Submission Number: 170
Submission ID: 853
Submission UUID: fd46f9b0-f594-40a6-8b89-2895e4543557

Created: Sat, 04/02/2022 - 21:41
Completed: Sat, 04/02/2022 - 21:41
Changed: Thu, 05/08/2025 - 04:18

Remote IP address: 24.9.106.169
Submitted by:Anonymous
Language: English

Is draft: No

Locked: Yes
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Colton
Writer
He/him
Denver
Colorado
United States
80207
Aerospace Engineering
English (5), Spanish (2.5)
In early middle school I traveled to Mexico, and in 2019 I was given the opportunity to travel to Panama. Through both of these experiences one thing was crystal clear for me: the immense inequality present. In Mexico specifically, my family largely stuck to the major tourist attractions and when I asked about some of the clearly less affluent towns we were passing through I was told by my parents that there are just some people that have less in this world and it wasn't fair but there also was not much we could do at the current moment. This answer never sat right with me. It just feels wrong to be in a situation where my family was enjoying beaches while people in the next town over were not sure where their next meal would come from. It was remembering this experience that made me want to give back to not just my community, but to help those around the world who needed it most. Previously I have only been able to help others through donations but hopefully if I am accepted into the Global Engineering project I can make a more tangible impact.
Ideally, the person living down the hall from me, in the Global Engineering RAP, would be someone in a similar major who I could work with on various projects and from whom I could get feedback. That’s because experience has shown me that I learn best when collaborating with others.
One of my best experiences in my high school studies has been this year in AP Physics. The class itself has been one of the most rigorous I have ever taken, but this rigor created a close camaraderie amongst the students. Everyone steps up to help each other when anyone needs help. The group of friends I have who are taking the class all regularly ask questions about concepts they don't understand, and someone in the group with a good understanding of the concept will explain it.
This sense of camaraderie extends well beyond my friend group though. On the day of a test or lab, students in the class who have never been friends before talk with each other about the class and share ideas. This creates a sense of community, and it is really awesome!
I want something similar to this with my dorm-mates. I would love to be able to discuss an assignment and then bounce ideas off of each other, learning from my peers. I believe engineering is an inherently collaborative process, and I sincerely hope to be able to collaborate with many of the people living down the hall from me. In fact, it is this peer learning which I am most looking forward to at CU’s Engineering School. I think the Global Engineering RAP is the ideal place for it to occur. I hope my future CU dorm-mates share this mindset, and will be excited to learn from and collaborate with each other. That said, I hope to collaborate with my dorm-mates on projects outside of classwork that can make a difference in this world. I believe that the only way to truly innovate change is through collaboration and I hope future collaboration within the RAP will help people worldwide.
I want to be a member of the Global Engineering RAP because I want to help others. Aside from this, I think being a member of the Global Engineering RAP community will help broaden my understanding of engineering. Aerospace engineering is a very specific field with a limited scope. Through the RAP I hope to be able to expand the scope of my education to include many other engineering challenges which would help me broaden my skill set. I want to come out of college with a well rounded understanding of engineering and I believe that if I am able to face challenges such as a cost effective water filtration system or addressing the challenge of delivering medical aid to remote villages it will allow me to learn more about problem solving in diverse areas instead of a purely aerospace education where I would not develop these broader problem solving skills. That said I think I will be able to contribute to the community as well.
As an Eagle Scout, I know how to lead projects and take feedback from others to improve the final project. For my Eagle Scout Project I led a team of a dozen volunteers to build a staircase to help public accessibility to a trail in Red Rocks. I believe I can take this leadership experience and use it in the projects I will be working on within the Global Engineering RAP. Additionally, I believe that I can bring new ideas and possible solutions to projects that the community is working on.
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