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My Personal Six-Word Story:
Following the way, seeing positive change
My Six-Words as an Interdisciplinary Studies Major:
Combining authenticity, kindness, logic, and vision
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My Intellectual Autobiography
My Personal Six-Word Story:
Following the way, seeing positive change
My Six-Words as an Interdisciplinary Studies Major:
Combining authenticity, kindness, logic, and vision
______________________________________
My Intellectual Autobiography
From a young age I remember enjoying the ‘puzzle’ of a difficult problem. I have always observed the world around me, thought about possibilities, and found ways to look at things from multiple perspectives. Visualizing solutions for complex problems is something I have enjoyed as long as I can remember. I have often sought information from a wide range of disciplines in order to explore new ideas, so interdisciplinary studies is the best path for me academically.
I went to a Montessori school for preschool and elementary called The New School. My mother was a teacher there, and I attended the school for 8 years, from the age of 3 until I was 12. Intellectual pursuits were a very important part of my childhood. I remember being fascinated by anthropology, geometry, and natural sciences. I read about history, psychology, and other non-fiction topics, for fun. I was encouraged to work on art projects. This influence came from my family and my school. My art teachers were always very encouraging of any type of creative solution. I could work through complicated projects in a systematic way and I easily learned any artistic technique. There wasn’t pressure to achieve certain predetermined objectives. Most of all, I could explore creative ideas and I saw the potential to communicate my thoughts in a way that others could appreciate. It was a joy for me to help direct large projects with the help of other students. I was often a leader in this area, and it helped me find a place for myself socially, because otherwise I would have been reading all the time.
For middle school I attended the Hershey Montessori Farm School. It was the first school based on Maria Montessori’s vision for secondary education. Students helped run the farm, cook the meals on a rotating schedule, clean the buildings, and plan new farm projects as part of our academic curriculum. It was a great experience for me. My two favorite classes at the farm school were Euclidean geometry and a ‘bioshelter’ project. Euclidean geometry class involved working through the books of Euclid’s The Elements. We would memorize each proof, write it out (including drawings), and be prepared to present it to the class from memory. I really liked being able to visualize the concepts presented and show how they worked. The bioshelter project involved creating plans for a passive solar greenhouse with an indoor ecosystem. It was my favorite project because I saw new possibilities for how systems could be developed to help people live in sustainable ways. Our class did much of the research, including visiting multiple other greenhouses and a bioshelter. Then we developed the plans for the building.
My next academic home was The Schilling School, back in Cincinnati. This is where I met my future husband, the son of the director of the school, and a fellow student. I had many academic challenges there, including studying chemistry and physics. I was able to follow along with these areas of study and I liked certain elements of the work. Science is interesting to me conceptually. I took classes at The Farm School on pond ecology and had also participated in a research project with Hiram College (while in middle school) comparing old and new growth forest ecosystems. If there is the opportunity for new discoveries, science is interesting to me. I remember learning about the physics of light. I had some ideas of my own about some of the mysteries surrounding our understanding of how light works. Some of this carried over to my work in photography, and I still think about these things.
When I started college I attended Case Western Reserve University. I studied psychology. It was something I was intuitively good at, and it was interesting to me. I also took art classes. I did well in all my classes. I couldn’t, however, visualize myself becoming a psychologist. From my perspective there were a lot of potential limitations to that kind of work. I also decided I wasn’t interested in studying art, because it was not intellectually interesting enough. I decided that I really liked the idea of studying design, because it involved more intellectual concepts, theories, and elements that I was interested in. I could also continue building my artistic abilities through design work.
I transferred to the University of Cincinnati, and the graphic design program at DAAP. It was fun and interesting to me to learn about the fundamentals of design. I was interested in creating thoughtful work. I was not as interested in designing books, product packaging, logos, and signs. Because of this, I only stayed in the program for two years. It was enough time to complete the two years of graphic design fundamentals classes. From the beginning, I had approached my education in design with the intent of learning the basics to be able to apply the principles of design to a wide range of possible projects. I spent hours reading art and design books on my own, and I felt comfortable teaching myself anything else I was interested in learning, so I left school for a while.
After ten years I decided to return to school to finish my bachelor’s degree through the interdisciplinary studies program at UC. Even when I was not in school, I continued studying and learning about various topics on a daily basis. I also took time to develop my character, and a better understanding of the direction I wanted to go in terms of my academics and career. I also learned a lot about personal health and well-being during this break from school. I found that it is very important to regularly adjust and modify my principles to better work in the imperfect world we live in. I learned more about how interacting with people involves emotional intelligence, as well as logic. I find that my ability to see different perspectives is helpful in learning emotional intelligence, as well as how to be aware of the areas that need to be changed in my thinking, and where to make the necessary changes in my thinking.
In recent years I have become more aware of the importance of the social, mental, and physical environment in optimizing human potential. Finding better ways to support health, and creating new systems that help people, are a couple of my intellectual interests. I am also interested in how culture and concepts affect human consciousness. Everything we experience has the potential to shape our lives, and there is a lot of room for improvement in our technologically advanced yet disconnected world. There are many possible ways to improve health and well-being. I see great potential to help people live better lives by supporting health, communities, and our environment. This is some of what I look forward to focusing on academically, and in my future career.