{"id":19,"date":"2017-04-18T04:18:04","date_gmt":"2017-04-18T04:18:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/christinaharris\/?p=19"},"modified":"2017-04-18T04:27:04","modified_gmt":"2017-04-18T04:27:04","slug":"what-brought-me-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/christinaharris\/2017\/04\/18\/what-brought-me-here\/","title":{"rendered":"What Brought Me Here"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others\u201d- Mahatma Gandhi<\/em><\/p>\n

The moment I was accepted into the Global Social Benefit Fellowship was a moment that marked the start of a new chapter for me. This is something I have been searching and yearning for in my past twenty years. Growing up for me was relatively easy. I have an extremely loving family who always motivated me to work harder and discover my true passions. Despite all the amazing aspects of my childhood that I will always be grateful for, I was constantly searching for something more. I had the curiosity to go different places and try new things; I wanted to embrace change.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Portrait of me (left), younger brother (middle) and older sister (right). I was caught laughing mid photograph.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0\u00a0Growing up as a middle child and in the east coast shapes a lot of who I am today. I was\u00a0a sassy and dramatic girl who was always fighting to be noticed between my two siblings. I didn\u2019t want to be stuck behind the scenes, and wanted to establish a place within the family unit. Although at times this might have been difficult for my parents, I am thankful to this aspect of my personality because it has helped pushed me to further limits. Furthermore, being from the east coast gave me even more of a kick. As some argue we are slightly more aggressive, which I wasn\u2019t even aware of until moving across the country to California. I thought everybody was like that. These traits played a big role in different aspects of my life. The first was in my passion for horseback riding.<\/p>\n

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Photograph of me riding in a show jumping competition in Wellington, FL<\/p><\/div>\n

As a young kid I started horseback riding and immediately fell in love with it. This passion carried me\u00a0through my years of education. When things got difficult at school I knew I always had this safe haven. I spent hours after school at the barn training, and working hard. The sport taught me discipline, and the importance of patience and dedication. At times the dedication was exhausting but it also brought me incredible joy. Among all the other things\u00a0horse back riding gave me\u00a0it also introduced me into the world of community service. For a while I volunteered at a therapeutic riding center for kids with different disabilities. It was the perfect way to combine my love for horses and helping other people. Although I always liked engaging in service and it was something I recognized brought others and me happiness, it wasn\u2019t long lasting or sustainable. It felt like there was more that could\u00a0be done.<\/p>\n

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The non-profit I volunteered at throughout high school<\/p><\/div>\n

My\u00a0enjoyment for service also brought me different travel opportunities. Travel was something that was always a big part of my life. From a young age I was always trying to find different ways to leave Massachusetts and discover new places. When I was eleven years old my mom sent\u00a0my sister on a service trip to Costa Rica to expose her to new environments. I remember begging her to let me go on a program too and travel alone. The day she let me apply to that program was the day I knew I would never stop traveling. From there I kept looking for new opportunities whether it was a language immersion in Spain or an art trip to Eastern Europe. I was hungry for exposure to new places. This is largely why I chose to go to school in Santa Clara so far away from home. I wanted to push myself to live somewhere different without a family close by to always rely on.<\/p>\n

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A photograph of my entire family visiting me abroad in Prague, Czech Republic. The photo was taken on the Charles Bridge.<\/p><\/div>\n

Starting freshman year at Santa Clara so far away from home was not an easy feat. It was the first time I understood the true meaning of homesickness. I was no longer the rambunctious middle child, nor did I truly understand the difference in California lifestyle. The things I knew I could hold onto were my love for travel and service. I immediately started volunteering at different organizations such as the Santa Clara senior center and the Ronald McDonald House. I wanted to continue to help others and learn from the Jesuit tradition. I declared a psychology major, which seemed like an area of study that would encourage my passion to\u00a0help others while trying to\u00a0understand their behavior. I was enamored by the ability to quantify and measure observable behaviors and even feelings. As I continued through my psychology major I was looking for more ways I could get involved with social change. One of the greatest gifts California has ever given me is an increase in environmental awareness. I was suddenly very passionate about becoming more educated in this field and using this as a means for promoting change. This led me to an innovation for climate justice class where I first heard of the fellowship and the concept of social entrepreneurship. Social entrepreneurship\u00a0was a field that gave me a chance to expand my love for service and research. I instantly registered for another class to explore the field more\u00a0and it taught me the most practical values I have learned yet at Santa Clara. It encompassed not only the values behind my Jesuit education but also the innovation of the Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n

Everything from the social impact, quantitative research, and ability to push myself into new environments attracted me to the fellowship. For the next nine months I plan to employ my enthusiasm and new knowledge to create a worth wile experience for my \u00a0social enterprise, All Across Africa and myself.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others\u201d- Mahatma Gandhi The moment I was accepted into the Global Social Benefit Fellowship was a moment that marked the start of a new chapter for … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2034,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"qubely_global_settings":"","qubely_interactions":"","kk_blocks_editor_width":"","_kiokenblocks_attr":"","_kiokenblocks_dimensions":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"gutentor_comment":0,"qubely_featured_image_url":null,"qubely_author":{"display_name":"christinaharris","author_link":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/christinaharris\/author\/christinaharris\/"},"qubely_comment":0,"qubely_category":"Uncategorized<\/a>","qubely_excerpt":"\u201cThe best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others\u201d- Mahatma Gandhi The moment I was accepted into the Global Social Benefit Fellowship was a moment that marked the start of a new chapter for … Continue reading →","post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/christinaharris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/christinaharris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/christinaharris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/christinaharris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2034"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/christinaharris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/christinaharris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/christinaharris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions\/36"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/christinaharris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/christinaharris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/christinaharris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}