Natalie Hillerson

Honors 100 BD
Assignment 3 Alex
Alex has a wide array of interests, which bodes well for her academic career. In
talking with her, I found that her interests spanned well beyond the classroom, but most
could easily be applied to the academic world, especially with all the opportunities given
to honors students. For instance, Alex expressed interest in music and going to concerts,
as well as philosophy, which stemmed from her speech and debate experience in high
school. She also enjoys being outside, and hopes to become part of the kayaking club and
take up snowboarding. Alex is a member of the Hip Hop Student Association in the
graffiti department, which is a reoccurring theme in her interests. She takes part in urban
exploration, which she described as exploring parts of cities that are often forgotten:
abandoned skate parks overrun with graffiti, hidden and barren spaces within the usually
dense and populous society. Specific to academia, Alex hopes to pursue mechanical
engineering, though physics has always been something that has fascinated her. She also
expressed interest in a minor in American Indian studies, as she is passionate about
Native American history and furthering their equality in society.
Because of her breadth of interests, Alex has no shortage of options when it
comes to RSOs or other activities on campus. Ideally, an experiential learning project
would encompass many of her interests, even if this may be difficult to arrange. At the
most basic level, I would suggest either a study abroad experience or a research
experience. Her interest in sciences makes finding research extremely doable, especially
with physics and mechanical engineering. Alex also stated that she would love to study
abroad in Berlin, which is known for its abundant art scene. Though there are currently

no programs in Berlin which do not require an in depth understanding of the German

language, there have been in the past couple years and will probably be more in the
future, though they may not be specific to its art scene or history. Alternately, though
somewhat improbable, the UW Law School has a Native American Law Center, which
focuses on studying and fighting for the rights of Native Americans in the state of
Washington. Although this organization is for current law students only, it might be a
good resource for service options.
Among all these choices, one option particularly stands out among the rest: an
independent study abroad. This would require a lot of time and effort, but doing so would
create a perfect amalgam of Alexs interests. For instance, she could combine her
interests in philosophy and art (specifically graffiti and public art) to explore some
relationship between the two in both the German and the American society. Some
research or independent study aspect would have to be included into the independent
study abroad, which could include a more empirically-oriented research on modern and
public art and the communitys response to it, and what this means in terms of societys
changing viewpoint on what can be considered art. Another option would be
independent study, which could be taking art or philosophy classes at a university and
combining the knowledge gained there with knowledge acquired through exploration of
the city itself. Both of these options would be interesting and thoroughly invigorating
opportunities for Alex, and would still leave room to do other science-related research at
other points in Alexs time at UW. With such broad interests, it may seem difficult at first
to find something to encompass everything, but really, when there are a plethora of
interests, there are a myriad of options.