Portfolio Learning Statement
“The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.” -- Rachel Carson
Coming into UW, I didn’t have high expectations for myself, in many senses because I never really knew what I should be trying to do in college, and I also unfortunately had very little idea of what I wanted to do. UW was intimidating. I felt constant imposter syndrome and questioned why I was in the places I found myself in. I faced many (what at the time felt like life shattering) setbacks chasing my preconceived path of what college should be before finally finding something that worked for me and allowed me to work on things I truly cared about.
While my time as an undergraduate has taught me many things about the natural world and instilled in me an immense desire to commit myself to addressing the challenging environmental issues the 21st century will be defined by, it has also taught me equally as much about myself. Through an often turbulent journey with numerous ‘failures’, rejections, and setbacks, during my four years at UW I have been able to find a field I am passionate about, travel to the far northern corners of the earth, help support healthy communities and environments across my home state, and study languages that I have often been told are either obscure, useless, or unmarketable (and sometimes a combination of all three), but that I love studying and have opened my eyes to the world. My journey through UW is highlighted across this portfolio, following each year of my sometimes-confusing college path. In retrospect, absolutely nothing ‘went to plan’ per se over these four years, yet the final destination seems to be just as promising. UW guided me towards my passion, but also taught me how to deal with setbacks, how to avoid the hedonic treadmill of success and unhappiness, and most importantly, to just trust that things will work out, no matter how hopeless things may seem in the present.
Today, this sentiment of optimism seems more important than ever before. Studying the seemingly endless environmental issues we are/will be facing often feels as if you are sitting on the shore, watching a colossal wave in the distance slowly and ominously become bigger as it approaches, but being unable to move, instead just internally grappling with the destruction you know is probably coming. I have learned that in order to not feel paralyzed by the climate crisis and other challenges we are facing, you have to retain a sense of optimism, even if the models are beginning to tell a different story. Believing that things will get better, and that we can solve the problems we are confronting is the only way any progress can be made.
I don’t think myself, or any of my peers would have ever expected to graduate college over video conference, to be catapulted into a job market with near great-depression level unemployment rates, or experience the great deal of personal pain and loss this pandemic has brought our own communities, just four years ago as wide-eyed freshmen. It is easy to feel hopeless right now, but I have found that the lessons I learned while at UW, about accepting setbacks, dealing with uncertainty, and retaining faith that everything will work out is more important now than ever, and is something valuable to carry along in my future endeavors.
While my time as an undergraduate has taught me many things about the natural world and instilled in me an immense desire to commit myself to addressing the challenging environmental issues the 21st century will be defined by, it has also taught me equally as much about myself. Through an often turbulent journey with numerous ‘failures’, rejections, and setbacks, during my four years at UW I have been able to find a field I am passionate about, travel to the far northern corners of the earth, help support healthy communities and environments across my home state, and study languages that I have often been told are either obscure, useless, or unmarketable (and sometimes a combination of all three), but that I love studying and have opened my eyes to the world. My journey through UW is highlighted across this portfolio, following each year of my sometimes-confusing college path. In retrospect, absolutely nothing ‘went to plan’ per se over these four years, yet the final destination seems to be just as promising. UW guided me towards my passion, but also taught me how to deal with setbacks, how to avoid the hedonic treadmill of success and unhappiness, and most importantly, to just trust that things will work out, no matter how hopeless things may seem in the present.
Today, this sentiment of optimism seems more important than ever before. Studying the seemingly endless environmental issues we are/will be facing often feels as if you are sitting on the shore, watching a colossal wave in the distance slowly and ominously become bigger as it approaches, but being unable to move, instead just internally grappling with the destruction you know is probably coming. I have learned that in order to not feel paralyzed by the climate crisis and other challenges we are facing, you have to retain a sense of optimism, even if the models are beginning to tell a different story. Believing that things will get better, and that we can solve the problems we are confronting is the only way any progress can be made.
I don’t think myself, or any of my peers would have ever expected to graduate college over video conference, to be catapulted into a job market with near great-depression level unemployment rates, or experience the great deal of personal pain and loss this pandemic has brought our own communities, just four years ago as wide-eyed freshmen. It is easy to feel hopeless right now, but I have found that the lessons I learned while at UW, about accepting setbacks, dealing with uncertainty, and retaining faith that everything will work out is more important now than ever, and is something valuable to carry along in my future endeavors.