Study Abroad Blog

I was confident that I would be able to finish up my biography in this third installment, however, I don’t think it would be a good idea to skimp on anything at this point. This “third chapter” will possibly prove to be one of my longest posts, but also one of the most important in laying the foundation of what has brought me to where I am now in my life. I know I couldn’t possibly articulate the immense personal change or incredible experiences I had during my time abroad, but I’m willing to give it my best shot! I’ll try to add some structure to this to make it an easier read and we will see how that goes. The next post really should be my last biographical discussion, summarizing the events since my semester abroad, but for now, I must bring forth the third installment of my biography:

Chapter 3: To International Experience, and Beyond!

Recap
So, when I left off, I had just decided to spend my semester abroad in Jönköping, Sweden and I mentioned the few months that followed were pretty much a blur. This is true, as I hardly recall much of anything, but I know there was a lot that got done. For starters, I had never left the country (and only the State once), so I needed my passport. I applied and had it expedited and it arrived about three weeks later. Then I had to expedite my Swedish visa, which took about a month to get and I believe I had it in hand only a couple weeks before I was set to leave.

So there I was, necessary travel documents in hand, about as ready as I was going to be to leave the continent and my world as I knew it behind for a semester. I had no idea what awaited me on the other side of the planet, but I promised myself to keep an open mind about it and just try to make the most of my experiences. Bear in mind, I had lived my whole life up until that point at home with my family. To even suggest that I truly had any idea what I was doing would be ludicrous, nevertheless, I sucked it up and moved forward.

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Ah yes, College! So, I left off in my bio just as I found myself entering Fresno State. I mentioned I was granted a business scholarship and was a member of the Craig Business Scholars. I believe this is where I will pick up my story.

Chapter 2: Pre-International College Experience…yeah, that works

Ok, so I decided to really devote myself to the Craig Scholars and immediately got involved. I participated in just about every community service event that came our way including Adopt-A-Highway, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, and Habitat for Humanity. I was having such a great time with the other Scholars and felt it only fitting that I step up and be a leader in the group. Once I decided to do this, I ran for Treasurer for my sophomore year and landed the gig. Sophomore year came, I did a lot of the same and decided come the end of the year I would run for Vice President for my junior year. I was elected, again, and just as my junior year got under way things began to change, and little did I know I was on the verge of making one of the biggest and best decisions of my life.

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Howdy all, I just got word from my alumni that I landed one of the two nomination spots for the Jack Kent Cooke scholarship!  What this means is that my application is now on its way to the foundation review committee with all the other national nominees.  Since I didn’t explain before, here is how this competition works:

In order to have your application forwarded to the review committee, you have to receive a nomination from your alumni, which means you have to have graduated from an accredited university where there is an elected Jack Kent Cooke faculty representative.  This representative is who eager beavers, like myself, send our applications to.  From here, the representative is allowed to nominate a maximum of two candidates to have their applications forwarded to the national pool – this is where I currently stand.  

Now for the tough news - they anticipate 1,200 nominations and plan to only award 30 graduate scholarships for the 2007 competition…do the math and you’ll find only about 2.5% of nominees will be super happy campers come June when awards are announced.  Regardless of the turnout, I am honored to have the opportunity to represent my alumni in the national competition and look forward to the potential opportunity to represent the Jack Kent Cooke foundation in my studies, as well as in my life moving forward.  In about four months I’ll learn if the review committee decides to grant me this opportunity!  I suppose that is all for now, and thus concludes my “Quick Update.” 

“Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.” – Vaclav Havel