The Start of My Journey

Application Essay

When I started my secondary education at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, I took it as a chance to truly make something of myself. After struggling through the semester though, I had doubts: doubts about myself, my abilities, my own intelligence. My family consistently reminded me that this was my chance and I was getting in my own way of my success instead of pushing myself forward to reach where they didn’t have the chance to. The next semester I was able to make almost straight A’s, not simply because I memorized things that I read or heard from my professors, but because I was thinking more critically and working harder to push myself to be better. I found that thinking of the “why” when it came to my work, and not just the “what”, captured my attention completely, motivating me to do more than just coast through with memorization, but to gather knowledge from others, as well as from my own creativity and experience. After that first semester I led myself on to the path of hopeful success.
My mother and her family immigrated from Cambodia when she was twelve years old, escaping from the dictatorship that was invading and “revolutionizing” the country during the late 20th century. The communist led government, were killing all and any who had any sort of educational background, even simple reading and writing, because it was viewed as a threat. One of those people happen to be my mother’s father. He was beaten to death in the street in front of my grandmother, simply because he was able to read and had some educational teaching. My family has always pushed me to further myself and my mind to become the best version of myself I can possibly be because I have been given the opportunity, so why would I not take it? I have been blessed and fortunate enough to have the chance to reach and even expand my potential further and I want to jump on that chance by going to graduate school at UNCG.
Education has always been an important factor in my life. It has allowed me to find my creative side and expand it with knowledge and facts of the world. But, most importantly, it has allowed me to further my exploration of learning and my own mind in ways that have never and may never be available to so many. When I decided to major in English, many people assumed I would become an educator, which was a path almost every woman on my father’s side of the family had chosen. I was even enrolled in the Watson School of Education for almost two years before I decided that it was not the right path for me. Educators on any level are admirable, inspiring me every day, but it simply was not the path I felt was right for me. I loved every creative moment of the academics, and even created an entire semester’s worth of lesson plans on the four most popularly known mythologies, a section of the literary world that I have always loved. Unfortunately, the rules of the educational world, specifically in high schools which I was being trained for, do not give teachers the ability or chance to truly educate children to enjoy thinking on their own and build on their own enjoyable creativity. The fact that teachers have been able teach as many children as they do, who each have diverse learning abilities and skills, is amazing and the idea of not being able to teach a child who wants to learn but is not given the chance to in their own way was disheartening and made teaching in the classroom itself almost impossible. 
Leaving the education program and focusing on English literature gave me the opportunity for my professional writing internship at the Bellamy Mansion Museum, a nonprofit organization in the heart of historic downtown Wilmington. Soon, I was helping run their social media marketing presence online where I completely fell in love with the process and work, rediscovering my love for critical creative thinking. I was able to revamp their social media pages and create marketing and advertising for their events as well as collaborations with local businesses. This internship was what pushed me to find a graduate program that would help me to find a way to do this kind of creative work as a career that I am passionate about. Fortunately, I have found the MAAS program at UNCG that could allow me to grow in my chosen field and, even more so, expand my knowledge and truly push myself to further my career with “transformative thinking”.
After reading every detail I could find about the Master’s in Applied Arts and Sciences program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, I fell in love with it. The Master’s in Applied Arts and Sciences is focused on applying an individual’s experience and skills to our modern-day businesses by not squashing one’s creative thinking but by enhancing it, encouraging students to expand their minds to think more critically. It has shown and described a program with everything I was dreaming to find in a graduate school, from liberal art studies to modern business studies, which do not normally mix. The focuses on applying individual creativity to modern business and science is ingenious. Growing up in High Point, only twenty minutes away from Greensboro, I spent a lot of time in town at many of the local places. The arts have always been a large part of the community there, where it shows in the university itself and its student life. I hope I am granted the opportunity to be a part of a community that looks at the individual and what they can bring to the table, because it takes individuals to build a community.