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I Will be an Agent for Social Change Essay

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I Will be an Agent for Social Change

I arrived at Harvard eager for the world of experiences ahead. Yet as an Air Force Reserve Officer's Training Corp (ROTC) student, much of my academic world had been set up over the summer. My roommates poured over course guides, but my schedule was already laid out before me: math, economics, chemistry, Spanish and ROTC. My first college dilemma wasn't to find the right professor or class size, but to put together my uniform correctly. This being the case, I have had less time to stumble, but more time to focus on my other life choices.

Despite working on a thesis, taking social studies tutorials, attending four-hour long weekly drill practices, doing Physical Training at dawn, and holding …show more content…

Having immigrated to the United States from Trinidad as a young child, I have grown up aware of the economic and educational advantages Americans have over their foreign neighbors. I feel that the role of a public servant should not just end at our own borders. As a place for service, Trinidad not only links my cultural past, but serves as a bridge to my racial history. By organizing in a halfway house, I would have the chance to explore a long-term interest of mine: how men can take a more active role in dismantling the social pressures placed on women, bringing about a more balanced society.

ROTC has taught me to think on an international level, but so far my community service participation has been purely local. Volunteering in Trinidad will help me determine whether I can be an agent of social change outside of my own community-a necessary perspective before I start military service. After four years of studying "theory" about society, I want a chance to implement what I have learned. Working as a grassroots activist, I will get a chance to contemplate the issues involved with international service. As an outsider to Trinidad and a male in a home for battered women, I will need to be mindful of the barriers organizers face each day.

Trinidad will also help me connect to my cultural past. Growing up

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