Washington's Tri-Cities would remain off the map if it weren't for the Hanford Nuclear site, and even that serves to further alienate us from the general flow of opinion and culture. Needless to say, I come from a pretty insular community. Counter intuitively, growing up in small town, southeastern Washington has been a blessing. My community could have been a limiting factor, but I took it as a challenge to learn more and think. Small town intellectuals must forge their...

For University of Washington: The problems our generation faces are mounting. Political turmoil, natural disaster, disease, poverty; the evening news is a parade of hardship. But our generation has hope, because everyday new discoveries are being made, new cures are discovered, and peace and democracy blossom in the most unforgiving of circumstances. What do we have to do to shift the balance from a downward slide to an uphill march? We'll start with giving focus where focus is due and...

Figure out how you'll contribute something other than your intelligence --that's the last thing you want to focus on when everyone has near perfect scores. Think hard about why school is important...