Keenan Brown January 23, 2014 Autobiographical Narrative/ Map INT 470

The Road to Realization

In order to know where you are going you must know where you came from. The road to an interdisciplinary lifestyle has been a long and winding road of bumps, detours and challenges that ultimately affect my worldview. Interdisciplinarity is a learned skill that comes from in depth research and meaningful experiences that allow me, a student of life to demonstrate unyielding resolve. I believe people are made from parts of their past and thats where resiliency and desire to learn is built. My ways of thinking and attitude toward approaching life was taught to me from birth. I was always told I could do and be anything with hard work, study and good judgment. Everything I was handed was earned and appreciated. I am the middle boy of my other two siblings, one a girl eight years older than I am and one younger brother going on the age of twenty. We were born in Syracuse, New York where I lived until I was thirteen years old. Syracuse is a heavily populated city in central New York. Much different from Virginia where there is much more opportunity for success beyond high school. I had not been exposed to a hard working student lifestyle until my family had moved to Virginia and started to think about my future. College was never an option for me but I had not actually thought of what Id be pursuing as a career field until high school.

Initially I attended Bethel high school in Hampton, Virginia. Sports were the topic of discussion on a daily in school because thats what I was great at. However, my parents drilled the idea of planning for the future in my head. I left Bethel and graduated from Walsingham Academy in Williamsburg, Virginia as a way of placing myself at an advantage to other students like me. From Walsingham I was able to play collegiate basketball for 2 seasons until I suffered an upper leg injury that I toiled with for about 8 months that eventually led to my athletic downfall. I lost some flexibility in my limb that I needed for that athletic explosion I once had. This was a major transition challenge for me now going from a student athlete to a full time student. I had new issues; I needed to solidify a plan B for my future. I now had new necessities. I need a place to live, a car and a source of income. I have experienced three different majors and three different schools before realizing that change is constant and I had to adapt. I had experienced people I never took the time to understand and learn from. My transition was the most humbling occurrence. Now a Senior Interdisciplinary Studies major, I am able to balance a healthy lifestyle of full time work, education and fun that is on a path of progression towards a life time of learning. Interdisciplinary Studies provides a new foundation for thinking about the world as a bigger picture. Ive REALIZED that critical thinking is a cornerstone of being aware of the world around you. I have become secure in that I can become accustomed to different Ideas, comprehend and understand them in depth and apply them to my professional and educational and personal advancement.

Autobiographical Map