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<\/p>\nI would be lying if I said that I grew up anything but spoiled. The three most important people in my life made it their mission to ensure that my life was filled with everything that they could possibly give me. These people are my mom, aunt, and grandmother, and it would not be possible for me to describe myself without discussing them. While they spoiled me with gifts, they more importantly spoiled me with love and allowing me to dream the wildest dreams. Instead of firmly pulling me back down to reality, they let the zero-gravity ether that I spend so much of my time in sculpt me into the young woman that I am today. (Though my mom is a proud helicopter parent, so I suppose she was never too far when I was busy dreaming.) In this, these women have given me some of my most characteristic qualities: my quirk, my fierce go-getter attitude, and, most of all, my fearlessness. My grandmother left the South and came to California when she was only eighteen\u2014not something that women of her era did. I watched my aunt from her teen years to her present thirties relentlessly pursue her passions which has culminated in her achieving her goal of owning her own dance studio. My mom has inspired me by not only setting goals, but always achieving them with poise even in the face of staggering obstacles. The fearlessness that they have displayed has laid the foundation for me to be the same way.<\/p>\n
This fearlessness is what led me choose to go to Archbishop Mitty High School, when the rest of my classmates chose to attend the local non-coed Catholic schools. Mitty\u2019s philosophy and experiences constitute a pivotal point in the development of my understanding of the world outside of my own in the experiences it gave me.<\/p>\n
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(A child from Therapeutics Camp with me at Roosevelt Community Center)<\/p>\n
First, Mitty\u2019s yearly twenty-five hour community service requirement that the school brought me to one of my favorite places when I was fifteen, Roosevelt Community Center in downtown San Jose. I had every intention of completing my hours in three days and then leaving, but the Kindertots (3-5 year old campers) and the spectacular staff kept me there. My twenty-five hour requirement grew into thousands of hours of service until I finally accepted the part-time position they offered me. The children there became a part of me and my norm; the staff became my family\u2014other recreation leaders gave me the sibling treatment that I never had growing up as an only child. Roosevelt taught me what a community looked like. It taught me that family was an even more vast construct than I had previously imagined. The reason why I say this is because Roosevelt Community Center sits on the divide between one of San Jose\u2019s poorest and richest neighborhoods. Though one would think the divide would also manifest between patrons, all of the customers and their children bonded quickly. Some children there had only ever been in private schools and had been given all the best opportunities\u2014like me. Other children took classes at the center on scholarship and came from families that struggled, something I could also relate to. Despite these differences between people at Roosevelt, they all came together creating the ideal community. Being a part of this gave me the chance to believe that the ideal and unlikely could in fact happen, that this sort of community could exist.<\/p>\n
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(My classmates and I were playing a game with our host families in El Salvador)<\/p>\n My second significant Mitty experience changed my life. The summer after my junior year, I journeyed with twenty-three other students and our teacher, Mr. Howard, to El Salvador. After spending a year in class with Mr. Howard teaching us about the history and current events of El Salvador, I had no qualms about walking into this unknown place. There, the best and worst thing happened to me. During our homestay, I got sick. Getting sick there would help to inspire my major, Public Health Science, because I witnessed and experienced the glaring health disparities in their country. I came down with a case of strep throat and experienced frequent nose bleeds from the heat along with contracting a mild case of Dengue fever. The small clinic in the farming community where my class was staying had been outfitted by outdated medical equipment donated by Americans. The clinic couldn\u2019t treat me as their equipment was outdated and the clinic was understaffed. I couldn\u2019t help but think of what the people there did when they got sick. It also brought my mind back to Roosevelt Community Center where I often witnessed health disparities but did not know how to process them. My host family in El Salvador took care of me as if I were a part of the family\u2014a debt that I can never repay. When I got back home, I spent a lot of time thinking about my experiences in El Salvador and at Roosevelt Community Center and knew that I wanted to major in something that studied the biological underpinnings in health as well as addressed health disparities. I found Public Health Science and I\u2019ve never left.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (My first cubicle at SJFD was next to Captain Holston\u2019s [left]. He\u2019s like family to me now.)<\/p>\n The summer before starting at Santa Clara University, an opportunity in the San Jose Fire Department found me, and I was able to work in a very unfamiliar environment and learn a myriad of new skills along the way. I, again, found a community, but this one was different. I found myself amongst people who dedicated their lives to ensuring the safety of others by taking action. In my various roles at SJFD, I began to wonder how I could take action. How could I use the skills that I had developed to pursue my passions of addressing health disparities? How does one go about making change? The fire department taught me not to be afraid of taking action and to make a decision with at times limited information and make the necessary changes as I go\u2014all things that firefighters must do every day. I also saw these qualities, even stronger at times, in the non-sworn personnel that keep the department running.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (My roommate, Misja, and I helping out at Welcome Weekend)<\/p>\n Arriving at SCU, I found myself wanting to take action and contribute to SCU while also fostering the kind of community that I have been so fortunate to be a part of. This time, however, I want to contribute in a more meaningful way. I want to contribute to a solution rather than try to patch the problem. I found the opportunity to exercise my passions as well as the ability to contribute to a meaningful solution in the Global Social Benefit Fellowship where my skills, passion, and fearlessness can meet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I would be lying if I said that I grew up anything but spoiled. The three most important people in my life made it their mission to ensure that my life was filled with everything that they could possibly give … Continue reading ![\"Gsbf](\"http:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/shelby\/files\/2015\/04\/Gsbf-2.jpg\")
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