Grad School

So I just applied to an amazing grad school program at The Monterey Institute for International Studies.

More specifically, I am hoping to be a part of their MA program in International Environmental Policy that pairs your curriculum with a peace core commitment. I feel like this program is exactly what I have been searching for so I will be keeping my fingers crossed.

At any rate, I thought I would share my Statement of Purpose that I submitted with my application...

“Just doing my part to save the world,” was my response when friends inquired about the work I was doing at a solar consulting company.

I had stumbled into the solar energy sector with no prior experience or knowledge. In a “mouth to fire-hose” method of learning I was working 13 or more hours a day trying to learn about the renewable energy area. Not only was I working in the marketing department looking to target our desired audiences, initiating outbound marketing campaigns and doing media outreach, but I also served as a research assistant for various projects.

When my employment status changed, I found myself searching through my past to find where my future would be. I realized that I could contribute, significantly, as an individual to what has become my generation’s challenge and also fill a void in my life that began in 2005.

I was recruited to play soccer and earned an athletic scholarship to VT but my career was cut short due to injury. I had planned to use my college career to further develop and move on after graduation to play soccer professionally. Once that was taken away, I struggled to find a purpose as I wandered through my undergraduate courses still unsure if the curriculum was really of interested to me.

I have always had a relentless pursuit of excellence and boasted an impeccable drive to try and get there. Although that drive didn’t earn me a grade point average to brag about it did earn me the right to be proud that I graduated a semester early when it is more common for students to take five years to complete their degree.

I have been learning through working: first in the solar energy sector and now as an intern writing and researching green energy initiatives.

Currently, my degree in Mass Communication has afforded me the opportunity to continue my green “self” education by writing for a sustainable project’s website. By writing for this initiative, I have continued in my attempts to inspire a creative and conscious change in my social network and the websites’ audience. Between pulling information off the shelves, the Internet or by visiting with various projects and organizations across the country, my thirst for green knowledge has only grown by the day. I feel that my desire would be enhanced through the MAIEP program.

The PCMI program particularly intrigues me, as I was not even considering graduate school until I came across this unique opportunity. Early on, I discovered my desire to serve and contribute to a greater good and looked into the Peace Corps as a way to fulfill this need. Incorporating the Peace Corps as a part of this Masters Degree program is a real world educational opportunity that cannot be replicated any other way.

As a native of nowhere and everywhere, I have been blessed to have grown up in the home of a career Naval Officer which afforded me the rare opportunity to experience other cultures at an early age. I attended an international elementary school while living in Europe. It was there that I developed my basic language skills and continued building them throughout high school and college.

Time teaches many lessons and I have had my share to learn. I want to show I can succeed in and contribute to furthering my formal education while making a profound global impact as an agent of change. I hope to use this program as an opportunity to continue to empower others with knowledge and inspire social change in order to save our world.