My goal in college is to gain as much as I can from this experience. I have a strong desire to learn as much as I can. I see, in every field of study, connections that provide bridges to other fields. I want to be able to identify and make those connections useful for both me and others. Every experience I have gained in life is relevant towards this goal. Each new experience gives me skills or helps me to determine how to navigate for future situations.
As a Bailey Scholar, I can explore learning on a deeper level. An entire community dedicated towards learning to learn is extraordinary. While I encounter learning on a daily basis, in my classes, I do not encounter learning how to learn. That is something that is left up to me as a student to figure out. That is, until I joined Bailey Scholars. As a Bailey Scholar, I hope to gain a deeper understanding of learning and a more complete college experience.
In the future, I see the Bailey Scholars program gifting me with a more complete picture of what it is to be in the academic world. As a first-generation student, everything is new to me. It was September 14, 2023, when I first realized that graduate school was an option for me. Certainly, it was an option, but it doesn’t mean that it was accessible. I received an email about scholarships for graduate school. That email caused me to realize that finances were the only barrier. That said, I wonder what else I am discounting simply because it seems unattainable. Embedding myself in an environment full of learners will aid me in identifying opportunities that I might not pursue on my own.