Positive School Changes by Destinie

Positive School Changes by Destinie - September 2023 Scholarship Essay

If I were allowed higher authority in my university I’d make it my personal mission to establish and contribute towards crucial changes in relation to both campus livability and safety, to promote a thriving and positive environment for students, staff, and the parkland community alike. Given the chance there would be three main targeted actions that I’d work to improve, the first one of which would relate to optimizing and improving the safety of my university's lower campus, the food expenses accessible to students, and the establishment of better communication and forwarded actions of parkland and university police on the school’s grounds.

Despite most of the Fitness and STEM associated courses being located in the lower campus, the area is far too isolated from the upper campus which is more frequently utilized. This often leads to the area being too secluded, and leaving students walking to their classes isolated from larger groups of people. Since the lightning is close to non-existent and no viable options for communication such as telephones are in reach, incidents are prone to occur. In fact, many students alike have complained about how unsafe they’ve felt having to go to their courses, among which the highest concerns have come from female students attending later in the day classes. Not only is this unacceptable, but extremely dangerous. Students who have to attend these classes are forced into uncomfortable situations where their safety is being jeopardized. Being cautious becomes an absolute must, and unfortunately predators and menacing figures are aware of the circumstances they are able to exploit in this area. We’ve been fortunate enough to not have major cases occur yet, however minor occurrences have already showcased the imminent danger that not handling this problem swiftly can lead to. For those reasons, if I had the power, one of the things I’d place priority on would be remodeling the area to promote a safer surrounding for students. I’d like to construct pathways with better lighting, creating routes that are in proximity to building access and healthy traffic, and most importantly the implementation of emergency kiosk stations for brisk one touch emergency calls. I’d be looking at getting the new models that alert the location of the call and create immediate contact with local authorities while utilizing prominent lightning to swiftly alert anyone in the vicinity of the station being activated. This would serve as not only a way to minimize dangerous activities but bring comfort to students on a daily basis as well.

With safety once again in mind, something I’d also find priority in addressing is my university’s communication with its local police force. This particular action derives from the fact that the neighboring location to the campus is known for its high crime rates. Something I’d like to see happen is a mutual partnership between the campus safety and police task force to ensure that auto theft, gang fights, and robberies can be lowered so that both residents and students in the area are able to explore outside of the close vicinities currently available. This serves as a way to expand the student experience, widen the options for food and activities students can take part in, especially for those without cars or that are away from home, and even create stronger ties for the community as a whole. This would also assist with affordability issues currently faced when it comes to housing and meal options. In a higher position I’d also take on the task of looking over our current budgeting, some of which I’d like to redistribute in such a way that meal expenses such as those in the market and grocery establishments on campus can become more accessible. This would hopefully aid in these utilities being better utilized as well as make the overall food options on campus become more affordable. Housing prices aren’t something I see having much room to change on but what I would like to contribute instead to is making the resources for aid, scholarships, and information on the matter more readily available and easy to access on the universities portal and sites.

These changes would ultimately improve the lives of the attending students, respective staff, and even the close range residents to the campus. I truly believe that this would contribute to creating a university environment that promotes safety, community, and thriving conditions for learning. As a whole these positive approaches would serve as a way to surpass the expectations of future lutes and create a progressive and welcoming establishment that will aid in making Pacific Lutheran University the home of more people.