Submission Number: 140
Submission ID: 519
Submission UUID: 098cb47b-9235-431e-932d-1d4bd6c5caba

Created: Tue, 06/01/2021 - 00:00
Completed: Tue, 06/01/2021 - 00:00
Changed: Mon, 05/05/2025 - 22:29

Remote IP address: 73.34.146.75
Submitted by:Anonymous
Language: English

Is draft: No

Flagged: Yes
Locked: Yes
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Connor
Gagen
He/him
Aspen
Colorado
United States
81611
Mechanical Engineering
English (5), Spanish (2)
The first time I traveled abroad, my family and I traveled throughout Scandinavia. It was eye-opening. At ten years old, I believed that America was the entire world. The language was alien, the air thicker, but the people were the same. Beyond the language barrier and distinct culture, good people still existed on the other side of the world. It baffled my tiny little head that different geography, culture, and religion did not create aliens.

Then as we exited the airport, we boarded the public train. Again, the train was unlike anything in the US; it was impeccably clean. Then, the train took us to a rental car rental agency, and we were on our way.

One night, as we hopped between fjords, we stayed at a campsite. This campsite had the most incredible playground I had ever seen. There were ziplines into the fjord, a massive trampoline, and a floating dock out in the water. Way better than US playgrounds.

On this trip, I learned a lesson that is fundamental to the Global Engineering RAP. There is no way to rank cultures, one culture is not better than the next, but anyone can learn from another culture to make themselves a better person and improve the space around them. Also, each culture has particular manners that you must be mindful of to serve the community best.

Although Scandanavia does not struggle with poverty, I can still apply these lessons with the Global Engineering RAP to serve a community that does. To provide essentials that every community should have




I would want to live down the hall from somebody who is the exact opposite of me. Different cultures, different hair styles, different learning styles, purely opposite, but has one thing in common a desire to learn and understand.

Despite our differences, I would love to learn from my opposite so that the other party and I can become better people.
Engineers can get wrapped up in numbers and often neglect the very purpose of the project they are working on, usually serving other people, resulting in uncompassionate engineers who solely care about functionality over the community.

The Global Engineering RAP would help me avoid this rabbit hole of inhumanity and create engineering solutions that benefit communities. I plan to contribute heavily in making sure that projects are eco-friendly and have the community as a top priority.

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