Question: Many students expand their view of the world during their time in college. Such growth often results from encounters between students who have lived different cultural, economic, or academic experiences. With your future growth in mind, describe a potential classmate that you believe you could learn from either within or outside a formal classroom environment. Viewed at face value, this question asks me to essentially create an imaginary friend – something that I have not done since I was a little kid. However, it is hard to think about specific qualities of someone whom I could learn from without examining my own background and surroundings. My hometown of Wayland, Massachusetts is probably much different than Austin, Texas.
Wayland is a small suburban town about twenty miles west of Boston. It is not extremely crowded here, but there are probably enough people and buildings to generate at least a small sense of claustrophobia in someone who is used to an open landscape. Wayland is a very intellectual community, and virtually all of the adults are well educated and many hold a professional degree. Most of the high school students are diligent about their studies, and just about everybody lives a comfortable, safe life here. Unfortunately, there isn’t much excitement in this town, and unless one stays busy with a hobby, job, or other activity, it can be downright boring. My friend, Bob was much different than anyone I knew in Wayland.
I’d have to say some of my friends from Wayland would probably think Bob is a hick because of his rural background, but he’s smarter than just about all of them. I met Bob’s stuff before I met him. Upon entering the dorm room, I found his guitar and amplifier, along with a pair of muddy boots and a wool print poncho lying on the bottom bunk. After meeting him, I learned that Bob is from a rural community about fifty miles outside a major city. He comes from a fifth-generation farming family. At his high school, only a small percentage of the students continued their education at a college or university.
He is good with his hands, but surprisingly, he is also an excellent public speaker, which I admire because I have always been rather shy. Bob is open-minded, but he is also an independent thinker, and will thoroughly examine both sides of an issue or argument before deciding which one to support. He may change his opinion, but only after seeing a compelling reason to do so. He likes music, and plays lead and rhythm guitar. He is partial to the Country and Western genre, but appreciates good guitar playing of any style. Even though I enjoy rock music more and dabble with the electric bass, I appreciate and admire his musical taste and talent.
Bob and I share some academic preferences. Like me, Bob is interested in computers, and is excellent with computer hardware. This is not surprising-he’s always been a tinkerer, and computers are in part machinery. However, he doesn’t like abstract programming that much. I enjoy hardware too, but I’m also attracted to software design.
There are many things that both Bob and I share in common, but he is an individual whom I could learn from because he uses his skills differently. We ” re both straight shooters; we like music and sports. But, we have different backgrounds and different approaches to things. I’ve learned a great deal from Bob simply by observing what he does, and how he does it. I hope he feels the same way about me. His skills, talents, and personality make him a valuable friend whom I can learn from both inside and outside of an academic environment, and I imagine him being a lifelong colleague and companion..