During my time as a student at Loras College, my character and personal attributes have

been continually refined, molding me into a more ambitious and well-rounded member of
society. I am grateful for how my numerous involvements as a college student have sculpted
me into the person I desire to be. As I reflect on which areas I have grown most, I can see a
strong correlation between my personal development and the dispositions of Loras College.
Through rigorous and broad course content as well as cocurricular participation, I have been
able to develop immensely as both an active learner and responsible contributor.

When I consider what exactly it means to be an active learner, two important themes
come to mind. First, an active learner must assume a proactive role in their own education by
taking initiative to deeply engage with and internalize presented concepts. An active learner is
not simply satisfied with doing the bare minimum to get by in their educational experience.
Rather, they show a keen interest in making sense of the world around them and topics
presented to them, hence they go beyond what is required of them. They commit to academic
rigor, seeking out intellectual challenges in pursuit of a deepened understanding of their field of
study. Secondly, active learning is characterized by exploring a wide array of perspectives and
viewpoints as a means for attaining a broader, more encompassing vantage point of presented
material. This means active learners pursue numerous sources and viewpoints when presented
with new information.

When I first arrived at college, my attitude towards academics and life in general was
not characterized by the traits of an active learner. Rather than focusing on the genuine pursuit
of knowledge and understanding, I focused on performance and obtaining good grades without
any regard to whether I internalized my education or how my learning experience shaped my
world view. Gradually though, I noticed my perspective began to shift. I specifically remember
the change beginning my sophomore year, when I was enrolled in an extremely challenging
physics course. Though this course had an incredibly demanding workload with a broad
spectrum of challenging course topics, I couldn’t help but feel fascinated with how the course
made sense of the physical world around me. I was enthralled with how I could apply lessons I
learned in class to observations I made on a daily basis, and more importantly how I could use
that knowledge to solve real world problems. As the class progressed I had a growing hunger to
learn and understand more and more about how the world works, and this hunger remains
with me today, continually driving me to go engage with my learning experience beyond the
classroom setting.

My development as an active learner extended beyond just courses related to my

major. Throughout my time at Loras, I experienced classes in numerous fields enveloping both
the sciences and the humanities. A sociology class that I took early in my college career sparked
a desire in me to expand my intellectual and academic horizons to beyond the typical math and
science heavy course load of an engineering student. As a result, I have taken courses
pertaining to religious traditions, cultural competency, history, and more. Enrolling in such
classes has helped me reach my goal of learning about the world from a broad array of
perspectives. This desire is displayed in my atypical major pairing of engineering and Spanish,
which I fell has provided me with a unique all-encompassing educational experience.

In addition to active learning, I have made substantial progress in my time at Loras as a

responsible contributor. The most important and overarching trait that defines a responsible
contributor is a genuine desire to serve and improve the lives of others. This can apply to
individuals, small communities, or even entire populations, but the principle remains the same
for all responsible contributors. Their goal is to make use of their talents in a unique way to
contribute something meaningful to society that is helpful to others.

As a first-year student, I was impassioned by a former experience I had in service-based

learning activities, which gave me a strong desire to seek out more. As a result, I enrolled in the
Loras College Honors Program in hopes of undertaking a community engagement, service-
based learning project. For my project, I joined a group of three other service-driven students,
and together we decided to focus our efforts on enhancing financial literacy in the Dubuque
community. For the next three years, we spent time doing macro and micro level research
about the problem we hoped to address. This included searching for scholarly sources in
addition to conducting one-on-one interviews with people experiencing financial troubles to
better understand the systems that have placed them in positions of financial instability. In
order to help address this problem, we planned a financial literacy-oriented workshop for
participants in a local non-profit foundation. This experience gave me a new understanding of
what it means to serve a community in need, and fostered in me a deep desire to continue to
do find practical solutions to community needs as I move on from college.

In addition to applying my desire to contribute responsibly to local community work, I

have also taken a broader approach in hopes of contributing to a solution larger human issue.
In my senior year I have undertaken a renewable energy related project for my senior capstone.
The goal of the project is to modify a vehicle that typically runs on fossil fuel to receive energy
from a sustainable source. While the project itself may not make a substantial difference to
major environmental issues facing society, my hope is that the practical skills I learn along the
way will allow me to apply my knowledge and acquired skillset down the road to address larger
problems, in hopes of pushing our society closer to sustainability.

Active learning and responsible contributing are two lifelong attributes that can allow a
person to live a more productive, fulfilling life, while simultaneously functioning as a
benevolent servant to society. The skills I’ve developed during my time at Loras have prepared
me to do just that. I’m confident that these traits will allow me to develop my skillset as a
professional engineer well-beyond college, while simultaneously using my talents and abilities
to contribute to the common good.