"[A man] must know what his real, chief, and foremost object in life—what it is that he most wants in order to be happy; and then, after that, what occupies the second and third place in his thoughts; he must find out what, on the whole, his vocation really is—the part he has to play, his general relation to the world." - Arthur Schopenhauer


During my sophomore year I worked for Jumpstart, a national program designed to help strugging preschoolers by pairing them with college students working as tutors. The opportunity to make such a positive difference in a child's life is exciting, despite the incredible time commitment. It's somewhat like the program I participated in my first year, America Reads, but it involved more hours per week and slightly more responsive kids...


I work at my mom's new business, The RehabGYM Inc., during the summer, which has been a rather interesting experience. The RehabGYM is a hybrid between a physical therapy and gym facility--a specialty gym staffed with health professionals. I am employed full time in the office, mostly working on figuring out our billing program, marketing, web design, and making pretty forms for the physical therapists and athletic trainers.


During my first year at William Smith, I tutored three children with America Reads, a program designed to help struggling second and third graders improve their reading and writing skills. This job involved traveling to various elementary schools for about an hour twice a week and following a designated lesson plan with my student.

The two children I worked with fall semester, Margaret and Jason, as well as my spring student, Sarah, helped decorate my wall quite a bit. Getting to know the kids was a unique experience that I am not likely to forget anytime soon. However, I highly doubt any of them still remember my name (assuming, that is, they knew it at one point)...