How can global experiences and perspectives improve the field of engineering? Please tie your thoughts to your personal experience and interests in engineering. I want to continue volunteering and making a difference in my community throughout my life. There’s no better feeling to me than volunteering my time with my friends and family. If I am accepted into the Global Engineering RAP, I want to live down the hall from someone who shares my drive to make a difference in the lives of others. While I also won’t mind if this person loves baseball or watches star wars as much as me, if we agree that there is more to life than just oneself, I know we would get along. That’s what the Global Engineering RAP represents to me: connecting with each other and building off those connections to work towards a better future for everyone, especially those who have been less fortunate, which has always been a driving focus in my life. Whether I ultimately choose aerospace, electrical, or mechanical engineering, I’ll never complete my goals without the support of like-minded people as no man is an island and change takes a village. So really, it’s less about who I’d like to live with, and rather who would allow me to best grow as an individual.
Second to a mutual desire to work for the benefit of others, I would love to live down the hall from a driven person. My baseball coach always told us that positive attitudes breed positive attitudes, while a negative attitude is like a disease that festers and spreads throughout a population and doesn’t stop until everyone has become infected by the negative feelings. As soon as one person in this program becomes lethargic, gives up, and no longer cares about the goals they signed up for, that attitude will spread throughout the entire dorm. However, if each person is driven and committed, it becomes a positive feedback loop that we all benefit from. While I know that I’m a driven person, it’s as my coach said: it’s positive attitudes (plural!) that spread, not just one, and a little help from down the hall would go a long way for all of us.
As for the last items on my wishlist… Well, I’m a simple guy, and I would love to live with a person that enjoys watching baseball as much as I do. Despite being “America’s past time”, many people are less than enthused to get into the nitty gritty details of this year’s draft or their favorite players’ batting averages. To have someone who would have fun talking shop about baseball down the hall would be awesome. I would also love another Venezuelan down the hall, who could help me make (and eat!) arepas because I know I’ll miss my mom’s, and don’t think I can go a whole semester without them!