A little about me

	A little about me…
Here is my grad school personal statement for the University of Michigan. I will start a 2-year Master’s program in Southeast Asian studies in the Fall of 2008: Personal Statement I developed an interest in Southeast Asia late in my undergraduate career. The Master’s Program in Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Michigan would be an ideal setting for my graduate studies because of my strong passion to explore the intersection of psychology, anthropology, and health in the context of Southeast Asia. My desire to examine the self from an interdisciplinary perspective grows out of my undergraduate coursework and research in psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill complemented by international work and travel. I am confident that my background and personal characteristics equip me for the intensity of graduate training at this University and the challenges of an academic career. My motivation, initiative, and capability are demonstrated in my rigorous college course load, participation in Division I athletics, and assiduous work in the community. My work at the Duke Talent Identification Program and the UNC Chapel Hill Peer Relations Lab kindled my enthusiasm for a pluralistic theoretical orientation towards understanding the influence of socio-cultural processes on our psychological and cognitive states. I became interested in researching how the interaction of culture and the self is manifested in health-related behaviors. My longtime interest in the psychological experience in context extends beyond academics to include socially-oriented engagement in numerous populations. Since beginning college, my scope of involvement has become increasingly global and my interests more focused on the intersection of culture, psychological processes, and health-risk behaviors. I worked as a volunteer in Tanzania in summer of 2004 teaching HIV/AIDS education and life skills to secondary school students. In addition to teaching, I conducted ethnographic research studying the relation of the mind, body and culture to increase my understanding of multifaceted dimensions of this epidemic. I learned that it is not just lack of knowledge of the disease or lack of regard but rather a combination of economic, social and political constraints that limited their ability to make informed and empowered choices about their bodies. This year, I am coaching a team through Girl’s on the Run, a character development program for preadolescent girls. The program uses running to teach values and a sense of self and has enabled me to study the social development in girls and its influence on their emerging psychological and bodily identity. In the summer of 2006, the Frances B. Phillips Travel Scholarship supported a 3 month trip to Thailand sparking my interest in the region. I worked with a local non-governmental organization on two projects: teaching in an orphanage north of Bangkok and assisting a group of housewives develop a sustainable business painting and selling batik on a small island in the south. I started a running group with the fishermen on Ko Yao Noi Island, many of whom have struggled with substance abuse problems. I worked with them to promote healthy decisions and a more positive lifestyle. The sense of ownership and responsibility the men developed towards their running enhanced their self-esteem and fueled their willpower to take control over the destructive areas of their life. In addition to my experiences with the NGO, I cycled over 800 km of back roads through rural Central and Southern Thailand as the only non-Thai member of the Thailand Cyclists’ Touring Club. Returning to Thailand for 5 weeks in January, I want to continue building relationships with the people I met when I was first there by immersing myself in their day to day life. I hope to gain perspective on their management of rapid social and economic change, its relationship to the subjective assessment of their lives and their resulting health-related behaviors. This summer, I intend to begin studying Thai at the Southeast Asian Studies Summer Institute held at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. Michigan’s Master’s program would enable me to become proficient in Southeast Asian studies- a necessary step towards what I hope to be a lifetime of anthropological work in this region. I have been awarded a FLAS (Foreign Language Area Studies- government funded) scholarship for my studies and living expenses for next year. In addition, I will be taking intensive Thai in Madison this summer. 4 hours a day for 8 weeks on another FLAS scholarship. The goal of the next 2 years will be to be able to speak a good deal of Thai so that I can be a better researcher and make more of a difference in the projects I hope to undertake. Also, to be able to talk to my friends and “family” there. I will learn more about Southeast Asia- the history, politics, and culture. Then I’ll likely enter a PhD program in anthropology or another department which will prepare me to help the people of Thailand make informed decisions regarding development and the environment. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Academics aside….. I am an NC native who has spent the last 5 years in the Chapel Hill/ Carrboro area. Most of my free time is spent swimming, biking or running. I was on the track and cross-country team at UNC but am now focusing on duathlons and triathlons. I like to do bike tours. I have biked over 1500 kilometers of back roads in Thailand and have done a week trip across North Carolina and down the coast. I do a good deal of yoga under Ti Harmony. I worked the local CD store for many a year. I am a vegetarian who eats local organic food as much as possible even though it costs more. I like: recycling, the beach, trees, coffee, the view of rural farmlands, coaching girls running teams, sustainable development, post modern instrumental music, running on trails and feeling infinite, farmers markets, and spending time with my family.