After I graduated high school, I had no idea what careers appealed to me. For my first two years of university, I
searched for a calling, a class that would change my life and direct my studies. I enrolled in a wide variety of
courses in a wide variety of departments. I learned about ethical relativism and general relativity
(anthropology and astronomy), cubic functions and cubism (calculus and art history), similes and syllogisms
(English and logic), p-tests and p-zombies (statistics and philosophy), brain structure and post-structuralism
(psychology and politics) and much more. These classes taught me a lot about the world but the most valuable
things I learned were about myself. I won’t leave you in suspense; no one class transformed my life. And what
I have come to realize is that no class likely ever will. Instead I learned that I have a set of skills and passions
that make a career in law the right choice for me.
I learned that I enjoy the rigorous thinking of math and statistics but that the world is rarely so black and
white. This influenced my decision to pursue economics, my undergraduate major. I love economics because it
blends abstract theory with real world applications. For every mathematical model I have studied, I have also
learned how to apply this model for positive changes in the environment, healthcare, developing countries,
and domestic policy. Similarly, law requires a certain type of abstract thought while still being firmly rooted in
reality. It is challenging, but knowledge and understanding of the law can be a valuable tool in facilitating
positive change. My education has also taught me to look at problems from multiple perspectives, a skill I
started developing in high school. A big part of my life in high school was competitive debating. I competed
and ranked highly in numerous tournaments on the regional, provincial, national, and international levels. I
twice represented Canada at the World Individuals Public Speaking and Debating Championship. These
experiences taught me to see both sides of an issue, think critically, speak confidently, and to differentiate a
strong argument from strong rhetoric. This year I am assisting several first-year university students in reviving
my university’s competitive debating society.