Tacoma Public Schools Volunteer Application: Fill & Download for Free

I copied my personal statement below. This was for my application to the University of Washington for their MPA program. I ended up getting in and graduated from their last year. The only edits to the essay below are for OPSEC purposes since I did use to be in the military.Hope this is helpful to folks. Be easy on me.————————Since 2006, I have worn a uniform of the United States Army, first as a cadet at West Point and now as a military police officer having served at locations from Washington State to New York. My service to the country and to my communities as a whole were and are still inspired by my mother who told me constantly as I was growing up to “always give back to this country that has given so much to you”. For this reason, amongst others, I would like to pursue an MPA in Non-Profit Management and Philanthropy from the Evans School at the University of Washington so that I can further grow as a servant leader and a manager.Since 2010, I have served as an active-duty officer in the Army – first as a military police leader charged with managing and overseeing the readiness and training of 43 soldiers. To date, this has been my most fulfilling endeavor. I relished the idea of being responsible for preparing them not only to serve on Fort Lewis as police officers enforcing the law, but also in combat. Currently, I work as the chief operations officer for XXX planning missions and ensuring the directorate can respond to high-risk incidents.As a law enforcement professional, I have also dedicated myself to understanding emergency management at all levels through training on the National Incident Management System. I have completed both Phase 1 and 2 of the Defense Support of Civil Authorities training which introduces local, state, and federal statutes to leaders who provide support for domestic emergencies. I have also completed seven incident command system (ICS) courses so that I can better aid the response to domestic incidents. In addition, I have applied these skills as an operations chief and incident commander during multiple incidents on Fort Lewis and Fort Sill such as barricaded suspects and wildfires. My time in the Army is ending however and I would to pursue my MPA now.I first became interested in earning an MPA after spending time volunteering in the Puget Sound area while assigned to Fort Lewis. From 2011-2013, I worked with Oasis Youth Center as a peer mentor and youth advocate. The center is a safe space for queer youth and is the only drop-in and support center dedicated to LGBTQ youth ages 14-24 in Pierce County. As a mentor and advocate for LGBTQ rights, I saw the important services that non-governmental organizations provide, essential services that must be preserved and enriched, and I want to be a part of that. Earning an MPA will help me better understand the organizational structures, principles, and management concepts necessary to continue to succeed in the public sector and in non-governmental organizations in particular. I have already earned a master’s degree in Organizational Leadership with courses in organizational ethics, organizational systems, organizational research, and organizational development, so I do believe I have the foundation to succeed in the MPA program.I want to attend the University of Washington specifically because it is has a top tier MPA program. Year after year, the MPA program is ranked amongst the best in the nation and I believe that to do my job right, a great education is key. I also believe a holistic education is vital and the Evans School offers opportunities for students to attend lectures, panels, and screenings daily that enhance and broaden the scope of learning. Lastly, while at Fort Lewis, I grew to love the Seattle-Tacoma area. As a graduate student, I want to aid in the research and public programs that make the Seattle-Tacoma great and I want to continue this work in the same community once my time at the University is done. The bottom line is that I feel passionate about earning an MPA and I would be humbled and thrilled to do it at the Evans School, University of Washington.

Engineering requires competency in what are referred to as hard sciences, math, physics, chemistry, applied to practical problems and issues. Not everyone is mentally able to devote their energies to that structure. The trade off is that most engineers have to struggle to operate with other individuals who have chosen a more emotional relationship career. Scott Adams’ Dilbert series exemplify many of the issues experienced by engineers and people in hard science fields.Other possiblely arduous fields could include biochemistry, some areas of computer science, and fields requiring the application of mechanics, human needs and wants, and the multiple combinations of meeting those needs and wants within the current level of knowledges. One aspect often ignored by the general public regarding certain types of engineering is the liability issues. Anyone who has seen videos of the Tacoma Narrows bridge collapse, of balcony or building collapses, automobile crash aftermaths, should understand that certain failures of engineering can have very serious consequences, hence, some level of liability is passed on back to the engineering and design as encouragement to produce better products. An airline pilot carries a level of responsibility regarding safely following procedures to transport customers from point A to point B. Engineers are responsible, and liable individually and as a company, to assure pilot and customer, that the pilot has a well designed and constructed tool to accomplish the task.Aside from the high level of math calculations, a school subject many people struggle with when it requires skills beyond making change, dealing with the potential liability in certain types of engineering makes engineering difficult. That being stated, medical doctors have issues regarding liability, too, especially surgeons. Some have been likened to mechanics where parts are simply removed and replaced. Other doctors have a need to learn and retain a massive amount of details about injuries and afflictions of human bodies, which, although relatively similar, exhibit phenomenal variations. Many are competent, but accomplishing all the knowledge they are supposed to acquire and still be able to make a human connection, which is important to the success of treatment, may not be so common.it is my perception that any individuals choose to specialize in a field because it removes a significant level of stress balancing required knowledge and performance. As a result you will find a broad spectrum of capabilities in virtually every profession. Most careers the delineation of such skills is hidden by the relative obscurity of the work done. The one profession where skills are widely observable is public education. My perceptions are that there is a conflict between the demands and expectations made on the classroom teacher And the realities of human inabilities to match in the run of the mill prospective teacher. Accumulating information during this pandemic period strongly suggests parents are even less capable of meeting the needs of a smaller, more select, group of students than those who self-select to become teachers, volunteer to assume the responsibilities for other people’s children, and the liabilities attendant to having clusters of children in close proximity.While the hard science skills of engineering may be lacking, the reality is that those teachers, in the main, have a much more difficult task and set of issues to contend with than engineers. At issue is the level of dynamics involved. An engineer actually has a level of instruction referred to as “dynamics” where they study how different aspects of their profession interact. Individually and in groups they can take the time to analyze and hypothesize and calculate different possibilities and ultimately select an option. Teachers do not have any classes necessarily focused on dynamics in a classroom. There is nothing consistent in a classroom of growing children except that no day will be the same as the one past, and everything is subject to change within seconds. And, ax befits a highly visible position everything is subject to second guessing and 20–29 hindsight. And, the teacher is still expected to have every student progress to meet educational goals as measured by tests, which are used to evaluate whether the teachers skills and commitment to education.We don’t see lots of people flocking to be engineers. We don’t see lots of people flocking to become teachers, either. To determine which might be the most difficult we need only look at the five-year turnover rate of the two professions. That something like 55–60 percent of teachers leave the profession within five years suggests teaching is the really more difficult profession regardless of the knowledge level going in.