Applicant to the University of Pennsylvania School

¶ … applicant to the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science, I am interested in maximizing the opportunity to study the development of sustainable and renewable energy technology. That field is close to my heart from having grown up in a Palestinian community that constantly endures the difficulties, inconveniences, and consequences of limited access to sufficient electricity to support ordinary life. That was my original motivation for participating in the Applied Research Institute in Jerusalem, a non-profit organization dedicated to solving such problems. I would hope to contribute my life experiences to help my fellow students empathize with the plight of those who lack a commodity typically taken for granted in the West. Naturally, I hope that my opportunity to obtain a degree in related fields will enable me to give back to my home community in that regard. The fact that the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering provides such a strong core engineering curriculum will allow me to identify the optimal direction for my major course of study and eventual career in engineering while progressing toward that degree.

The other element of my previous experiences that I hope to contribute to the University of Pennsylvania and surrounding Philadelphia community is my participation in the Environmental Education Center's Clean-Up Campaign, a trash-recycling initiative and promotion. In that capacity, I helped develop creative uses for trash that appealed greatly to the children in the community and that served as an effective learning tool to introduce concepts such as environmental responsibility and ecology to young students. We created modernistic sculptures of a variety of forms, including musical instruments and a large Christmas tree, entirely from recycled trash. The Philadelphia community would benefit from a similar youth-oriented positive-message-based initiative that increased understanding of important core concepts of environmental responsibility in a framework of youth activities. Having seen the appeal and value of such a campaign as a learning tool to introduce concepts such as environmental responsibility and ecology, I am confident at being able to duplicate those benefits in Philadelphia.