Emma Reust Upon graduation from Polaris Expeditionary Learning School in May 2013, I plan to attend Colorado State

University in the fall semester of 2013 and complete a four-year degree in the sciences and humanities. I chose to attend CSU for several reasons; I want to stay in Fort Collins, I appreciate that CSU is strong in all the departments in which I am interested and I feel having a degree from CSU will help me in my career. CSU also came highly recommended by my high school teachers, five of whom are CSU graduates. My ideal career is a self-created one where I can blend my interest in the humanities and the sciences in a way that allows me to help my community in practical ways. I have always been interested in humans and the ways they interact with the world. One of the classes I took in high school was a critical multicultural and social justice class, where I learned how to study the human condition using analytical methods. I have also taken all the science classes offered at my high school and appreciated learning about the world from an empirical approach. I would like a career that allows me to use both of these methods. A career that blends these two methods effectively is occupational therapy with additional training in Somatic Experiencing, a type of therapy that works with the nervous system to help heal trauma. If I were to pursue this career path, I would like to work with veterans and at-risk teens. This career would require me to understand human biology and neurology as well as being able to apply analytical therapeutic skills. I am also interested in helping people by being an educator in the humanities, especially at the high school level. I believe it is important for students to have an understanding of the humanities because I feel the analytical humanities education allows

students to understand their own culture and worldviews as well as that of others. I was very inspired by my own social studies classes that I took in high school, especially the multicultural and social justice class that I took my junior year, and I would like to be able to offer that insight to other students. During my high school career I have been a teacher's assistant in a number of classes. As a teachers assistant I have helped to create lesson plans and help teach classes. I have discovered that I greatly enjoy teaching and helping students. I am considering majoring in anthropology, especially applied anthropology and forensics, as I am interested in pursuing an education that is a blend of scientific inquiry and practical application. Forensic anthropology has been an interest of mine for several years and would be a career that would allow me to combine my aspiration to help people while being able to work in a scientific setting. I have always been interested in puzzles, figuring things out and finding the truth in any given situation. Anthropology gives me the opportunity to use and develop those skills in a creative way that is grounded in both the sciences and the humanities.