Additional Education Experience
"Each fresh peak ascended teaches something." —Sir Martin Convay
This icon of the Prophet Elijah on Mt. Horeb (artist unknown) shows him patiently waiting for God to reveal himself through the various trials and happenstances occurring throughout his ministry as a prophet. Through this, he gained the necessary experience and understanding to mentor his successor, Elisha. Like Elijah, many of the things I have experienced have given me the tools necessary to keep my life moving forward.
While I have experienced and learned many things over the short-so-far course of my life, there are two particular experiences external to my core academic studies that have helped inform my education and skillset significantly.
SALT
For three years in middle school, I participated in a program that ran for three months every summer called SALT (Service and Leadership Training), put on by JAARS under their youth ministries department. The premise was that SALT members would help explain and referee games for a group of elementary schoolers twice a week, and would take turns writing and sharing a Bible lesson every week. This program helped me develop effective leadership skills, both in relation to those under my authority and in working with a team. SALT prepared me for later leadership roles working with youth, such as volunteering as an assistant leader at the JAARS middle school youth group, and my current volunteer position in my church’s youth ministry. I learned how to relate to persons significantly younger than myself, and how to work with other leaders in an effective team.
Private Linguistics Tutorship
Since 2019, I have had private linguistic tutorage under Dr. James Pohlig, a retired linguist and missionary. Over the course of the past five years, Dr. Pohlig has taught me the basics of several fields of linguistics, including information structure, phonetics, metaphor/conceptual blending, and historical linguistics. He is currently instructing me in Classical Latin, and we hope to eventually start on Anglo-Saxon and Biblical languages as well. I have learned how to be a better student, and prepared me to work in linguistic fields. Dr. Pohlig is also very knowledgeable in general (I have learned much history, theology, and general trivia from him), and a role model I look up to.
MSYG High School Leadership Volunteering
For two and a half years in high school, I served as a high school volunteer for the Middle School Youth Group operated by JAARS. Every Friday during the school year, I would help plan games for the middle schoolers, review the Bible study lessons and teach from them, and do various tasks such as setting out snacks, lead prayer sessions, and clean up afterwards. I was also in charge of writing and leading at least one lesson each spring. This was a good opportunity to hone the skills I had acquired in SALT, now applied in a more mature context.
Private Engine Repair Tutorship
When I was 11, I was given hands-on tutorship in small engine repair by my neighbor who lived across the street from me. Every Wednesday for three years, I would load out-of-commission engines that were given to me into a trailer and haul them with a riding lawnmower over to my instructor’s house, where he would guide me through the process of fixing each one. Most were simple problems, like clogged carburetors, but we encountered more complicated ones as well (I distinctly remember seeing a motorized scooter where someone jury-rigged a two-stroke carburetor to a four-stroke engine). My instructor unfortunately broke his back from unrelated causes, and moved away shortly after his recovery, but he imparted to me some important skills with engine repair, and he still gives me advice whenever I ask him about a particularly troublesome engine I am dealing with. I also learned some communication skills just from interacting and working with him.