Last year, I interviewed three students on campus and asked them about their major, their passions, and what motivates them. Madison, Omar, and Kesya all have varying passions but they all have one thing in common: making lives better.
Though it took me a while to come back to this project, I’m so happy that I did. Omar, Maddy, and Kes are three wonderful, ambitious people and I’m excited to share part of their stories with you. Below is what they have to say about their passions and motivations:
Maddy: eDucation & Support Systems
“My name is Madison. I am [now 20] years old. I am an elementary education major. I want to become a teacher. Things that motivate me when I’m at my lowest are my friends. They are some of the most, how do I say, helpful people that I have around me at this point. They push me to do the best that I can and be the best that I can for myself and the people around me. As well as my parents, you know. They’ve always wanted me to do the best that I could and have always been such a good support system in my life. [They have] inspired me to do what I’m most passionate about, which at this point I would say is education.
Education is very important to me because I have been watching the state of education decline throughout my life and I’m seeing things happen around me where I feel like a lot of the teachers that we have at our schools are not motivated anymore and aren’t happy with their job. For many different reasons… [Education has] always been something that I’ve been very passionate about. In terms of education, [I care about] making sure that I provide an equitable education in my classroom, as well as in my school, in the county… and making sure that our students have everything they need to be successful and as happy as possible in my classroom and in education as a whole.
I just think that having passionate people in the classroom with the children is one of the most important things to their education. Because at the end of the day, if you’re not passionate, they’re not going to be. And they should be. It’s their education. Kids are not going to want to listen to you if you’re not going to give them a reason to listen. So I think having a motivated person in front of your students, whether they are in kindergarten or highschool, is one of the most important parts of their educational career. So that’s why I am very passionate about [education] and I think that over time, I’m going to become more and more passionate about it.
Recently in school and stuff, I have really shown myself that this is something I want to do. And it’s more than just an idea. It’s actually something that I’m really passionate about.”
Omar: Acting, Role Models & Family
Question: When did you realize that you want to be an actor?
“This was during my senior year in high school. I went to Miami Lakes Tech. I used to dress up as Spiderman a lot back in high school and I remember doing it for multiple pep rallies [and] multiple events like spirit week. And I remember I once [dressed up as Spiderman] for the kids there because at our high school we had a daycare. I remember dressing up for the kids. They asked me to do the favor, me and my other buddy, and [the kids] loved it. It was seeing all of them happy. So then I thought about it. I said, ‘you know, I think I’m perfect for this.’ I think I have like the right energy and all that for the entertainment field… I love making people smile. I love making people happy. So yeah, that’s what made me want to be on the big screen. ”
Question: Who (or what) motivates you?
“One of the people who inspires me alot [is] Kobe Bryant. There’s no doubt in my mind that Kobe Bryant has made me a better person just because of the way he was. He didn’t give up, he loved challenges. And I used to not challenge myself back then, but I once started to know more about him, and just became a fan overall… I love to challenge myself now and have the same mentality as him. He’s one of my biggest inspirations…
My family. Yeah, I mean one thing I want to do is – I want to make my family proud of me. I know they support me and all, but I really want to show them that I can succeed with all these goals and dreams.. I want to make them proud, you know? Especially my little brother. I want him to like look up to me and say “he’s a good big brother, you know?”
-Omar, 22
Kes: Protecting Our Home & Future Generations
“My name is Kesya. I am [now 20] years old. I go to Florida International University and study Sustainability and the Environment. I’ve really had sustainability and environmental issues in my life for a long time. I remember as a kid, like since childhood, we’ve always done recycling and went to different [environmental] events and stuff like that. So it’s kind of been incorporated into my life, for my entire life. I’ve always been aware of these issues and I guess that was kind of rooted in me wanting to study it in my future as an adult. Because it’s something that’s really important and affects us everyday. The world is changing, not in the best ways, because of current situations, so we want to try to find solutions to fix that and make the world a better place in the future.
A sustainable world, to me, is people actually caring about our home. We only have one earth and we have to try and preserve it and try to save it. So I feel like if everyone tried, even if it’s in the smallest ways… Even recycling more, which is surprisingly not as common as people think. A lot of people don’t recycle in their homes. So people can start doing more of that, or trying to save power, saving water, just trying to not be so wasteful and being more aware of the things we do that affect our environment.
I think the future of our planet is what motivates me. ‘Cause I just want a future, especially for my kids or my grandchildren, people that I care about that are going to live through the planet in the future. I want them to have a healthy and thriving home. I don’t want them to grow up and live in a place that’s slowly decaying. So I guess thinking about future generations is what inspires me to try harder and learn more about the world and find more things to improve it.
Something else I realize I like to do a lot – When I learn about news topics, I like to learn more about them, explore them more, and try to learn as much information about it. I don’t know if it’s considered a hobby, but [I like to] just learn more information and do research on stuff. I’m a big researcher and I like taking on projects that involve researching and learning about new ideas and things.”
Inside an Optimist's Mind 