I’m from Carmel, Indiana, a northern suburb about twenty minutes from the heart of Indianapolis. Since I was a small girl, challenge was never something I was afraid of. I had a playful and competitive spirit, and was always up for an adventure. My unusual passion for language and literature followed with me everywhere I went, and it was always apparent in my academic scores that the art of language was more important to me than science and mathematics.
I spent a summer in Bretagne, a northern province of France, where I studied French intensely with Indiana University Honors Program. The experience was essential to my future, for it was in the city of Saint-Brieuc, France that I discovered the raw passion I had for the French Language and foreign cultures. Throughout the following year, I developed an incredible passion for the development of children. I found particular fascination with education, and realized that I wanted to improve the way American school systems handled international education as a whole.
My hope for this upcoming adventure is that I am able to discover ideas and statistics about the Senegalese culture that I can bring home with me to impact the American society, in whatever form that may be. I hope to also contribute to my host community in a unique and positive way. I want to be a person remembered for compassion, diligence, and integrity by the people I meet. And even though I may have a lot of work to do to leave such an impression on people, I am only optimistic about what I am capable of accomplishing. Now I see so clearly: my time as a student is just beginning, for there are many lessons in life I still have to learn. Today is just the start.
