How my Degree Choice would affect society by Carter

How my Degree Choice would affect society by Carter - December 2023 Scholarship Essay

City building games, such as Cities: Skylines, provide me with a creative way to plan out virtual ideas into thriving cities. I have played these types of games religiously throughout my childhood. It is interesting to micromanage a digital city as an omniscient god, and with the satisfaction of designing a functioning city. One day while playing, I accidentally placed a water tower in an industrial zone and it had the effect of sickening all of my citizens; it took many hours to figure out what caused the catastrophe and it was very rewarding to fix the problem by moving the water tower to a more commercial part of town. I also really enjoy optimizing the timing of traffic lights to ensure smooth traffic flow and prevent congestion. These situations, and many more, developed my interest so much further that I began to imagine civil improvements while driving around my home city, Dothan, Alabama.

More ideas sparked when my family and I took a trip to Atlanta for a fun, three-day weekend. We visited numerous landmarks, such as Centennial Park and Piedmont Park, and I took note of the infrastructure around Atlanta: the bike lanes, divided and undivided; traffic control devices such as no turn indicators that lit during parts of the day and interstate metering lights; and alternate transportation options such as the MARTA buses and trains. When I visit other cities, big or small, my imagination runs wild considering how Dothan would benefit from improvements and how I would incorporate changes. We could put a pedestrian bridge over the carpool lanes near the gym at Dothan Preparatory Academy, as many kids go to the adjacent playground after school by dangerously crossing the carpool lanes, or we could put a bike and pedestrian walkway around Ross Clark Circle, similar to Atlanta’s innovative BeltLine.

Soon, though, I was hit by the truth of the world and American society: none of this would truly happen with today’s automobile-centric culture, as explained by my wise and doctorate-holding grandfather, “No one would want to use it anyways.” Dothan, like many other small cities in the United States, has become too dependent on its “individualistic bubble” automobile, and the commercial industry has grown around that idea. Box stores, strip malls, and asphalt deserts occupy a major amount of land that could be utilized in a recreational, healthy, and walkable mixed development space that is both residential and commercial to avoid unnecessary driving trips. Yet, many Americans rely on their trusty automobile because they are either forced to use the sole transportation method or are convinced to do so.

A very large city like Atlanta has the advantage of having many Fortune 100 companies and has more tax income from wealthy citizens to fund civil projects, a more complex part of what Dothan is missing. In city budgeting, though, Dothan can really afford a major infrastructure project, but the problem persists when the government chooses easier solutions to problems, like widening highways or just laying more roads.

As a high school student, I have a voice, and I can suggest changes to my city through my right to present concerns such as this. It brings up an important question for young people going into their fields: we need to imagine things completely anew and as our duty as young people, we need to imagine an alternative to this awful human condition of suburban sprawl and automobile dependency. Dothan may already be a victim of the automobile, but it is not lost. My main goal is to promote a healthier city lifestyle, one that does not include being stuck for hours in traffic jams or driving to a park just to bike recreationally.