SFU-Graduate Liberal Studies Entrance Essay
Emei Shan
The Heroine’s Journey
My first job as a secondary teacher, after completing the PDP program at SFU in 2012, was at a B.C. school in Chongqing, China. While the first few months in the country were dedicated to cultural adjustment, I was soon able to venture out and explore the country. During the Chinese New Year, I boarded a train and several buses until I found myself at the base of Mount Emei in Chengdu. After staying a night at the bottom of the mountain, without much planning or preparation, I began hiking to the 3099m summit.
Passing through lush forest teeming with wildlife and thieving monkeys, I had been hiking for several hours into the mountains of Emei Shan. What began as a last minute decision to hike to the Golden Temple at the peak, soon became a desperate push against impending nightfall to reach a temple at a lower point. With a serious lack of knowledge of the route, and a growing sense of foolishness, I eventually found myself hiking in the dark barely able to see where to place each step. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, heavy rain set in. I had no idea how far the next temple was, and with no lights to lead my way up the narrow, steep, slippery steps, I had no choice but to precariously hike into the night, hoping to soon come across my destination.
After a time of extremely slow ascent, grasping trees at the side of the trail for guidance, I became increasingly desperate. I needed to find the temple, but my legs turned to lead as a sense of dread overwhelmed me. With the relentless rain pounding against my body, I slowed down even more and and soon stopped hiking altogether. Tired, cold, hungry, and anxious, I looked up and felt the water, heavy on my face, and wondered why I had been so careless. In a moment of self despair, I began to consider stepping off the trail, leaning into the mountain, and awaiting whatever fate would become of me. I was afraid, alone, and had no idea when or if salvation would arrive. Realizing the severity of my situation, I cried a shameful tear, and wondered what they would say when they found the Canadian girl lost or dead in the mountains of China.
Just then, my shoulders hunched and I felt as if my knees might buckle under the weight of my own fear. In this darkest of moments, with no end in sight, the rain suddenly stopped. In disbelief I looked up and around me to see if I’d imagined it. When I glanced to my right, I saw a small speck of light floating in the trees. Curious, I continued to stare. It glowed for a moment, suspended, then drifted toward me and hovered a few inches from my face. My gaze remained fixed as it floated in the direction of the mountain path. When I took a step forward, the entire mountain lit up with thousands of fireflies illuminating the road before me. I started hiking again, almost in a trance; the lights pulling me forward. They led me around a corner and up a steep incline. For the remainder of the hike, in what could have been anything from moments to minutes, time seemed immeasurable. Then off in the distance, atop a small hill, as if it had been born out of the mist, were the lights of a temple. It took my breath away as it glowed, beckoning me toward it. I turned around for one last look at the path that had come before me, and saw the fireflies slowly retreating back to the forest.
Joseph Campbell’s notion of the Hero’s journey takes an individual through a twelve stage monomyth. It begins in the ordinary world where we hear a call to adventure, which brings us to cross a threshold into a world of tests, dangers, and challenges, after which we find ourselves undergoing a form of death before we see the road back and return a Hero. This journey can take many forms and exist at multiple points in our lives as we undergo transitions from one stage to the next. No journey I had previously undergone were as powerful and have left such a lasting and memorable impression as that fateful hike up Emei Shan. It was the beginning of a great passion in the search for more meaning in this life.
Since the mountains of Chengu, my tendencies to contemplate have grown and developed. It has led me to communicate with others, read new texts, and expand what I know of who we are and how we connect with the world. I have travelled the world, wondered at differing belief systems, witnessed majesty, and studied multidisciplinary ideologies all in search of a personal drive for progression of thought. Each new venture led me to a greater awareness in how diversity and challenge can teach and unify us, affecting not only our personal journeys but also the journeys of others.
When I became a teacher, I knew one day I would pursue a graduate degree but had yet to be ready for or find one suited to me. I have always been a contemplative individual who considers multiple points of view and understandings. I voraciously read, journal, synthesize, and attempt to foster progression in my own thought. An interdisciplinary program is one where students are asked to examine points of view and expand into innovative thought in hopes of enriching their lives. They should be critical in the exploration of their core value systems. Just as Emei Shan had enriched my life, acceptance into this program will do the same. I am not only well equipped be successful in a Masters program, but I am perfectly suited to this program in particular; one that will allow me to study some of the greatest intellectual and artistic concerns in our world. In my continued pursuit of becoming a more well rounded, well read, and balanced individual who can positively engage with and affect community, I am confident I have found in the Masters of Liberal Studies program the next call to adventure in my Hero’s journey.
In a world where chaos is abounding and uncertainties plague the future, the more we can come to know ourselves, the stronger our communities become. Growth should be pursued not simply as a means to an end, or as a necessary pathway to take one where they intend to go, but it should also be sought after to enlighten and illuminate new ideas that will broaden perspectives and expand one’s worldview. Personal growth should be continuous and regarded as highly important in developing belief systems and arriving at an understanding of one’s effect on and place within the world.
As in the Hero’s journey, personal growth may come in a series of stages. In the beginning, we are asleep and unaware of any changes necessary to improve our lives until, in a moment of enlightenment or tragedy, we awaken to discover what needs to be done. From here we integrate challenge and action, which leads us to practice mastery in our own development before we self actualize and the cycle begins again. In the progression of my life, this cycle of personal growth has been integral to understanding who I am. Through that understanding I have become a more balanced person, capable of positive growth and with greater ability to affect change in those around me. In choosing the Masters of Liberal Studies at SFU, I am continuing my Hero’s journey. I had been asleep and awakened, and am now ready for greater enlightenment. Acceptance into this masters program would allow me to delve into new mindsets and worldviews; continuing the search for meaning that started all those years ago at Emei Shan. It will support and encourage my ongoing passion for personal excellence through the study of philosophy, poetry, history, and fiction, all while being challenged by individuals on their own journey of growth.
One’s personal growth should overlap into their professional life, where their Hero’s journey can become an example for other journey’s yet to be realized. As a teacher with experience a variety of schools, each with a varied student base, I understand that a solid personal and professional life is important It is evident that strong education requires well educated, growth mindset professionals. This is a person who is dedicated to their own learning and personal growth, who is constantly expanding their world-view, and unapologetically dancing to the beat of their own drum. They are an inspiration toward individuality and self awareness that is ever more necessary in our world today.
I often find myself teaching in an English, History, Theater, ELL, 0r Aboriginal class where I draw not only on personal experiences in order to teach an array of simple and complex topics, but also on my formal education background in the varied texts I have explored. Throughout my life I have been continuously learning about literature, history, and philosophy, and have a passion to experience what I read on a level of greater depth and multiple perspectives. I have come to see in my years in the classroom that diverse thought better connects with the diverse body of students we see in schools today.
My goal through this interdisciplinary program, where critical, creative, and non-linear thinking are encouraged through in depth reading, discussion, and reflection, is to be able to provide students with a more well rounded education because I will have a broader knowledge base from which to draw from. A teacher devoted to learning and higher goals is a strong role model for those coming up behind them. In working with other professionals who are also interested in furthering their knowledge base and achieving higher goals, I feel positive that I will have comprehensive experiences to bring back to my students and colleagues. This will filter into the community as a whole, since each move toward improving one’s self creates the possibility of a ripple effect that could help others on their own journey.
Just as balanced individuals seek personal and professional growth to further develop their sense of self, we must also consider what qualities we have gleaned that will add to our communities. In applying to this Liberal Studies Masters I considered what it might do for me personally and professionally, but I also began to examine what I had to offer those individuals I might study alongside with. It is through life experience and my Hero’s journey that I have come to where I am today. It is through those experiences and the skills learned in challenges, set backs, differences, and my pursuit toward growth and enlightenment, that I have been able to develop personal qualities and valuable insights that will greatly add to this year’s Masters intake.
Travel has been invaluable me. Journeys and challenges that have taken me through Asia, Europe, Australia, and the Americas have become embedded in who I am and what I have to offer. When I was stranded and terrified in Thailand, I utilized learned skills to stay calm and find a way home. Or when all my money and documents were stolen on a second trip in China, I thought quickly, problem solved, and found a way to get by unscathed. And in finding myself alone and hungry, in the middle of the night at a train station in Australia, I learned to connect with others. Through these moments, and in many others, I developed open mindedness, patience, positivity, and the ability to build connections wherever I am. These qualities have helped me to explore the world, embrace fear and challenge, and shift my perspective when forks appear in the road.
Moving around the world can be an enlightening experience in growth, yet staying still can add to one’s personal qualities in their own way. In the years leading up to this application, I went from a globetrotting, experience seeking, multiple perspective gaining, individual, to one who wished to create a place of her own. I went in search of a foundation from which I could dig into and take responsibility for the next chapter of my life. Housing, being an expensive prospect, called for innovation, forward thinking, and creativity. Therefore, my foundation came the renovation of a barn loft. Varied skills and personal qualities went into the design, sourcing of materials, and hands on building of my now completed barn loft. Collaborating with family, friends, and neighbours, taught me much more than just to effectively wield a hammer, frame a dormer, install windows, and insulate. The building of my house highlights what I have to offer in personal, professional, and educational settings. I have a positive and open mind, fine tuned problem solving skills, creative thought, and the ability to develop positive and meaningful connections in the community; all qualities that would add to the dynamic nature of this graduate program.
In the end, whether we travel the world and have near mystical experiences, or discover that we have the skillset to build a life and pursue our dreams, it is a person’s responsibility to self reflect and contemplate what led us to the place we are now, what will lead us to where we are going, and what we can bring to the table along the way. My Hero’s journeys, for there have been many, have led me to this place in my life. I ruminate on where I’ve been, what I’ve done, where I’m going, and what has and will help me to get there. I also meditate on what elements I can offer to the world. It is my hope that acceptance into the Masters of Liberal Studies at SFU will provide me with greater confidence, and teach me the skills necessary to continue my journey through personal growth and professional aptitude; not only for my own benefit but also for that of the community. While collaborating with those of multiple perspectives, disciplines, and world views, the exposure to texts and ideologies of various disciplines will add greatly to my own repertoire which by extension will add to the world around me.
My interest in studying in an interdisciplinary program at SFU is the direct result of a personal and professional search for greater growth and understanding. I would feel right at home in a space where the culmination of beliefs, cultures, and disciplines intersect. I am a lifelong learner with an aptitude and desire for multifaceted education. This forward thinking approach that embodies more than one branch of knowledge will allow me to continue to evolve as I delve further into becoming a passionate scholar.