Reflecting on what brought me to the UW Honors Program just as I was finally starting to experience it was a valuable process. Although my classes were intimidating and the college experience overwhelming, taking a moment to reflect showed me how far I had already come in understanding why I was here and what kind of goals I should set for myself during my time at UW. Looking at it now shows me how far I've come since then, too!
"I am not the person I was when I applied, but somehow, that smart-alecky high school senior got me exactly where I need to be."
Week 1 Reflection
Gifted and Talented Education. Accelerated. Honors. Advanced Placement. Since kindergarten, I've been a "smart kid." I was one of the third graders who got to go in the hall to do extra math, that middle schooler who read Jane Austen, the valedictorian at my high school.
When I applied to the University of Washington, applying to the Honors Program as well was a no brainer. I had come to look for the honors label and to think of myself as an "honors kid." I was hard-wired to achieve, and I figured the extra application essay and a little extra work were worth the honors diploma.
As I began researching the UW Honors Program and how it works, though, I realized that I'd stumbled upon something that was so much more than what I was looking for. In my obsession with achievement in high school, I had never considered reasons why my education mattered beyond graduating with a 4.0. But the Honors website talked about students' research, travel, and activism. It explained the Honors approach of synthesis and interdisciplinary study. An Honors education was not about personal achievement, I realized, but about becoming an empowered and enlightened contributor to society.
When I was accepted to the University of Washington and the Honors Program, coming here was a no brainer, too. I am smart, but more significantly, recent events in my life have made me realize that I want to do important things.
This summer, I caught a glimpse of what those important things might be. On a service trip to the Yakama Nation in Eastern Washington, I learned about the injustices American Indians in Washington have suffered throughout the history of our state. It enraged me. I couldn't help the people on the reservation break out of their cycle of poverty by spending a week working in a homeless shelter there, but I came away from the experience with the resolve to return and to create more significant progress.
I want to understand the workings of social disparities and figure out ways to fix them. My personal achievements are products of the privilege into which I was born. But the things my education will empower me to accomplish will mean nothing unless they contribute to helping others attain the advantages I have enjoyed as a member of the white middle class.
The issues to which I set my attention are big ones; politics, religion, race, gender, class. To solve the problems I want to solve, I need to learn not only information, but how to use it and how to communicate it to others. These tasks will require me to utilize knowledge across disciplines and to be comfortable synthesizing information between them. I hope that the Honors Program will help me to explore, to struggle, to grow, to equip myself for the work I feel compelled to do and to discover how I might go about that work.
When I applied to the Honors Program last December, I thought I was a "smart kid." And by most measures, I am pretty smart - I have the grades and test scores to prove it. But gradually since December and especially in the last couple of weeks, I've come to think of myself as being less of a smart kid than a lucky one. I am not the person I was when I applied, but somehow, that smart-alecky high school senior got me exactly where I need to be.
When I applied to the University of Washington, applying to the Honors Program as well was a no brainer. I had come to look for the honors label and to think of myself as an "honors kid." I was hard-wired to achieve, and I figured the extra application essay and a little extra work were worth the honors diploma.
As I began researching the UW Honors Program and how it works, though, I realized that I'd stumbled upon something that was so much more than what I was looking for. In my obsession with achievement in high school, I had never considered reasons why my education mattered beyond graduating with a 4.0. But the Honors website talked about students' research, travel, and activism. It explained the Honors approach of synthesis and interdisciplinary study. An Honors education was not about personal achievement, I realized, but about becoming an empowered and enlightened contributor to society.
When I was accepted to the University of Washington and the Honors Program, coming here was a no brainer, too. I am smart, but more significantly, recent events in my life have made me realize that I want to do important things.
This summer, I caught a glimpse of what those important things might be. On a service trip to the Yakama Nation in Eastern Washington, I learned about the injustices American Indians in Washington have suffered throughout the history of our state. It enraged me. I couldn't help the people on the reservation break out of their cycle of poverty by spending a week working in a homeless shelter there, but I came away from the experience with the resolve to return and to create more significant progress.
I want to understand the workings of social disparities and figure out ways to fix them. My personal achievements are products of the privilege into which I was born. But the things my education will empower me to accomplish will mean nothing unless they contribute to helping others attain the advantages I have enjoyed as a member of the white middle class.
The issues to which I set my attention are big ones; politics, religion, race, gender, class. To solve the problems I want to solve, I need to learn not only information, but how to use it and how to communicate it to others. These tasks will require me to utilize knowledge across disciplines and to be comfortable synthesizing information between them. I hope that the Honors Program will help me to explore, to struggle, to grow, to equip myself for the work I feel compelled to do and to discover how I might go about that work.
When I applied to the Honors Program last December, I thought I was a "smart kid." And by most measures, I am pretty smart - I have the grades and test scores to prove it. But gradually since December and especially in the last couple of weeks, I've come to think of myself as being less of a smart kid than a lucky one. I am not the person I was when I applied, but somehow, that smart-alecky high school senior got me exactly where I need to be.