Global Scholars Application Essay


When I first read what it takes to become a Global Scholar, I was surprised at how many of the
criteria match what I have achieved by simply following my passions. “Completion of the highest
level of a modern language”, for instance, was a goal on which I was focused long before I even
understood what the GIP entails. Similarly, the “cross-cultural travel experience” was a requirement
that I first fulfilled before turning one year old.

I owe much of the overlap between my personal passions and the qualifications of a Global
Scholarship to my European identity. Born in London to a German mother and a Spanish father, I
moved around the continent for 14 years until arriving at the United States just before my freshman
year. By that time, I had already had plenty of time to develop a love for international discovery. It
became a pastime of mine to learn as much as possible about the extraordinarily diverse languages
and cultures that define the human race. This pastime grew into a mission that I have carried into my
high school career, which I have spent studying as many languages as possible, a feat that has
certainly paid off during my summers in Europe working at various courses and internships.

It is my hope that partaking in the Global Initiatives Program at Poly will allow me to share my
enthusiasm for international studies. Ideally, I will inspire other members of the Poly community to
gain the same fundamental appreciation of international initiatives that I have. My unique upbringing,
which grants me an equally unique perspective on the importance of a global identity, will certainly
aid me in my efforts to inspire others in this way.

To say that my national identity is complex would be somewhat of an understatement. Americans
tend to assume I am British because of my accent, but when I visit England, they believe I am
American. I would say that I feel most at home in the Spanish region of Catalonia, but elements of
German and Spanish culture are equally prevalent in my lifestyle. My core hopes for the Global
Scholars program, therefore, are twofold. Firstly, I would like to greatly diversify the foothold that I
have gained on global awareness. Until I was 14, my views were rather overwhelmingly Eurocentric.
Moving to the U.S., therefore, provided me with a much-needed intercontinental perspective.
Relatively recent experiences, such as my freshman World Cultures Latin America class and the Viet
Thanh Nguyen GIP event, have given me a taste of the vast quantities of intercultural discovery that
await me, a process that I hope will be facilitated by engagement with the GIP. My second core hope
for the Global Scholars program is that I, through this process of intercultural discovery, will be able
to piece together the fragments of my cultural identity, which are currently scattered across the world,
into one coherent story.

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