Vanessa@NCSU!

About

Personal Statement

“As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.”

I never really know what to say about myself so here goes.

I was born on Clark AFB in the Philippines. Three months later, my family moved to Washington state. Things didn’t work out for my parents, but shortly after my mom met the man I consider to be my one and only dad We moved around a lot, from Washington state to Carrboro, North Carolina where my elementary school years were split between Frank Porter Graham and Carrboro Elementary. We then moved to Brandon, Florida where I finished elementary school at Mintz Elementary. From there I spent all three years of middle school in Brandon (near Tampa) at McLane Middle School. I made some of the best friends of my life there. Finally we moved to Fort Walton Beach, Florida, due to family issues, where I graduated high school. Immediately after graduating I moved out on my own back to North Carolina, where I am currently attending North Carolina State University, the very same university my dad attended. Although we’ve experienced a lot of heartache together, my family is very close and very strong. I have four brothers, and I love and miss them all the time. I get asked a lot why I came all the way to NCSU, and a lot of it has to do with just wanting to make my family proud. At first I was just so ready to get away from my parents, but at the same time I wanted to follow in my dad’s footsteps. I wanted to be able to take care of my family in the future. NCSU is known for it’s extraordinary engineering program, and at the time that is what I had my heart set on.

“And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.”

Recently, I transferred into the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences from the College of Engineering (I came in as a Computer Science undergraduate), where I was planning on majoring in Industrial Engineering, but college doesn’t wait for the heartbroken. This was a very hard decision for me to make, and I talked to a lot of people before I made the switch. However, currently I am majoring in Agricultural and Environmental Technology (AET) with a minor in Agricultural Business Management. AET is a small department within the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering. The majority of my core (BAE) classes are concentrated around systems management & design, machinery, production technology that is environmentally friendly, etc. I wanted to stay with a math and science oriented curriculum since I always favored those subjects over the humanities even though I seem to always do well in English courses. However, at the same time I wanted something a little more hands on. I know myself, and I know that I learn much faster practically. After talking with my new advisor, I decided this was the degree program I wanted, and I’m very excited. Since Fall 2007 I have worked at the gym on campus and recently was promoted to a manager position.

I love reading, and lately I’ve really gotten into reading biographies and memoirs. I try to exercise and run as much as possible. My boyfriend’s name is Brian, and he works in Raleigh so we see each other a lot. I am really blessed to have him in my life. Before him I had been in a very shattering relationship. Brian showed me what “never giving up” really looks like. We recently became engaged, and plan on getting married as soon as I graduate college. Although things haven’t turned out the way I had always imagined they would, I never regret, and considering everything this is probably the happiest I’ve ever been

“Personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement.”

- Vanessa Buchanan

Quotations courtesy of havardmagazine.com.