Who You Are Matters

When you first meet people in college, some of the first things they ask you are your name, major, and where you’re from. Name: Renee. Major: Nonprofits, with a minor in Dance. Where I’m from: I don’t really know. I was born in Hawaii, went to high school in Chicago, currently live in Florida, but go to school in Los Angeles. Home home is Hawaii, but where family is is home too, so I guess Florida?

I don’t really know where I’m going, but I see myself working on the development side of some sort of nonprofit organization. I think there’s a lot of inefficiency in this sector that has so much potential to do good in society, so I want a job in development where I can help these organizations reach that potential. I’m currently studying nonprofits and interning under the Director of Development of a nonprofit, so I plan on continuing on this track until I graduate.

I’m definitely more like my dad than my mom. He and I are both more comfortable in small settings, like our quiet time, get competitive over everything, think more than feel, and love adventure. My mom is what I call a people person, feels more than thinks, and prefers peace over confrontation. But I have her passion for dance and everything that comes with it, so I’m a little bit of both my parents.

I would say I’ve developed my own expectations. I think our parents are where a lot of expectations may stem from, but my parents gave me the freedom to pursue anything I wanted, so I never really felt any pressure from them to perform to a certain standard or pick a certain path in life. I’m the type of person who is harder on myself than anyone else, so other people’s expectations of me typically don’t bother me.

One of my friends, Sam, is someone who I think lives life with great passion and personal responsibility. When he decides he likes something, he makes time to get better at those things, no matter the cost. In the time I’ve known him, he’s taken up snowboarding, ice skating, break dancing, and so many other things, I’ve lost track. He will go practice and train on his own, and it’s the most incredible self discipline I’ve ever seen.

I really like dolphins. Maybe it’s because I have so many memories of watching them in Hawaii, but I just love them. They’re so smart and playful and friendly – it’s almost as if they were made to make us humans smile and laugh. They remind me of children, without a care in the world.

One time in kindergarten, my grandma and I ate apples, saved the seeds, and planted them outside my apartment. It wasn’t a tree necessarily, but day after day I would go out to water my spot and see if the seeds had grown into one. I imagined that one day a big apple tree would grow, and I felt proud of my hard work and future fruit. Spoiler alert: my seeds did not grow into a tree, or maybe they did but I moved to Chicago so wasn’t around long enough to see it.