After listening to a selection of “This I Believe” broadcasts to familiarize myself with the format of the audio essays, I began to probe my own life and my own ideologies for ideas for my own “This I Believe” audio essay. While probing my life experiences for potential topics, I decided to focus on “underlying themes” in my life. Rather than speaking about a mantra I live by or a particular theme I’ve decided to model my life after, I decided to look for patterns in my own behaviors and experiences to find themes that have been modeled by my life. One of these themes or beliefs was, “the most fulfilling experiences in life come from acts of service and giving back to others.” One time that I remember this belief being strengthened within me was in a unique interaction I had with a worker at the Salvation Army food pantry while I was dropping off cans from a food drive I had organized. Another belief I found to be evident in my life was, “the greatest memories in life are made during the unknown.” There have been many times in my life when some of my most-distinct memories were created during periods of uncertainty or some form of instability. With this idea, I would hope to place an emphasis on the fact that although one’s “greatest memories” aren’t necessarily their happiest or fondest ones, but rather these memories are their most impactful ones, encouraging the most growth.

After generating a few ideas for the audio essay, I wanted to come up with new ideas for my passion blog. Although I could continue my current passion blog from CAS 137H, I decided to come up with fresh ideas to try a “different form” for a passion blog. With the 2021 Formula 1 season having recently ended, one of my ideas was to go back in the season and discuss the biggest “turning points” or highlights in one of the most controversial seasons in the sport. With the advantage of hindsight, I would hope to offer a unique perspective on the season, especially as an American spectator in a dominantly European sport. Another one of my ideas for my passion blog was to find and assess the best studying spots on campus (other than the library). I’ve found myself in the situation of trying to find the best place to study outside of the library, and every time I’ve fallen into the dilemma of choosing the “best building.” I would develop an organized system of evaluation, including factors like ambient noise, how crowded the area is, how convenient the location is, and what “amenities” are available (like academic assistance, or even the occasional Starbucks).

After looking into different ideas for my passion blog, I decided to look into what I wanted to write about for my civic issues blog, and potentially even my Issue Brief Paper down the line. After looking at my different options, I decided that I want to explore topic in area of education. Specifically, one issue I wanted to explore was assessing the role of standardized testing in the K-12 school system, as well as exploring how necessary it is to retain these types of assessments. Another one of the issues I wanted to explore in the realm of education was examining the source of rising college tuition, and assessing how effective higher-education institutions are in making an efficient and reasonable use of these funds.