(Un)aware by Kendal

(Un)aware by Kendal - November 2017 Scholarship Essay

Being raised in a white middle class family in America, I never cared to worry about what was going on around the world. I have never left the United States and have never had any reason to do so. In my junior year of high school I took an elective called Human Rights. In taking this class I realized how much I did not know about any region outside of the United States.
I’ve always been a compassionate person and involved in my own community, helping out at the local food pantry, actively participating in Habitat for Humanity trips through my school, and overall volunteering for anything I could. However, the Human Rights class opened my eyes to a whole world in need of compassion and service.
In Human Rights, I learned about the history of genocide and the fact that it still occurs to this day. Today. This boggled my mind. Where I come from, a genocide is absolutely unimaginable. It would not happen here, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t happening in other places.
I learned about how other countries violate those 30 rights that belong to every human being. Where I come from, everyone has the right to education. In countries such as Pakistan or Afghanistan, girls do not receive an education out of fear for their lives. Since I was five years old, my life has revolved around education and I cannot even fathom what it would be like to experience what young girls in these countries do.
Most importantly I learned that every country has a different culture…there are many students like myself who have no idea what life is like outside their own, let alone what life is like outside their home country.
Studying abroad in college gives students the opportunity to learn about cultures different from their own. I want to travel so I can immerse myself in a place unfamiliar and to understand why people act differently from what I am accustomed to.
Eventually I want to try to fix some of the many problems we have around the world, especially those involving human rights. I say we because they are our problems. Some people are completely unaware that such problems exist and some think that they are not ours to solve. The only way to attempt to mend these problems is to make people aware of them. Studying abroad can have a positive impact on anyone’s education, and the purpose of exploring a new place is to educate a person about the world around them.
I feel that studying abroad would not only positively impact my education but the people around me. Most people just want to see the world which is understandable, but that’s just not me. I want to help the people around the world who need it most. Traveling in college will let me experience new places, cultures, and most importantly people. Exposure to these new things will only bring new ideas in which I plan to use to help those around me.