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Individual StoryWriting
I have always been an idealist at heart, and it's something I'm proud not to have lost. I majored in Environmental Studies because on the most basic level I wanted to create a better world. After working in several different environmental non-profits after college, I realized the non-profit world was not best at implementing fast and creative solutions on grand scales. The most out-of-the-box move that my last non-profit did was host an app challenge for environmental health. It was this app challenge that opened my eyes to the world of data and how the growing wealth of environmental health metadata could actually create solutions to curb the growth of chronic diseases, mitigates climate change and help so many other environmental health problems. I excel in my ability to see problems and act on them, which is why I enrolled in Turing to become part of data-driven solutions. Turing has tested my abilities in many ways, but the biggest thing it has taught me is that my conviction to keep pursuing a fix even though I have had to give up a lot of things in the short term.... or something.
Reflection on Empathy Gear Up
I have always known I am extremely lucky to be in the position I am. I take this knowledge and try to show empathy to everyone, because you are always more privileged than someone else and someone if always more privileged than you. It's a scale. I think it's easy to become resentful at other's who have more privilege than you, but you have to show them empathy too because their experiences are very different than yours. I visited Nicaragua this summer and saw a lot of poverty and not much opportunity for most children growing up there, unless their families were upper class. I really try to keep this perspective in my head when I'm feeling negative about Turing and the workload and its structure, because I know I'm incredibly lucky to even have the chance to attend a coding school like this, and to not take myself and my struggles so seriously.