Discuss moments or influences in your personal life that have defined who you are today

I grew up in a small town in the Midwest. Yet, the tranquility of life there extracted a price of my extremely limited vision of the world. Thus, at age 15, I didn’t hesitate when an opportunity arose to develop a summer camp for orphans living in Brazil. I spent that school year developing the Camp Brazil program with 15 of my classmates, raising funds and local awareness, but I was unprepared for the transformative impact Camp Brazil would have on my outlook on the world and my own potential within it.

When we reached our site in the Brazilian countryside, we laid the foundation for what would become a decade-long program joining high school kids and Brazilian orphans. My time with these young campers was mutually transformative. I was able to briefly separate them from their gray existence, and in return they taught me the joy of having a positive impact on the lives of others.

My two summers in Brazil gave direction to my future and redefined my values and life goals. When I returned to the Midwest, I retired from school sports and centered my energy on community service. I served on Camp Brazil’s board of directors, joined the Midwest Foundation which raises funds for local non-profits, and was accepted to my high school’s Site-based Council which was the primary interface between the school and the broader community. My commitment to improving my community extended to Princeton where I volunteered for an inner-city after-school program, contributed to research about on-campus leadership development, and supported my peers as a trained counselor.

While my experience in Brazil exposed me to the importance of thinking beyond myself, attending undergrad at Princeton instilled in me the belief that I could change the world. I was the first graduate in my small high school in over a decade to attend Princeton. Most of my classmates remained close to home, a pattern that had been repeating for decades. We were nurtured and told to dream big, but it was difficult to draw inspiration from our surroundings. Princeton shattered the ceiling imposed by my insular island childhood and introduced me to the enormity of my potential. Culture shock hit me harder freshman year than it did during that first trip to Brazil, but once I got my bearings, I felt empowered beyond anything I’d previously experienced. My exposure to great minds, who were reweaving the fabric of society, replaced my notion of an immutable world with the notion that the world is dynamic; I, too, could be a force for change. This belief was given wings through my degree studies where I helped develop social theories with practical applications that gained world-wide attention. This shift in my perspective had a lasting impact on my post-collegiate aspirations. As my classmates looked to Wall Street, I sought out high tech ABC company because I saw a company with enormous potential to effect positive change. It’s that same urge that compels me toward a Kellogg MBA.