After completing my first year at UW-Madison I have taken a new perspective on the value of education. Education not only is obtained through the classroom, but it also obtained through experience. My freshmen year at Madison has provided me with several experiences in the dorms that have helped develop me into a better person and student.
First, living in the dorms has helped to expose me to new experiences that I have never done before. One thing that the dorms provided me with was opportunities to participate in cultural difference discussions, as well as watch videos on cultures other than my own that helped me to explore different cultures backgrounds, traditions, and art forms.
Living in the dorms also provided me with having a better sense of community. From day one of moving into Ogg, my housefellow always had us say the following: “Who are we? Wisconsin! What are we? Badgers! Where are we? Home!”. Those three little questions helped me to understand the Badger community that UW-Madison has to offer for its students, and from the first time I heard those questions to the last time, I felt that I was truly a part of something great.
By receiving the Mildred and Carroll Schiemel scholarship, I hope to use what I learned about cultural diversity and community to further explore my interests in pediatric and oncology nursing on campus and be able to accept others who share the same interests as me and work together to help the Badger community grow.