What is your mission statement?

Think about your gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, special abilities or disabilities, age, social economic status, religion, birth order, and any other possible influences that come to mind. How have these factors influenced your personality and learning preferences?

The theme that jumps out at me the most within this question is "birth order." I have three brothers: Isaac, who is 19; Eli, 24; and Jeremie, who is 36. Since Jeremie is so much older than the rest of us, I felt like the middle child growing up and that really influenced the way I perceived my surroundings. This might sound a little dramatic, but I viewed everything as a challenge. I wanted to be smarter, faster, and cooler than all of my brothers in everything. New neighbors? They better like me more than they like my brothers. A tree? I'm going to climb that way faster than Isaac can. There are cookies in the kitchen? LOL at whoever thinks they're getting there faster than I am. 

Even though growing up as a middle child gave me a tough exterior, I also developed compassion and have always been able to easily empathize with others. I may have fought Eli and Isaac for all of the treats in our house, but Eli was my idol and I was fiercely protective of Isaac. Isaac, who is 3 years younger than me, didn't speak (English) until he was 3 years old. Instead, he spoke a weird, Chinese-sounding language that only I could understand. I also dragged him around by his hair because I thought he was my personal doll to play with. 

While I was busy dressing Isaac up like an American Girl doll, I was also trying to be as much like Eli as I possibly could. I learned every word to "A Whole New World" because Aladdin was Eli's favorite Disney movie, and when that wasn't good enough, I learned to play it on our keyboard in the hopes that he would realize how cool I actually was. He didn't. Jeremie, on the other hand, thought I was the bomb.com, but since I never had to work to earn his favor I didn't really care as much.

This was just a really long way to say that growing up, I've always experienced this common theme of feeling the odd one out. I've let it effect the way I interact with others, the things I choose to be involved in, and the way I carry out that involvement. If I have one regret, it's that it took me until pretty recently to realize this about myself. To take that a bit further, I wish I could also have realized a bit earlier that that's okay. This mentality means that I am totally comfortable putting myself in someone else's shoes; I can see experiences, situations, and feelings both objectively and subjectively. Being able to relate to others has been one of the biggest assets to my experience as a collegiate. 

My mission statement: To continue to be an advocate for others, while never losing sight of my own goals, passions, and dreams.