Key Insights
I have developed many new insights throughout my time at college. These can be as simple as learning not to judge someone by the way they look or dress, or by an ACT score. They even branch into how I judged myself relative to those around me. MLP has been crucial in developing these understandings, but far from the only role player. I can break up my growth into three parts since I started college: freshman year, Supplemental Instruction, and Montgomery Leadership Program.
Freshman Year
Renaissance, the great rebirth. Finally, I had escaped the mountains of Cold Springs. The rest of my life starts now. I began classes and quickly realized that my highschool had not given me all of the tools necessary for success. My 29 on the ACT was average in a room filled with future engineers and doctors, how could I stand out if I didn't even get out of state tuition waved? My friends were all from, what I percieved to be, "Super Schools." The only thoughts racing through my head were ones of "What if I'm not as smart as my parents thought I was?" I didn't match the profile of the elites within a college setting , or so I thought. The challenges began to flow in, and I was able to exceed every standard thrown my way. I ended freshman year as a 2 time President's List scholar. I may have never seen a calculus class, used a graphing calculator, or even used a computer in a classroom setting, but I had excelled well beyond what I had hoped. This revelation has led to many changes within my personal biases. Every time I see a loud kid with stains all over their shirt growing up in a rural area, I imagine what they will be able to do when they find something to contain their hyperactivity. I never disregard someone's social prowess due to their stature or presentation.
Montgomery Leadership
Volunteering, something I did regularly in my hometown, always felt like the appropriate thing to do. I was raised on altruism. I always helped someone out when they needed it. With an inherent desire to help others, Montgomery Leadership Program only made sense in the logical progression of my collegiate career. Once I was accepted into the MLP, I was nearly drowned with hours. I no longer had to wait on an event to volunteer, I had more than I would have ever asked for. The Noxubee Wildlife Refuge, my place of assignment the first semester, is thousands of acres worth of places to help. I learned that "raking tree beds" actually meant cutting privet hedge with a brush axe and throwing it in the back of a UTV. Mr. Steve, the park ranger, was a welcoming man with never a sign of displeasure with our presence. It was at this place that my first community service project would ever be, on a team of people that I will call my friends for the rest of college. We wanted to provide a major project, something that could not be overlooked for a long time thereafter. We all wanted something grand, but we lacked the skills and the connections for something of that scale. We eventually decided to take over two canoe days for the "Friends of Noxubee", a volunteer group native to the refuge. They were beyond grateful! They brought us donuts while we pushed canoes in and out of the water, telling us how happy they were for our help. Then it clicked, it doesnt have to be grandiose to be great, it only needs to help. I will forever live by the principle that simple doesn't mean lesser.
Supplemental Instruction
Being an SI leader has been one of the best positions I have had the chance to hold. I get to constantly better my abilities in the field of chemistry, while also perfecting public speaking at the classroom scale. I got this position by pure luck, as the person they were originally going to hire ducked out midway through the summer. I am the only SI leader to get hired less than a month before the semester began. Chemistry 2, the class I taught for, had been a breeze for me to complete. The lack of difficulty I had with this class created a problem, I needed to identify the issues that plague common students and how to best address them in my sessions. This required me to become quite comfortable placing myself in other people's shoes. I was able to quickly pick up on the struggles of others by agreeing to work with students independently. Pretty soon I was could predict issues students were having based solely off of the problem they couldn't solve. I have used this in all sections of my life. I often use these abilities to aid my struggling classmates and even people outside of the classroom. I have learned to always look at a problem from multiple sides; not because it will show many difficulties present, but the many solutions that exist to the same problem.
MADE BY SOPHIE WITH LOVE
MY COOKBOOK
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