![\"Hike](\"http:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/garretteggen\/files\/2014\/04\/Asgaard-Pass-2004-Garrett-Camping-Trip-011.jpg\")
<\/a>It was not until high school where I found myself growing intellectually and beginning to understand the world around me. The newly found challenges in both academics and athletics greatly appealed to me, as I had not been previously challenged in life. Playing both football and basketball while trying to balance my academic life was stressful, but at the same time I loved the adversity. Overcoming challenges is what drove me to work hard in sports, its what drove me to study late at night for tests, and its what still drives me today to be the best person I can be. As an AP student, I was constantly challenged academically. However, my most challenging classes actually lead me to study what I do today. Government and Politics and US History both appealed to me the most, maybe because my teacher was so outstanding, but mostly because I had such an interest in both subjects. They provided me with a great understanding of how nations work in order to best solve their problems and work with each other to solve issues on an international scale. I strongly believed that getting involved in international relations could give me the potential to help fix some of the adversity that the world faces. Now I am working towards graduating with a Political Science degree from Santa Clara University.<\/p>\n
In high school, I was required to participate in community service activities that included serving food at local soup kitchens, assisting with Special Olympic events and cleaning parks and cemeteries. This oxymoron of being forced to do volunteer work never resonated with me, and I usually shrugged off these activities as merely something I needed to do. The community service I did never gave me a sense of fulfillment above completing a required task. At the time, I never thought I would do work in this realm ever again.<\/p>\n Once I graduated high school and moved on to Santa Clara University, it came to me that I really didn\u2019t know what I was going to do with my life. Since I had much more free time outside of class than I had ever had I decided to find an extra curricular activity to do. I landed upon doing community service for a local middle school. This brought me a new kind of satisfaction, as it was something that I independently chose to do in order to give back to my community.<\/p>\n Studying both Political Science and the Arabic language initiated my engagement in international relations. I had taken multiple courses on the role governments play in solving the world\u2019s toughest challenges such as poverty, gender discrimination, and lack of government accountability. Unfortunately, I had begun to realize that most of the time these governments did a poor job. This was overwhelmingly noticeable in the Middle East, which came to be of great interest to me. Since I had both the language skills and the political understanding (or so I thought) of the region, I realized that I had a wonderful opportunity to study abroad there.<\/p>\n The autumn of my junior year was spent both studying and interning in Amman, Jordan. This perhaps has been the greatest experience of my life as far as grasping my calling towards whatever future vocation I may end up in. My original intent on doing this was to enhance my experience in the field of international relations. Instead, while working for an NGO known as the Jordan Visions Center, my attention was drawn to the extreme poverty and other problems that I had not before encountered while living in America. The work I was able to do for the Jordan Visions Center was extremely rewarding for me since it made me feel like I was contributing to the development of Jordan. Regardless, it was still not enough, as I knew that providing aid to these problems would not forever eradicate them. The politics involved in NGO work can be very depressing, as it is very restrictive and does not always bring about sustainable solutions. So, when I discovered the Global Social Benefit Fellowship, I knew that I had found something to further my skills in development.<\/p>\n The main difference found between the action research offered in the Global Social Benefit Fellowship and the development work involved in NGOs can be explained in one simple quote: “give a man a fish, and you have fed him once. Teach him how<\/em> to fish and you have fed him for a lifetime.” The developmental work I had done in Amman was definitely a good thing. Yet, it did not seem to get to the base of the problem or find viable solutions. Therefore, the problems will continue without a real answer. This fellowship has offered me an opportunity to get to the root of an issue and provide sustainable solutions that can serve as a precedent to eradicate similar problems. Poverty cannot be eliminated merely with monetary aid; people need to be able to feed themselves. This can only be done through providing the poor with education, health care, and employment opportunities. The world is becoming more globalized than it ever has been before, and it is essential that we do not leave anybody behind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My life has consisted of constantly trying to find my calling, or vocation if you will. At first I wanted to be a Doctor because that\u2019s what both of my parents did, then my desires shifted towards becoming a lawyer because of my strong dislike for science and my ability to argue. However, my experiences … Continue reading An Unexpected Journey<\/span> <\/a><\/a><\/a>