My first year at Middlebury was an exciting blend of extracurricular involvement and academia. When I wasn't in the classroom, I might be working as a senator for one of the commons, advising the local courthouse on matters of juvenile justice, teaching migrant Mexican families English or formulating arguments on the debate team. I could go from deep Socratic dialogue over tea in my professor's living room to speaking Russian as a beginner with natives to attending lectures by prominent academics.

Much of my senior year has revolved around MIDD 8, a month-long global awareness series that I co-founded and directed focused on the United Nations Millennium Goals. With the participation of students and faculty alike, we created a new grassroots movement to mobilize students toward a more globally conscious future. In creating a nexus between politics and pop-culture in the current times of war, disease, extreme poverty, human rights violations and environmental degradation, our campus became increasingly in tune with current local, national and global issues. More importantly, with interest from non-profit organizations, the United Nations, politicians, the music industry and leading activists, Middlebury has become a potential template for universities across the nation to organize and train leaders that will shape the future of foreign and domestic policies.

From a small town in the middle of Vermont, this institution has touched the globe, affected change and led in the world's quest for sustainability, peace and the improvement of the human condition. Middlebury has greatly shaped my character and outlook, while allowing me to leave my own mark. It is a place where I could be inspired and hopefully inspire others, where I could witness humility exhibited by enormous talent and later be humbled by my own experiences.