As I have refined my "advising practice" and learned how to better encourage students to tell their story, I have discovered that most students find it difficult to articulate the reasons why they have certain passions and interests. They are not accustomed to relating their personal experiences to their academic pursuits. For the first draft of their proposal, they usually write some sort of generic introduction in which they say what they think "the committee" will want to hear. This piece of writing doesn't provide any specific information about who the student is and doesn't say anything. After that we talk about the expectation that students must explain and justify their areas of study based on what they have learned about themselves through their experiences and reflection, and this is best done through a story. By means of a story, most students able to paint a picture that is evocative and meaningful.

And yet, telling a story isn't enough. Students need to explain not only how they came to identify the things about which they care, they also need to explain why they care. One student addressed the difficulty of this challenge in the actual proposal, and I think this approach strengthened his writing. This student is pursuing areas in Dance, English and Mass Communication so that he can write about the arts. He wrote in an early draft of his proposal how important it was for him to get others excited about the arts, but he wasn't conveying in his writing why the arts were meaningful to him. I pointed out to him that if is he hopes to get others excited about the arts, he'll need first to articulate why the arts are significant for him. Here is the result:

"Growing up, my two main passions were performing and writing.I have been involved in the theater since the age of 10, a dancer since the age of 15, and have been interested in writing and sharing my ideas for as long as I can remember. Since being in my first play I've known that the performing arts is what I should do, and since then my free time has been devoted to rehearsals, memorizing lines, and performing.  Playing the part of Andy Lee in a high school production of 42nd Street sparked my interest in dance and lead me on the path of a competitive dancer for three years. When I actually thought about why I have such a passion for the arts, it was initially hard for me to verbalize; apart from the simple answer that it's just what I love to do. Upon further reflection, I've come to realize that it's the transformative ability of the arts that I love most. A production of Steven Sondheim's Into the Woods can transform a stage into a world of 'once upon a time' the same way that August Wilson's Two Trains can transform the way we think about race relations and equality. The arts have the ability to change a shy young kid into a center stage virtuoso while also possessing the power to change the atmosphere of society. I also love that every time I take a voice, dance, or acting class, it will be a completely different experience because of the change that happens within me on a day-to-day basis. I work every day to transform my body into a vessel of artistic expression and no matter how many times I rehearse a line from a play, a note from a song, or a movement from a dance, I will always have a different experience."

As inspiring as this piece is, we have also seen students vividly portray why advertising/marketing, sustainability, new media, history, social service or community organizing excites them. When I talk about the interesting things that our students are doing, studying and writing, I think sometimes that others view the IDP program as an exception—we draw the motivated and self-aware students. But if you saw the first draft of most students' proposals, you probably would find that they are as (in)articulate and confused as most CLA students. Once in our doors, however, they must figure out three questions (at least)—three questions that, ideally, all students should be able to answer by the end of their undergraduate education:

1. What do I care about?
2. Why do I care about it?
3. How does this interest/passion relate to my academic (and co-curricular) goals?