Beth Hansen

This picture is from the Keweenaw Peninsula in the Upper Peninsula, and Gratiot Lake during my Ecology class at camp. We lived in a cabin without running water or electricity for a week, and discussed how humans fit into the world around us. It was amazing.

This summer I went to engineering camp. I guess this really makes me a nerd. I spent my summer learning about how triangles are stronger than rectangles and that cement is not the same thing as concrete. But I had fun. I had more than fun…it was actually pretty mind-opening. Not really with what they told us (frankly, the construction of federal highways is only so exciting). It wasn’t actually what I learned about the math and science I liked so much. Watching my teachers was the interesting part.
These “inspirational role-models”…well, inspirational was up to debate. I had trouble picturing myself with the life of most of the engineers. One man came to give us a speech from Kimberly Clark. His entire job was putting more air in toilet paper so the company could make more of a profit. When asked why he wanted to be a chemical engineer, he told us it was because he was okay with math in high school and chemical engineers have the highest start-off salary of any other engineers.
Well, okay. He seemed to like his job okay. He had a wife, and a kid, and seemed moderately happy. He was an average guy.
This summer, I realized I want to be more than average. I want to be significant. I want to find something I’m really passionate about, and do it. My biggest goal this school year isn’t to kill the SAT or get straight A’s (though that would be great, too). My biggest goal is to keep looking for something I’m really passionate about that I can make a career out of it. Maybe it will be engineering. Or maybe it will be architecture. Or psychiatry, or naturopathy, or high school education, or just maybe motherhood. I don’t really know. I just know I want to love what I do. Howard Thurman once said, "Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who are alive."It may be cliché, but… I want to be alive.
I don’t think I’m cool enough to have a favorite website. But if I had to choose one, I would probably sayhttp://pbskids.org/ . It brings back some good times.