideas and the values they might bring, who then brings another idea to the table that I hadn’t thought of. Someone with a different background than myself would be great because different experiences lead to different perspectives and different perspectives lead to different ideas.
Finally, I want someone who lives down the hall from me, to be honest. Honesty is something I value because it is a big part of trust. If I can’t trust someone generally, I can’t trust them to be honest with me, and then I can’t rely on helpful feedback from them. I want the person living down the hall from me to tell me if I made a mistake, or if they believe my idea won’t work. Then, we can work on it together and problem solve to find a resolution. On the other hand, if one of us finds a solution to a problem, we should both be able to acknowledge and celebrate the other’s success instead of being jealous that we weren’t the one to find the answer.
In July of 2013, I received the most devastating phone call of my life. After performing a multitude of tests to diagnose the cause of my sudden and, until this call, inexplicable joint pain, fevers, and headaches, I was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and was immediately admitted to the hospital to begin my treatment.
Looking back at my three and a half years of treatment, I consider myself extremely lucky. Firstly, the cancer was diagnosed early before it got a chance to multiply uncontrollably. Secondly, and more importantly, I live in an area where I am fortunate enough to have rapid access to world-class healthcare. I was able to go to a hospital filled to the brim with top-of-the-line equipment, all the medications I needed, and Doctors and staff who are experts in their field. All this was only 40 minutes away from my house.
Sometimes, I think about what it would be like to live somewhere else, where the nearest doctor is several hours away, is understaffed, and simply does not have the technology to diagnose and treat conditions such as my Leukemia. My life would look dramatically different from the way it does today. Then I think about how developing systems and technology that would be able to effectively diagnose, create a treatment plan for, and finally treat these kinds of illnesses in less developed countries and regions would be life-saving for so many kids. This medical technology would have to be developed cheaply so it can be mass-produced and delivered to areas in need.
Up until this point in my life, I have only ever worked on projects for school that were for my own gain. For example, I coded apps and games that would be fun to play for myself. Or I built a rocket to enter in a contest, but other than for entry into this competition, it didn’t do anything useful. Being part of the Global Engineering RAP would help me to transition from working on projects that give me personal gain to working on projects that help others. Participating in this program would give me the chance to help develop technologies that could help improve people’s lives, or even save them. I want to use my experience and perspective of having access to healthcare to help give this life-saving gift to others who are in need of it.
Looking back at my three and a half years of treatment, I consider myself extremely lucky. Firstly, the cancer was diagnosed early before it got a chance to multiply uncontrollably. Secondly, and more importantly, I live in an area where I am fortunate enough to have rapid access to world-class healthcare. I was able to go to a hospital filled to the brim with top-of-the-line equipment, all the medications I needed, and Doctors and staff who are experts in their field. All this was only 40 minutes away from my house.
Sometimes, I think about what it would be like to live somewhere else, where the nearest doctor is several hours away, is understaffed, and simply does not have the technology to diagnose and treat conditions such as my Leukemia. My life would look dramatically different from the way it does today. Then I think about how developing systems and technology that would be able to effectively diagnose, create a treatment plan for, and finally treat these kinds of illnesses in less developed countries and regions would be life-saving for so many kids. This medical technology would have to be developed cheaply so it can be mass-produced and delivered to areas in need.
Up until this point in my life, I have only ever worked on projects for school that were for my own gain. For example, I coded apps and games that would be fun to play for myself. Or I built a rocket to enter in a contest, but other than for entry into this competition, it didn’t do anything useful. Being part of the Global Engineering RAP would help me to transition from working on projects that give me personal gain to working on projects that help others. Participating in this program would give me the chance to help develop technologies that could help improve people’s lives, or even save them. I want to use my experience and perspective of having access to healthcare to help give this life-saving gift to others who are in need of it.
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