Below are excerpts from Hanna Kirschner’s winning essay for the Global Awareness portion of the 2019 Building A Better World Scholarship. Go here to find the 2019 Building A Better World Scholarship Award Winners…
I need to expand my bubble… “In order to fulfill my personal responsibility of being globally aware, I feel that I must continue to do three things throughout my life: I must be kind to everyone, no matter their differences, I must immerse myself into other cultures, even if it puts me outside of my comfort zone, and I must learn everything I can about anything I don’t know already. I need to expand my bubble as far as I can to become the best person that I can.”
Be kind… “The first step to being globally aware is to be kind to everyone, to see someone that might not look like you or have the same things that you do and not treat them any differently than anyone else. I think that this is the most important thing you can do, but you must do it consistently.”
Just jump in and do it… “You also have to be able to push through your comfort zone into customs and cultures that are not like your own. Being open to try new things, new foods, new experiences is so important, especially if it is hard for you to understand a culture without being apart of it…That is something I need to work on; I am pretty good at observing, but I need to teach myself to take risks, to just jump in and do it.”
Lastly, I simply need to learn “…Living in a world that is constantly changing, you must be constantly learning or you’ll fall behind. You can always learn about different cultures, different people, different lives. They expand your mind. They make you more aware. Learning is never a bad thing to do; it is how you grow as an individual. You must take in everything you can, analyze it, and propel yourself off of it at every opportunity.
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and check out Hanna’s plans… “Although I ultimately wanted to go away to college, I chose to attend Muskegon Community College first with the Muskegon Promise to really figure out what I want to do with my life, what I want to become. As of right now, I plan on studying psychology, unsure as to what specific field I want to go into, but I want to learn as much as possible to fully take advantage of this opportunity. Maybe psychology won’t be what’s best for me, but I will figure it out eventually. All I know for sure about my future is that I am going to travel as much as possible and learn from every person I meet, to expand my bubble as far as I can, while I’m here in this world.”
Hanna at Dexter Baptist Church in Montgomery Alabama. Spring 2019.
Thank you for your support through the years.
Together, We Can.
