Personal Statement

Hey. I had to write this personal statement for my RA job and I figured you all might like to read it. So, here goes:

My name is Zach Triplett. I grew up in the small town of Haysi, Virginia which is tucked in the hills of Southwest Virginia. I went to a small high school and graduated with a class of 80 other students. The value of hard work, meaning of family, and the ability to love home are only a few of the things I learned while growing up in Dickenson County, Virginia. In this short statement, I plan on telling you a little about myself, my plans, and why these things are important to me.

I was very involved with community service in high school. Although I did a lot of service, I wasn’t fully aware at the time of what exactly community service was. I helped to tutor kids, I volunteered at community events, and I would help out around town when help was needed. When trying to figure out where to go to college after graduation, I knew what I wanted. Since I grew up in a small town and was used to small town life, I wanted to go somewhere that had similar qualities. Emory & Henry College was the only school I applied to my senior year of high school.

As the new chapter in my life approached, I got an application in the mail for the Bonner Scholars program. I applied for the community service scholarship and was told that I had not received it. I was rather relieved because I felt that eight hours of community service per week was a bit much for a first year college student. It was July before I came to Emory and I received a call one day from someone that offered me the Bonner Scholarship. After much debate, I decided to accept the award. I was unaware at the time how much this decision would affect my life.

While in high school, I took an anatomy class online and I loved it. I became obsessed with health and I wanted to become a doctor. I shadowed at a local hospital and I decided that a career as a physician would be great for me. It is interesting, the pay is excellent, and doctors tend to have good reputations. So, I came to Emory & Henry as a chemistry and biology double major. I struggled my freshman year. College was unlike high school. I found my classes challenging and I didn’t study as much as I should have. I ended my freshman year of college still dead-set on becoming a doctor. During this first year of school, I began to volunteer with Crossroads Medical Mission. Crossroads is a non-profit organization based in Bristol, Virginia that provides free health care to uninsured and uninsured residents of Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee. My work with Crossroads also was fulfilling my plans to one day become a doctor.

My first semester of my sophomore year was a large struggle for me. I ended up taking three extremely challenging classes in one semester. It proved to be almost fatal. I did very poorly in my grades. It is strange, but it was like I woke up one morning and decided that I was on the wrong track. If I was meant to be a biology student going into med school, wouldn’t I have more motivation to do well? Since I began at Emory, many people had suggested that I take a Public Policy & Community Service class. It was a major unique to Emory and I thought it sounded very interesting. On the day I decided that my classes were leading me in the wrong direction, I went straight to a new advisor and changed my major. I began my second semester as a sophomore at E&H as a Public Policy & Community Service major. I knew that this was the right track for me. I loved all my classes and I began to make good grades. I am still a PPCS major to this day.

Throughout high school, I was able to travel a little but not a large amount. I would go on field trips and occasionally go to places with a program I was a member of. But, I never took the time to appreciate the places where I was visiting. During my spring break of freshman year, I went with a few friends to Boston. It was this trip that sparked my love of different places and traveling. Just a few months later, after the end of my freshman year, I went to New York City with the Bonner Scholars program. I fell in love with the place. Even though Appalachia is my home, I love to experience new places. For my last spring break, my mom, my brother, and I took a trip to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I often joke that I went on the National Treasure tour because I visited all the places that were important to the history of America. I decided that last summer I needed to do something big. I didn’t want to take a job that was close to Southwest Virginia. I wanted to experience somewhere new. So, I applied for a position with Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Talented Youth. I applied for an RA position and was expecting to be placed somewhere on the east coast. Instead, I was offered a job in Santa Cruz, California.

The job in Santa Cruz was one of the most challenging, but rewarding, experiences of my life. I faced many obstacles out there with my students, but at the same time I learned more about myself than ever before. Not to mention, I met many friends who still mean a lot to me. I was happy with my decision to go to California. Again, my love of travel was sparked, so this summer I am going to Quito, Ecuador for four weeks. I am excited, but nervous, about the experience.

I am unsure what I want to do after graduation. My love of people and volunteering is leading me towards an Americorps VISTA position in a city. I feel like I need the experience of living in a city for some amount of time. I have always been a person with plans. But, over the past couple of weeks, I have decided that not having plans may actually be good for me. I’m just going to go where life takes me. So far, it has led me to Emory & Henry. Where it will be next…I guess only time will tell.

A Week Has Gone By?!

Hey everyone (or at least people that read my blog.) I never sleep in. I don't have class until 11:00 today but I was still awake at 7:50 this morning. I kind of like it because it gives me time to do random stuff, such as update my blog, when I normally wouldn't have time. I went to bed at 11:00 last night, which is normal for me, so I guess going to bed early is what causes me to wake up early. I would rather get up early than stay up late though.

This past week has been good. It has just been super busy. I can't believe it is Friday already! It seems like this semester started up much quicker than last semester. All of the work for my classes is keeping me pretty busy. I have a lot of reading and I need to spend this weekend getting caught up on some stuff that I have fallen behind on.

On Wednesday night we had the Village Bonfire. The picture below is a picture of all the RAs in the Village. It was a lot of fun. We just hung out with some of our residents and roasted some marshmallows and weenies. When you ask the college to supply wood for a fire you are going to build, they usually supply old desks or something similar. So, we arrived at the fire to find a pile of desks covered with diesel fuel. It was a hot fire, none-the-less. I think I scorched my beard a little bit.


I have no plans for the weekend. I am trying to conserve money and not waste gas so I don't plan on going anywhere far. I have readings to catch up on and a few things I can write on so I'm just gonna stick around here and relax. I know...I lead a very exciting life.

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

Life in Emory

It can get boring at times. Life here in Emory. The past few days have been good. My first full week of classes ended up going well. I can't believe we are into the new semester already..and almost two weeks at that! It doesn't feel like we have been at it for that long.

This past weekend I lead a service project in Abingdon. It was for the Martin Luther King National Day of Service. We went and moved some stuff from a storage building for a food pantry. The day of service was supposed to be on MLK Day, but since we had school we had to push it back to this past Saturday.

I headed up to Blacksburg on Saturday evening to visit Tarah and Dove and everyone up there. I spent the night on Saturday night. We basically sat around, listened to music, and I washed clothes. It was terribly exciting. It was good to visit with them though. I enjoy going up there just to get off campus.

I have set some goals for myself. I dropped a few pounds while I was in California and I continued to do so up into last semester. I think I've gained a little back. So, I need to start eating healthier in the cafe. I have also decided that even though my car is close by, I am not driving if I have to go anywhere on campus. I am going to walk everywhere. It is silly to drive when I can walk anywhere in a matter of 5-10 minutes.

Random thoughts

• I got a new fish...his name is Henry.
• The IRS makes me angry. Why taxes, why?
• I like to travel.
• I need to learn Spanish.
• I also need to write my paper due at 9:30 in the morning..."What does it mean to be an American?"

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

I'm Sorry/Christmas/Orange Bowl

I know. I'm sorry. I didn't keep to my word and update this thing regularly like I said that would. Everything has been going good. I will give you a rundown of what has been going on.

I ended up with good grades last semester. I got 3 A's, an A-, and a B. I ended up with a 3.7 GPA for the semester, which put me on the Dean's List. I was really excited about that because I had never been on the Dean's List before. I enjoyed all of my classes from last semester. Christmas with the family was good. I didn't get to go home until around the 18th of December, so I didn't have much time for break. I spent Christmas with everyone and then left for Florida on the 28th.

Me, Tarah, Dove, and Jenna went to Blacksburg on the night of December 28th. There, we met Erin and Corey and left for Miami on the 29th. Despite being plagued with kidney stones for part of the ride, it was fun. We made a pitstop in Savannah, Georgia. At the time we stopped, it just so happened that power was out all over the city. It was a coincidence we were there but we did have time to walk around and take a few pictures.

We found what claimed to be the Smallest Church in America. It was a church on a side-road we took to avoid traffic on the interstate. It is tailored for travelers to stop in and worship.

We stayed in Jacksonville with a guy that Erin knew on the night of the 29th. We left Jacksonville on the morning of the 30th and drove on into Miami. Along the way, we stopped in St. Augustine which was a really nice city. We got to our hotel and decided to visit the beach. We went to Ft. Lauderdale beach and then we headed north to Deerfield Beach. There, we met up with my good friends who I worked with in California, Colton and Lance. We hung out on the beach for a couple of hours and then headed back south.

The next day, we woke up and the girls took their sweet time getting ready. We went to what was supposedly the 4th largest mall in America. It was huge! We were there for about 4 hours and didn't even see the whole thing. Once we got back to our hotel, Colton and Lance stopped and picked me up and I spent the evening with them. The crew I went with wanted to go to South Beach for the New Year, but I didn't feel like fighting the crowd, so I went north with Lance and Colton. We hung out on the beach, dug a huge hole, and watched the fireworks. It was a good evening and a relaxing way to spend New Years. Below is a picture of the fireworks from the beach.

On New Year's Day, we got up and checked out of our hotel. We headed to Dania Beach, which was close by, and layed on it for about 3 hours.

We left from there and headed to Dolphin Stadium for the Orange Bowl. The game was a ton of fun. Even though we had very, very high seats, they were right on the 50-yard line with an awesome view.

Three pictures are below. The first is a picture of a sunset at Dolphin Stadium. The second is a picture of the megatron with the Orange Bowl logo. The third is me, Colton, and Lance at the ballgame.

I came back to school on January 5th. We had RA training and stuff and now I'm back into classes. I'm taking four actual classes and an independent study class. Even though my class schedule isn't a lot, I stay busy with all my service work, RA stuff, and other committments.

I'm excited about my Spring Break. As of right now, me and a few other people are planning on flying to Orlando for a few days. It is going to be cheap and it will be fun. I leave for Ecuador on May 11th, return June 9th, and just a couple days later leave to work in California again! It will be an adventurous next few months, but I am looking forward to it.

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.