A1.2 Module Assessment
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The tests that we took on ourselves in Module 1 of this unit helped to reaffirm several things I already
knew about my interests, as well to consider other jobs within my interests that I could find interesting.
My personality is quite introverted; even though I am very social and happy around my friends, I am
very shy and timid around people that I do not know. Thus, I would probably prefer jobs and positions
that wouldn't require regular social contact with strangers. I like to scheme new ideas and plan ahead, and
yet I very rarely follow through with them. I like to ponder topics and thoughts for a while, thinking
logically about the right conclusions that I should do, and this is a preference much appreciated in the arts
and sciences. My results from the career interest profiler, using Holland's career theory, seem to affirm
this view: my two totals for my artistic and investigative sides far outranked the other four, with my
enterprising spirit coming in third and my social side being last among the aspects. My strengths'
explorer test also came up with similar conclusions about myself. According to the test, I am a future
thinker as well as an organiser, which makes sense considering how often I daydream and my
aforementioned ability to make plans I never follow. I also come up as a discoverer, which aptly suits my
love of discovering and creating new and innovative things. From the tests that I took, it is evident that I
will want to go into a field where I use my mind to innovate new works or concepts that will better
society. I love science, and many of the careers recommended to me were ones such as in medicine and
physics, but I also worry about some of the math and health related aspects of these careers, since I find
math to be very difficult and I also worry about making serious mistakes if I were in a career in medicine.
Biology or chemistry or geology, however, are fields which still allow for great amounts of creativity
while also not having as high stakes tied to them. The humanities, history and archaeology in particular,
would interest me as they also involve the skills of discovery. I also love to write stories, play music, and
make videos, and while I doubt I will go into field specifically meant for them, that doesn't mean that I
couldn't find ways to let my skills there shine.
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A1.3 Module Assessment
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Personal Statement Assignment
I much enjoy being outside, whether sun or rain or snow, which is ironic considering the
fact that I spend practically all of my time inside. Nevertheless, perhaps even because of that
fact, I appreciate the time I spend in nature. Even when I go with friends, I still sense myself
alone in the cozy emptiness of the outdoors, and at those moments my mind can be happily
empty all without being uncomfortably bored. The great thing about nature is how it inspires
you to do stuff once you get back to civilization. It’s the perfect time to let go of the burdens and
trivialities of daily life, and to instead let your head wander freely to ponder and aspire and
daydream. While I’m interested in many things, one particular subject I think about is the past.
When you’re sauntering around a park, the present is the most obvious aspect of what
you’re walking through. But, of course, there were times before the present, and it’s most
interesting to find the remnants of things that used to be there. One can take a look at some
small young trees and compare them to the tall ones grandly scratching upon the sky; those tall
trees used to be wee little saplings at one point, and the ones that towered over them are now
long gone. Sometimes I stumble upon some old brick ruins lying quietly in the woods, and I
wonder what they may have been for. Most of those come from the past hundred or two hundred
years, however; some pieces, like fossils, have been preserved for millions of years and give
glimpses into eras we didn’t even know about just a short while ago.
Often I feel as though the present acts like a piece of driftwood does in a creek: picking
up and letting go of different people and things; subject to whatever twists and turns of fate the
zeitgeist bends in its course; and always, always moving away. Several months ago was the
centennial anniversary of the end of World War I, on 11 November 1918. This war has been
cited for generations as the beginning of the modern era, and yet it’s now a hundred years behind
us; nearly all of those who lived from that era have passed away, many lost to history for good.
It is discomforting to think about the fact that soon World War II, such a seminal and seemingly
recent conflict, will slip deeper and deeper into the history books as this century rolls on. Paper,
despite the bounties of knowledge that it can contain, is a fragile material easily damaged or
destroyed or forgotten about. Even the most notable and resilient of specimens, such as fossils or
stone buildings, seem ephemeral if they spend millennia more eroding to the elements. It’s a
strange paranoia of mine, and yet this anxiety is what motivates me to care about the past. There
are many facts and ideas and lessons to be excavated out of imminent and inevitable oblivion,
and whatever my career may be, I would make such my mission. Doing so would be to the
respect of the ages that have come before us, and to the immense benefit of the ages that succeed
us.
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