What is your intended major? Discuss how your interest in the subject developed and describe any experience you have had in the field — such as volunteer work, internships and employment, participation in student organizations and activities — and what you have gained from your involvement.
During my first year in college, I was consumed by a voracious hunger to understand the world around me, but my aspirations were ambiguous. As I experimented with the social sciences, the concept of choice became increasingly visible to me as the palette of academia offered shifted from something that failed to pique my interests to an endless spectrum of options that brought about an unfamiliar eagerness.
Sociology was something I stumbled into after pursuing a turbulent whirlwind of haphazard interests. Suddenly nuances of the world were no longer passing details but a platform through which I questioned and pondered conversations between strangers. The conversations became scenes in which I could see bigotry, oppression, along with tenacity, and courage to make the best of bad situations. These glimpses left me yearning for more- more narratives about humans assuming the roles of their daily lives.
I enrolled in a [university] Gender in American Culture course. I was familiarized with concepts of intersectionality and understanding the ascribed characteristics of humans and the paradigm society that has collectively instituted to use these inherent attributes to both hinder and advance certain groups. Sociology provided an avenue to explore the institutions that normalize the hierarchies of society. This class ignited a fire that continues to fuel my present and future pursuits. As my questions intensified, I decided to translate what I learned in this class into actions.
To empower the underdeserved, I began interning with Spark Program, a nonprofit that provides underserved middle school students with weekly work-based apprenticeships to expose them to opportunities beyond their immediate surroundings. I worked with program coordinators to assess the efficiency of the program and collect data to monitor trends in student growth at both academic and personal levels. While most data was quantitative, I proposed program improvements like administering biweekly surveys for the students to complete so we could better gauge the impact the apprenticeships were having on each student. The time I spend with the kids as individuals, has been the most personally gratifying. Listening to their unfiltered voices, and learning about their bigger dreams and ambitions holds testament to how limitless the depths of the world really are.
In contrast to my Spark experience, I also provided English instruction to adults in Oakland through Las Casas. As part of an oratory exercise, the students in an intermediate class were asked to discuss their family lives using the principles of grammar. Hearing stories of loved ones they left behind in their native countries, and feeling the love and loss woven into their lives, I felt connected to something infinite and sacred. For 90 minutes every week, I was honored to hear the struggles and feel the power of their narratives, and what I received in return remains timeless.
I want to illuminate the stories that fill this world, especially those belonging to people whose voices are most often overlooked. Using the discipline of Sociology, I hope to understand the institutional forces that shape the world for the marginalized and advance systematic changes that fosters the voices of all.