Scholarship Essay Entry – Chris M.

Like most liberal arts students, I have come to the point where graduation is in sight and I have to ask myself: "What now?" As a fourth year Economics major at the University of Alberta I am currently selecting the classes to conclude my academic career as I try to figure out where to go from here. In the soul searching of 'what job do I want' with the occasional 'why didn't I become an engineer' thoughts (which I am sure many arts students face), I have come to realize not what job I want, but rather, what I want to achieve. There have been two specific instances in my life that have made me realize that my ambition is to be in a position where I can help individuals in my community at the micro and macro level.

Throughout my teenage years I found myself lucky enough to be in a position where I was able to combine my passion for golf with benefiting my local community of Cold Lake. Being part of youth golf programs in which golf was available to kids that couldn't afford to golf or did not have the people in their lives to take them and teach them how to golf was exceedingly rewarding. Participating in these youth golf programs truly acted as a catalyst in shaping the person I am striving to be. The rewarding feeling from helping others within my community will remain with me forever. More recently, I have been  employed with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency which has permitted me to be apart of a program which is beneficial to Canadians as a whole. The sense of pride and satisfaction from being able to help my community at a national level has created a hunger within me to strive to benefit my community at every level.

As a university student I realize that I am fortunate to be in the position I am in and I work hard to remain there. Admittedly, I am not completely certain what career path I want to take but I know that my formal education and my desire to better my community will allow me to obtain a position in which I can help others. My education will provide me with the tools to positively impact my community whether it be by helping individuals become financially independent, helping form economic policy to prevent volatile market shifts, or aid those affected by economics downturns, such as those negatively affected by the recent subprime mortgage crisis. I feel that economics is being viewed in a negative light as it is often associated with the financial greed which has become prevalent in today's economic climate; I want to help change that. I want to be that individual, regardless of my career path, that positively impacts my local and national community, not only from an economics perspective but from a personal perspective as well.