A Day in the Life

The plan has been under revision for a while. It was origionally to go back to school and finish my degree. I went back to school and as it turned out the school didn’t work out for what I was thinking… Now I have found a new school and have been restlessly trying to figure out why I want to try school again. At the moment I am making the most out of the desire to finish my education and am trying to go through all the steps it takes to get there. This involves moving to Olympia, Washington and getting into school. In-state tuition and finding a job are on that list…

I have been finding a lot of good resources for doing this. The more I get into the process of actually figuring things out, the more I hear about the town and people who have lived there or have gone to Evergreen. I hope to get there by summer and I’ll keep posting updates here.

I am including a draft of an essay I am writing to include in the application for Evergreen. I am posting it for input and just because it says more about why I am undertaking school again. I will keep updating it as I revise it.

I believe that yours is an institution where I can get the most out of my education, is best suited for the way I learn, and will help me be best prepared for the work that I am passionate.

Right out of high school, I opted not to go directly to college and instead I was apprenticing for a carpenter I had worked for during the last two years before I graduated. In part this was because I had just returned from Africa and was considering becoming a missionary. My Father had just died tragically from Aids and I needed time to just concentrate on figuring out loss and changes beyond the scope of a high school senior. In retrospect this decision reflects my learning process. I’ve learned that taking a leap of faith can ground you more than sticking to the straight and narrow path. I consistently make decisions that let me explore new parts of the world, and I find that I learn the most when actively participating rather than absorbing information. These have often been hard but rewarding decisions to make. I have found that learning carpentry gave me a foundation to work from that I have returned to frequently in the pursuit of my education.
I do feel that much of my other experiences in my life have prepared me for continuing my education in a way that academic study could not. Much in the same way as I turned away from the traditional path of going to college after high school, I am now applying to your school with a non-traditional transcript to finish my education. After much consideration of Evergreens mission, learning environment, and reputation, I believe that continuing and finishing my education at your school will not involve a difficult and unfamiliar process for me. Instead I think that it will be exciting and rewarding in a way that I have only experienced before outside of an academic setting
I’m a quick and competent learner. One tends to depend on this aptitude when waiting tables in a restaurant for a living. When your job involves reading people, multi-tasking, and trying to follow the unwritten rules that are created when things change daily according to no predetermined plan, it’s important to stick with what’s important to you and leave the rest on any given day. It’s in this sense that I view my experiences at the first school I attended, Marquette University.

After taking a year off and learning carpentry, I enrolled at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI. While there I was challenged academically as well as personally. I took upper-level classes on North African history and ancient Greek along side my freshman requirements. I was successful in these classes academically and I realized that although I had the aptitude to graduate, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted out of a degree. My passion is people and yet I was declared as an English Major. While I spent a lot of time studying, my main focus out of class was everything from Aids walks to learning feminist theory from my upperclassman friends. I wanted to find an occupation that embraced my passion as well as motivated my studies before I continued my education. I left Marquette after much consideration and counseling after three semesters and returned to carpentry.

I learn serious lessons much in the same way that I make tough decisions. Once I figure out what’s important to me I move forward, without considering what I leave behind. While recovering from a serious car accident in Rocky Mountain National Park when I almost died I came across three conclusions that gave me the answers I was looking for since leaving Marquette. These lessons have influenced my decision to apply to your school. The first being to never take time or people for granted because no one can judge what the future brings. The second being that helping people is not only a passion of mine but it is what brings me the most satisfaction. And the third was that to fully realize my potential for this passion I needed to return to school and finish my degree in order to get involved in organizations that help people professionally. The conclusion to return to school was a combination of valuing the importance of an education in general and acknowledging that I had more to learn and the best way to learn how to help people would be from an academic setting.

After recuperating for the summer and fall after my car accident, I returned to Breckenridge, Colorado for ski-season. Previous to the accident I had been working and living in ski and resort towns in Colorado. I found a job that required me to learn how to cook three-course meals for visiting skiers from the U.K. While I could have been working retail or as a lift operator, I took the job because it offered me an opportunity to learn how to cook and learn about a different culture than my own. Cultural diversity is often lacking in mountain towns comprised mostly of seasonal post college residents. Having found my bearings again in a familiar setting I finished the winter season and enrolled in school at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Co.

Considering my long tenure of being out of school, the experience I had at Fort Lewis in no way compared to Marquette University or met my newly formed expectations for my education. Enrolled in Sociology classes, I found that my professors were more intent on disproving the need for non-profits then exploring them. I was left on my own as far as forming a plan for my classes as counselors were few and hard to find. When in the midst of working two jobs in a small town and taking classes unfortunately I needed additional treatment for after effects of head injuries from the car accident. I received little help in this regard from either my professors or the school. Dismayed I ended up dropping classes while seeing a neurologist and working full winter and spring breaks. The professors that I couldn’t find in the midst of this gave me failing grades for not being able to attend their classes. I finally found my way through my medical difficulties and left Fort Lewis. I came to the conclusion that I needed a school where the faculty was more actively involved in the learning process, and my role as a student would not be dependant solely on taking notes and answering multiple choice tests.

What I consider I accomplished at Fort Lewis was again, out of the classroom. I actively helped many students in my dorm from Japan learn the English language. As they themselves spoke little or none of the language but were required to complete freshman writing classes of which they did not understand. Most relied on portable translators because the school had no Japanese speaking tutors. I would help with explanations of topics, verb usage, and eliminating the overuse of the word “moreover” in written assignments.

I have worked for four seasons at The Grand Lake Lodge also in Colorado. Every summer for eighty years, the Lodge becomes a haven for students, outdoor enthusiasts, and adventurers from around the country and the world. The owners of the Lodge train these employees to work in positions with little or no experience. In this setting I worked a variety of jobs from prep cook to housekeeping supervisor. This experience has influenced me greatly each summer I have spent there. In the spirit of the independence that the Lodge embraces, I moved ahead after my experience at Fort Lewis College. Instead of returning to Carpentry or ski-areas, I decided to learn a new skill that would allow me to flourish in a school that fit my goals better and to explore the field in which I wish to work.

In the summer of 2004, after learning how to wait tables and saving enough money to travel, I spent three weeks in Ecuador exploring the culture and helping with an independent service project. This experience gave me a clear picture and a passionate idea of what I could accomplish with a degree. It brought to my attention what my general focus would be while obtaining it. While traveling in a country where the native culture is quickly being overrun by western ideals I realized that non-profits organizations that are independent of governments would be crucial to respecting a culture while being of help. Before leaving for Ecuador I helped raise funds for beds, refrigerators, and schooling for a small orphanage outside of Quito. Given this limited yet vital experience, I returned to the U.S. and found new ways to experience a newly discovered culture while exploring various types of non-profits and how they work.

Before Ecuador, I was waiting tables in a suburb of Chicago. Upon my return, I found a job in the city itself that reflected my passion. I helped open a new restaurant for Jon Young, a successful restaurant owner who was opening his second shop. What defined his restaurant was his time spent living and working in Mexico. He actively encouraged all employees to speak Spanish and used his business as a community meeting place for people from Latin America as well as urban dwellers. Kitchen staff from Latin America were encouraged to learn new skills and played a major part in the business instead of being treated as cheap labor. Through this job, I learned more about the culture that I had recently visited. I also developed ideas about how to help those from Latin America living in this country.

Having found a job that could continue my exploration of Latin American culture I returned to a newly founded non-profit based in Evanston, Illinois. The Center for Independent Futures is a much needed replacement for housing and caring for disabled adults. Instead of living with their parents or being placed in institutions through CIF, disabled adults are placed in their own apartments and then taught living skills toward independence. During my two years there I watched CIF grow from one building of six people to an organization that is building six units in a new condo and is actively sought after for help in other states trying to implement similar services. My Role in the center included tutoring individual clients adjusting to life on their own, finding ties in the Evanston community for CIF to connect with, and acting as community tutor for a group of four men living on their own. What I feel is my main accomplishment in this is finding volunteer opportunities for these individuals to participate in themselves. These include having CIF clients participate in a walk for autism and a planned event in conjuncture with Play for Peace Chicago. Play for Peace teaches inner city Chicago kids to play games where they participate with others that they would not ordinarily associate with. Through play, boundaries that are normally destructive are broken down and a better understanding is reached. Since the disabled adults at CIF are passionate about exploring new things I felt that they could help in the process that Play for Peace engages.

What I believe Evergreen would do with regards to continuing my education is inclusive toward the experiences I have outlined here as well as solve many of the problems that I have encountered at other institutions. The multi-faceted, active approach to learning that your school offers is what I have found works best for me in a learning situation. The academic reputation is concurrent with the standards found at Marquette that led me to search for focus before continuing my education. And the help, resources, and design or your program is crucial for me to be successful with my education. Independently, I have learned much about non-profits, other cultures, and the role of organizations that help those in need. I feel that only by attending Evergreen can I be challenged enough to complete my education with a curriculum that will be of benefit to these organizations. This is apparent to me from examining your academic credentials and the types of classes Evergreen offers.

Ultimately after graduating I would like to find a job in an overseas position working for a non-profit agency. I have done research and interviewed people who have done jobs such as I aspire toward, specifically, those working for Care International and the Peace Corps. I have gained a working understanding of what is needed in order to be effective in this field. I believe that the best education for these jobs would be one based on educator evaluations and active participation. A degree program based on evaluations would also give a prospective employer a more balanced and thorough idea of my skills and compliment the work that these organizations are involved in doing. An educational environment like Evergreen that involves active learning would be of great benefit to me, where I feel I could truly prosper. Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to hearing from you.