Lisa McDougall
Western Carolina University
Major: EMC, Junior
WCA Member: John McDougall, Blair-Duron Restoration
Being in the medical field, a higher education is very important. There are always new treatments, discoveries, and technologies that assist with the ultimate goal of curing and caring for the ill or injured. Before the discovery of insulin, people who suffered from diabetes would die from the inability of their body to process the sugar it needs to survive. Cancer
research is an ongoing investment to find treatments, cures, and vaccines. Without people striving for higher education, this vital research would not exist.
Staying informed of all the new research and current events within the medical field is also a vital process. Every medical provider within the United States has to maintain continuing education to know about the most recent discoveries to provide the best treatment to their patients. With every new discovery many people can benefit.
It is important to me that I not only obtain the minimal amount of information needed to stay current, but to be one of the people who strive to find all the new information. As a paramedic I enter the lives of people at their worst. I enjoy learning more about the options they have and to better myself as a paramedic. When I learn of something new or a better way of treating a chronic condition, I share that information with the clients I see on a regular basis. I enjoy being able to share a new way of assessing a patient with someone who is just starting his/her journey in the emergency medical field. Furthering my education not only helps me become a better clinician, it allows me to help all of those around me.
I feel a higher education is important in today's society to allow everyone to have a better future. Many people who come from a background that college is not an option without a scholarship find happiness in learning how great their future can be with a little hard work and desire. Whether the education is in the medical field, finding a way to make pain and suffering disappear, the financial field, helping people to spend their money wisely, or in any field at all, education holds the opportunities for anyone who wants to become something they once only dreamed of being. | Kay Cee Butcher
UNC-Chapel Hill
Major: English/Spanish, Junior
WCA Member: Scott Butcher, Lesco Restorations
It is widely accepted that an environment has a significant impact on the
individuals living within it. It is this understanding that supports my personal reasons for being an advocate for higher education. By immersing oneself in an atmosphere bursting with invigorating academics and individuals with a universal desire to use those academic opportunities in earnest to attempt to create a better world and thus, a better future, one cannot help but to be compelled to do the same.
My past two years at the University of North Carolina have sparked something inside of me that I never knew existed. It is within this spark that I have come to realize my full potential. By being surrounded by the
amazing minds working and studying at my university, I have learned that I, too, have an amazing mind that can achieve amazing things. My level of comprehension in my areas of study – English and Spanish – have far surpassed anything I would have anticipated in just two short years of studying at an institution of higher learning. Is this because I, myself, am an exceptionally bright student? While I would like to say “yes, of course, I am”, I cannot ignore the fact that without being here, in this place, I doubt my intellect would have prospered in the same way. It is my true belief that being fully enveloped in a milieu so geared towards
learning is the sole reason that I have gained so much knowledge.However, what is even more fascinating is that with each class I have taken, each paper I have written, and each discussion that I have participated in, my craving for knowledge has grown exponentially. While I do not claim to be a perfect student who has no interests besides my schoolwork, I do recognize the fact that I really do have a passion for learning that has been kindled by others around me who have transferred their enthusiasm for all things intellectual to me.
Although I do not think that knowledge for the sake of knowledge is unimportant, I do think that knowledge for the sake of the human condition is, by far, the most important reason for obtaining knowledge.
Institutions of higher education do not only provide new and exciting information to their students, they also ignite zeal and fervor within their students to use their newfound knowledge to create a better society. This zest for societal improvement is the most basic and most vital role
that colleges and universities play within a community and it is from this
eagerness for progress that we will see unequivocal advancement, development and growth – all established with a spirit of benevolence for
humanity. |
