Below are excerpts from Kennedy Mapes’ winning essay for the Global Awareness portion of the 2018 Building A Better World Scholarship. Go here to find the 2018 BBW Winners.
Just a typical Teenager – “For the longest time I was just a typical teenager. I was focused on myself and myself only, taking things day by day and merely existing. It wasn’t until I started to venture outside of my mental and geographical bubble that I actually began living.”
New York City – “I was a 15 year old girl flying to New York City by herself and I had no idea what to 
expect. Muskegon is all I had ever really known. I was blind to true diversity, but the second I got into the city, my eyes began to squint open. I finally understood why America is nicknamed “the melting pot.” I looked in one direction and saw people of every race, ethnicity, and nationality that exists. I looked in another and saw churches for every religion, and I looked around again and saw members of the LGBTQ community being open and proud of who they are, which was unlike anything I had ever seen back home. It was shocking, but it was refreshing. It was amazing to see all of these different cultures not only coinciding, but coexisting. Witnessing all of these people from different backgrounds and different parts of the world accepting each other and feeding off of the same energy opened my mind to the beauty of globalization. …
…I have never felt more awake than I did in that moment.
We must rid ourselves of Cultural Ignorance– “We live in a world that is constantly evolving every single day and one of the largest contributors to its growth is globalization, which is the integration of the world’s cultures in order to create international businesses and corporations. This interconnecting of cultures creates a relationship between all nations of the world. It gives businesses the opportunity to find fresh, unique talent and innovation. Because of this connection, we, as human beings, have a responsibility to rid ourselves of our cultural ignorance and broaden our perspectives on the lifestyles of others.”
We must be Open to Foreign Cultures – ” We need to work to understand the values of foreign cultures as that is the only way we can successfully integrate them into our society. We must be open to foreign lifestyles as their unique interpretations of the world contribute to the economic and social success of the world. We must learn to appreciate all ways of life so that every culture can peacefully coexist and I have taken it upon myself to make sure that that continues to happen for every generation to come
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...and check out Kennedy’s plans– “I am going to be a travel journalist. I will be attending Lake Superior State University in the fall to get a bachelor’s degree in Journalism. Once I graduate, I am 
going to travel the world in order to research and understand foreign cultures and I plan on creating my own online podcast to document and inform people of my findings. My goal is to make the world aware of the lifestyles of other cultures while also becoming a more globally aware individual myself. I want to help people understand the importance of global awareness. I want to help people living in small towns like ours understand what diversity really is and how it strengthens the world we live in.”
Thank you for your support through the years.
Together We Can
