Prompt: Your personal statement should convey how your background and life

experiences—including cultural, geographical, financial, educational or other opportunities or

challenges—have motivated your decision to pursue a graduate degree at the University of

Michigan. In other words, you should describe the personal journey that has led you to apply to

SEAS.

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My personal journey leading up to applying to SEAS was and is rather hectic. As a child,

I had always had a fascination with animals, plants, nature, you name it. My passion went

through phases; realization, reflection, learning and action. These phases and experiences led me

to where I am presently with more yet to come.

The first phase of realization is where it started. In middle school, there was a

documentary that made quite a major impression on me. It was about the impacts of major

farming and animal-producing farms and how they are managed. In the USA, we are known for

mass production, especially of food. The documentary was called Earthlings by Joaquin Phoenix.

which was popular for revealing the truth behind the animal industry. There were various

gruesome scenes of how the animals were processed inhumanely. That resulted in a core memory

being formed and led to a mentality that I began to implement when I was young and that was:

“How can I live a life without leaving too much damage to the environment?”.

The second phase of reflection came right after. Around that time I attempted to become a

vegetarian however it was difficult to change something within my lifestyle at a young age. I was

vegetarian for a month with the exception of Wednesday because the cafeteria served orange

chicken which I loved. This step that I took as a middle schooler made me realize that it is harder
than just changing what I eat, but educating myself, understanding the learning curve, the actions

I can take to improve, and much more.

The third and largest phase of learning began during high school. There were several

projects that helped me learn about the issues that I cared about. I continued to push it outside of

school. I began to volunteer in places such as “I Love A Clean San Diego” cleaning up the

beaches and neighborhoods as well as working as security in environmental marches. I learned

the importance of education and spreading awareness, especially with large anthropological

issues. One of the projects that I did junior year was to create a zine about a social justice issue

that I advocate which was animal rights. I contacted and interviewed a community educator from

San Diego Humane Society and learned more regarding her area of work and her job. I even

interned at Wild Willow Farm which was a non-profit agriculture education community. They

provided classes on husbandry, how to grow your own produce, how to make your own soap,

and other related topics. This internship was one of the most rewarding experiences and in

return, I created a promotional video about the internship experience in hopes to publicize Wild

Willow Farm. As of recently, this phase of learning is still present and I know will continue

along with the phase of action.

Going along the journey timeline, I learned a lot about the anthropological effects

towards animals and the environment. Learning this made me rethink, “How can I live a life

without leaving too much damage to the environment?”. So far, I came to the conclusion that I

need to change my lifestyle and I need to continue to learn about the environment and how we

affect the earth. These experiences influenced my educational path to major in Environmental

Systems, Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution. Currently, I am an undergraduate student at the

University of California, San Diego. The process of learning from different professors with
different specialties emphasizes on how vast the topics related to the environment are. Although I

am far from my goal of changing my lifestyle and learning to the level I am satisfied with, I am

most definitely further in my journey compared to middle school. I wish to continue my studies

about anthropological impacts as well as sustainability as a lifestyle.