Aspiration

A. Three professional attributes that I believe will be indispensable to me during my service in Panama are patience, flexibility, and enthusiasm. Shifting to living and working in a foreign land is sure to bring drastic changes, from adapting to different customs to not hearing my native language. Dealing with the frustration of these changes and frustration with myself is going to take an immense amount of patience. It will also take patience to interact with the local people and push them to make changes relating to my mission of environmental improvement, conservation, and education. Working hand in hand with patience is a good sense of flexibility; it is indisputable that things will not always go according to plan, and I know the best way to deal with this is to change accordingly and from experience I know I am not one to blow up or shut down when something goes wrong. I try to always view things going wrong as a change in direction rather than a failure. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, is enthusiasm, for nothing is as successful and rewarding than when it is done enthusiastically. I know that I will be enthusiastic in my position, because I am passionate about the environment and using the education I was so fortunate to obtain to protect the earth and help its people. That enthusiasm I possess will help me to be patient and flexible. Ultimately it will allow me to get things done and get them done well, because it is something that I truly care about and am invested in. B. Working effectively with my partners in Panama is essential and I aim to establish an effective team by maintaining open communication and gaining respect by showing respect. Being upfront and deliberate while interacting with my partners will establish open communication. By following through with correspondences and always being timely and prepared, I will gain respect. Making necessary changes to my current appearance will also prove my respect for Panamanian customs and traditions. These combined strategies will help me develop the productive relationship essential to cooperating with my partners in Panama, by allowing me to be aware of and responsive to the needs of my community and partners and allowing them to do the same for me. C. One of the things I am most looking forward to during Peace Corp service is fully experiencing a new culture. I am excited to embrace the Panamanian lifestyle. I know that adapting to a new culture may be challenging, but I think I can accomplish it by staying open minded and positive when experiencing new things, like food, housing, or even just social norms. Remaining aware of my own culture and sharing it to those who wish to know about it is also important. This will help me compare the new culture I am adapting to with my own. I can maintain this awareness by staying in contact with home and by keeping a journal where I can write about the differences in culture I notice. D. I expect pre service training will be intense and in depth and I am looking forward to all the things I will learn to help me during service. I really hope that more details about my exact duties will be revealed during training. I also expect to learn ways in which to effectively communicate with community leaders and the people I directly work with and improve my Spanish skills to achieve good communication. I am very excited to learn all the details of where I will be living and what I will be doing, and I hope to learn things that will aid me in being successful in adapting to the Panamanian culture and way of life. E. I have no doubts that Peace Corps service will be one of the most life changing experiences I will ever be fortunate enough to experience. I am fresh out of college with a degree in Environmental Science and I believe that using this degree in a place like Panama will teach me exactly what I am truly capable of, in terms of finding strategies to promote community environmental conservation effectively. I ultimately hope to apply my lessons and successes in Panama as they are needed in the Unites States, where there is an overwhelming need for conservation but little public awareness of that need. On a personal level, I hope that through my service I will find new ways to interact with people different then myself. I hope to gain perspective on what it means to not only be a citizen of America but a citizen of the world. I hope that my values rooted in conservation and social involvement continue to grow. I know that after my 27 months in Panama I will be a different person, a better person, and a person more driven and passionate about environmental conservation than ever before.